Podium will be a huge boost for Vettel's confidence

Ross Brawn believes the podium finish Sebastian Vettel achieved in China will be a huge boost to his confidence but insisted, “this is definitely a tricky year” for the German with Charles Leclerc hot on his heels.

Vettel was allowed to pass Charles Leclerc at the Chinese Grand Prix despite the Monegasque insisting he had enough pace. Vettel was unable to catch the dominant Mercedes pair with Leclerc slipping back to fifth behind Max Verstappen after Red Bull got the jump with their pit stop strategy.

Despite beating his teammate in two of the three races so far Brawn believes he has a battle on his hands.

“This is definitely a tricky year for Sebastian and the podium in Shanghai will have been a confidence boost, while Charles has shown great maturity in accepting team decisions that are not easy to digest,” Brawn said in an interview on crash.net.

With Mercedes as reliable as ever, the Formula 1 technical director feels Ferrari have to be perfect to catch the World Championship leaders.

“The first three races have confirmed that if Ferrari wants to challenge Mercedes everything has to be perfect at all levels: performance, reliability and teamwork,” he added.