Sebastian Vettel loses No.1 status at Ferrari after "inevitable" Charles Leclerc

Sebastian Vettel’s loss of his No.1 status was “inevitable” says Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri after Charles Leclerc’s “phenomenal” season, with both set to be prioritised at the same level in 2020.

The Scuderia began 2019 prioritising Vettel over recently promoted Leclerc in 50-50 situations but the young Monegasque started to put in some impressive results to prompt a change.
 
The 22-year old claimed his first pole position in the second race at Bahrain, but was unable to convert it into a win due to engine problems as Vettel suffered from errors throughout the first half of the season.
 
“Clearly Charles’ performance has had an impact,” said Camilleri in Ferrari’s post-season debrief.

“That’s inevitable when you’re the world champion and this young kid comes along and has a phenomenal season.
 
“Charles has a lot of talent. He has surprised even ourselves as to what he has been capable of."

The Brazilian Grand Prix saw the both of them come together fighting for position, leading to both cars retiring and each blaming each other but Camilleri says everything has fully been cleared up now.

“Their collision last month in Brazil was a nightmare," he added.

“However, the air has been cleared. And sometimes you need a crisis to put the goalposts in the appropriate place.

“Going forwards it gives Mattia a much better way of managing them because they realised how much they screwed up.”