Leclerc: Good relationship with Vasseur 'shouldn’t influence' Ferrari

Charles Leclerc says his good relationship with Alfa Romeo's Frédéric Vasseur shouldn't influence Ferrari's decision regarding who it will choose as the Scuderia's next team principal.

Following the resignation last week of Scuderia chief Mattia Binotto, Ferrari's top brass said that it would name the Italian's successor some time over the new year.

Vasseur is considered as a leading candidate for the role, and the Frenchman's appointment by Ferrari would likely also suit Leclerc, whose early years in motorsport and formative year in Formula 1 were overseen by the current Alfa team boss.

On Friday, in the FIA Gala press conference in Bologna, Leclerc was asked about his thoughts on Vasseur taking the helm of the Scuderia.

"Ferrari is a very different team to any other team," said the Monegasque. "I can only comment on my experience with Fred which obviously has been good.

"I’ve been working with Fred already from the junior categories where he has believed in me and we’ve always had a good relationship.

"But apart from that, obviously this shouldn’t influence any of the other decisions.

"He has always been very straightforward, very honest and this is something that I liked from Fred. Whether it will be him or not, I don’t know, and we’ll see hopefully in the in the next few months."

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Leclerc made clear that a final decision regarding who will lead the Scuderia from next season will be made by Ferrari chairman John Elkann and company CEO Benedetto Vigna.

"Obviously it’s also not my decision, John and Benedetto are going to take the decision," he said.

"We are just trying to focus our job on the simulator with the team in order to have the best race car possible for next year."

Asked if a change of team principal would require a lengthy period of adaptation, which in turn could dampen Ferrari's winning ambitions next year, Leclerc said that he was confident of the Italian outfit undergoing a "smooth transition".

"It will probably require a bit of time, to become at ease with the system and with Ferrari because its obviously a huge team," he said.

"But I believe that if it's done the right way, I don't think we'll suffer of it on the track, so I'm pretty sure it'll be a smooth transition."

Leclerc also revealed that Binotto had called him before he handed in his resignation to Elkann as he wanted to give the Ferrari driver a heads up on the situation.

"Mattia called me to announce that he will stop," he said. "I respect his decision and I can only thank him.

"Obviously he has believed in me right from the start. He extended me with a very, very long contract.

"And before being team principal, he was also inside the Scuderia for many, many years and he has contributed to the success that the team had in the in the past years.

"So I wish him the best and obviously now it’s up to us to focus on the future, try and take the right choices in order to be a bit more of a challenge to Red Bull next year."

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