F1 News
Briatore proclaims: "Leclerc is faster than Vettel. He is ready to win the title"
Charles Leclerc has been one of the standout drivers in 2019 and he has come in for some high praise from Flavio Briatore. He has claimed Leclerc is ready to win a world title and that he is faster than his teammate, Sebastian Vettel.
Leclerc leads his teammate in the Drivers' Championship by nine points but both drivers' title bid is over with Mercedes guranteed a World Championship double. Leclerc has come into own since the summer break, overcoming earlier retirements in Monaco and Germany.
Briatore believes that Vettel is the clear number two at Ferrari and that Leclerc is ready to win the title.
"Leclerc is faster than Vettel. He is ready to win the title, he is predestined," Briatore said as quoted by La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
"If I were the team principal I would choose him as my first guide.
"Leclerc is a talent, he is aggressive and manages to make the car go strong.
"Everyone does the teamwork, but it's just talk: you have to choose a driver for the drivers' world championship and the other must make himself available, otherwise you will never win Vettel can stay because he is a good driver but as a second guide."