Jacques Villeneuve thinks all Ferrari updates in 2020 were made to make Charles Leclerc faster. His comments come after team boss Mattia Binotto denied suggestions that the outgoing Sebastian Vettel is struggling because his car is no longer identical to Leclerc’s.
But 1997 F1 world champion Villeneuve thinks a better explanation is that Ferrari only implements developments that suit Leclerc. Speaking to Sky Italy, the Canadian said: “Vettel drives very differently from Leclerc. It was Leclerc who did the whole development of this car, because Ferrari thinks it is their future.
“So the further Leclerc goes in development, the less easy it is for Vettel to drive the Ferrari. He cannot go to extremes. With Vettel’s car we don’t see the limits of the car, we see the limits of Vettel”, said Villeneuve.
Proving wrong Ferrari
Another former F1 driver, DTM legend Bernd Schneider, agrees that Vettel cannot be blamed solely for his current lack of speed versus Leclerc. Schneider said on Sport1: “When a four-time world champion is so far behind, it’s not just the driver.”
“To be honest, I think Vettel can’t wait for the year to end and I keep my fingers crossed that next year will be better. He will want to show Ferrari wrong.”
Incomprehensible
Nico Hulkenberg also thinks the current story is more than just Vettel being a lot slower than Leclerc in an identical car. Hulkenberg says on RTL: “It is strange, but from the outside it is very difficult to judge. But the situation is incomprehensible to me.”
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