F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Leclerc's 'killer instinct' threatens Vettel, says Berger

Former F1 driver Gerhard Berger says that Charles Leclerc's growing 'killer instinct' is bound to cause problems at Ferrari with his team mate Sebastian Vettel over upcoming races.

Vettel hit out at Leclerc at Monza after he felt the Monegasque didn't follow the team plan in qualifying, but Berger said that Vettel shouldn't have been surprised.

"Good faith has little place in top-level sport," Berger told Kolner Express on Tuesday.

"It’s been clear for a long time that Leclerc has an absolute killer instinct," he added. "Vettel can never rely on him."

Berger stopped short of calling Vettel 'naive' if he'd been expecting the youngster to play second string in 2019.

"Let’s not call it naive, but perhaps he is too much in the direction of good faith," he suggested.

The drivers had appeared to enjoy cordial relations before the summer break, but that seems to have grown increasingly strained now that Leclerc is picking up race wins for Ferrari while Vettel continues to struggle in 2019.

"I don’t know if he fooled Vettel [earlier on]," said Berger. "I say it very clearly, there is no team play at this level in Formula 1.

More importantly, Berger suspected that many of Vettel's current problems came from within.

“It’s quite simple,” he explained. “If you lose your [killer] instinct, then you no longer have any claim to be world champion, so you have to get them back again."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Sao Paulo GP qualifying postponed after repeated delays

The FIA has postponed Saturday’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix qualifying session due to adverse weather…

20 mins ago

McLaren: Team orders always ‘make life difficult for ourselves’

McLaren's successful 1-2 finish in the Brazilian Sprint race came with a dose of complexity,…

3 hours ago

Verstappen demoted to P4 following VSC infringement in Sprint

Max Verstappen has been demoted from third to fourth in the final standings of Saturday’s…

4 hours ago

Norris thanks Piastri for handing Sprint win, but not ‘proud’

Lando Norris secured victory in Saturday's Sprint event in Sao Paulo thanks to a McLaren…

5 hours ago

São Paulo GP: Norris handed sprint win by Piastri

McLaren clinched a valuable 1-2 sweep of the São Paulo sprint race, with polesitter Oscar…

6 hours ago

2024 São Paulo Grand Prix - Sprint Race results

Full results from the Sprint race for the São Paulo Grand Prix at São Paulo,…

6 hours ago