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When Sebastian Vettel left Ferrari, he wrote this farewell message to Charles Leclerc. It read:
"To Charles, you are the most talented driver I have come across in 15 years of F1. Don't waste it."
It has been almost three years since Vettel left that message for the Ferrari driver. Looking at the current ecosystem, it's safe to say that what he meant is starting to come to light.
During this time with the team, Leclerc has gone through a variety of emotions. He's gone through the ecstasy of winning and right now, he's going through a mentally challenging period as well.
When Sebastian Vettel joined Ferrari, he was already an F1 legend. When he left the team, his stock was at an all-time low. Charles Leclerc is not there yet, but there are certain parallels that need to be drawn here.
In many ways, the Ferrari journey of these two former teammates has been quite similar and in some ways, it has been different.
In this feature, we will take a look at both sides of how the journey at Ferrari for the two drivers has been similar and how, alarmingly for Leclerc, there are some parts that are glaringly different.
Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel: What's the similarity?
Making their mark in the second race with the team
Both drivers made their mark in their second race for the team.
Sebastian Vettel won the 2015 F1 Malaysian GP against the Mercedes duo of Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton. Charles Leclerc, meanwhile, almost won his second race with Ferrari in the 2019 F1 Bahrain GP.
It only took them a couple of races to get up to speed with the requirements of the car and start producing results. For Leclerc especially, in just his second race with the team, he showed he was going to be the future of Ferrari, an unexpected feat at the time.
Victims of an inefficient unit
The 2022 F1 season could be remembered in two ways for Leclerc. The first is him finishing second in the championship, his best-ever result in F1. The second and more painful one is that Leclerc lost more race wins to reliability and team inefficiency than he won that year.
Vettel himself was a victim of this in both 2017 and 2018. In both those seasons, despite things staying far more competitive by the summer break, it all changed afterward.
Whether it was Ferrari being unable to keep up with Mercedes in terms of performance or another myriad of struggles, an inefficient unit massively cost Vettel.
Mounting pressure induces uncharacteristic mistakes
Everyone remembers the 2018 F1 German GP crash from Sebastian Vettel but not many remember what was going on a few laps before that.
Similarly, Vettel spinning in Monza 2018 is also a distinct memory. However, not many remember the confusion between caution and aggression of battling his teammate while Lewis Hamilton attacked from behind.
The kind of crashes and spins that characterized Vettel during his later Ferrari days were something we had never seen from him before that.
Similarly for Charles Leclerc, the mounting pressure of trying to achieve more than what the car and the team could provide led to mistakes. The crash in Paul Ricard is hard to make sense of and one does not expect a driver of Leclerc's caliber to make. Yet, these things happen.
Driving under the scanner
Due to consistent failures, both Vettel and Leclerc have also seen their driving go under the scanner. Vettel was criticized left, right and center during his time at Ferrari, while Leclerc is starting to face the heat as well.
The occasional mistakes and errors often get blown out of proportion and are made to look like something completely different. Vettel saw his stock as a driver take a massive hit when he drove for Ferrari and Leclerc is starting to face that as well.
Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel: What's different?
Vettel was already a world champion, Leclerc isn't
One of the major benefits of Sebastian Vettel's gamble to move to Ferrari was the fact that he had already achieved so much in his career. He had already broken so many records and won four world championships that a failed stint at Ferrari could not take that away from him.
However, that is not the case for Charles Leclerc. Ferrari is his first major team and consistent failures are a major concern. Leclerc does not have a career of accolades and success to fall back on that Vettel did if the Ferrari stint turns out to be a disaster.
Vettel had already proven himself, Leclerc hasn't
By the time Vettel joined Ferrari, he was considered one of the best drivers on the grid. He had already put together a spectacular run at Red Bull where he had succeeded in varied conditions. Whether it was in dry, wet, or mixed conditions, Vettel had proved himself to be an elite driver.
He had also gone up against the likes of Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in similarly paced cars and won titles. There weren't many that doubted him when he made his way to Ferrari.
Leclerc, on the other hand, has gained all his credibility at Ferrari. While there are some that feel he is an elite driver, there are still question marks. How good is Leclerc in wet weather? Can he put together a sustained challenge over a season? How good is he under pressure?
These are the questions that have not yet been answered.
When we talk about Vettel, we had already seen his peak and how good he could be, but we are yet to see Leclerc's zenith in F1.
Vettel could afford to shift focus to other interests, Leclerc can't
By the time Sebastian Vettel was done with Ferrari, he had more or less switched focus to life outside of F1. He developed an interest in sustainability, the environment, and many other things in the same domain. More importantly, he could afford to do it because he had a successful career.
Charles Leclerc cannot afford to do that. The young driver is yet to scale the heights that Vettel's career has done and to add to this, he's still very young. A failed Ferrari stint would be to his detriment.
What does this mean for Charles Leclerc?
What all of this indicates is that while Charles Leclerc is going through much of the same stuff that Sebastian Vettel did, he doesn't have the cushion the German had.
Sebastian Vettel was a bonafide F1 Hall of Famer with four world titles to his name by the time he entered Ferrari. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, has none of that.
He's still in a very early phase of his career and has no achievements to speak for him if he ends up like Vettel did. In many ways, while Vettel was able to fall back on his accolades after his Ferrari stint, Charles Leclerc cannot!
While Vettel's Ferrari stint did leave a black mark on his illustrious career, he was still very successful overall. Leclerc, on the other hand, could end up losing a lot if his relationship with Ferrari ends in the same manner as Vettel's did.
