Sebastian Vettel says it’s too soon to describe Charles Leclerc as the toughest team mate he’s had in his 13-year F1 career.

After 17 races together at Ferrari, Leclerc leads the four-times champion by 221 points to 212, and has out-qualified Vettel 9-6 over sessions where both drivers set times

But asked in Japan whether Leclerc was the hardest team mate he’d gone up against, Vettel said “I don’t think it’s fair, it’s been too short.”

“Certainly, obviously, he’s young, he’s very quick. I don’t think there’s anybody who doubts that.”

Vettel’s previous F1 team mates include Kimi Raikkonen (2015-18), Daniel Ricciardo (2014), Mark Webber (2009-13), Sebastien Bourdais (2008), Vitantonio Liuzzi (2007) and Nick Heidfeld (2007).

“Ultimately you can’t really compare because you would need to put Mark, Kimi, Daniel [and] Vitantonio in the same car at the same time so it’s not fair,” Vettel continued.

“Certainly in terms of raw speed [Leclerc’s] very quick but obviously is still very early for him. He’s only in his second season in Formula 1 so it’s very different to Kimi or Mark who spent a lot of time in F1 and had a lot more experience.”

However Vettel said he had benefited from Leclerc’s input when he had struggled with the SF90.

“It’s good that he’s a real reference and especially in the times where I struggled a little bit to to really get the most out of myself and the car then it’s good to have that because it can also help you. And as a team it’s good to have you know two drivers fighting for the same ground on-track.”

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2019 F1 season