If Leclerc still trusts Vettel he'll never be champion

Ferrari's Formula 1 driver line-up always had the potential to be a fiery affair.

Young charger Charles Leclerc up against Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion with a point to prove - there was every reason to suspect sparks.

Start of the year incidents with team orders fanned early flames, but as Ferrari's season fizzled out before it had even really started, the intra-team battle was less like Burning Man and more like Fyre Festival.

But now the fuse has been lit.

It started with a significant breach of team etiquette by Leclerc in qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix - one that left Vettel "not happy" and prompted team boss Mattia Binotto to tell Leclerc "you're forgiven" 24 hours later when Leclerc won Ferrari's home race. It escalated in Singapore when Leclerc felt screwed over by Ferrari's strategy in the race, which handed Vettel the victory.

Then it reached a new intensity in Russia, where Vettel openly defied an order to give Leclerc the race lead after the polesitter had stuck to a pre-race agreement to give Vettel a tow from third place at the start and let him blast into the lead unopposed.

Leclerc's dominance over Vettel in qualifying has been evident for many races and he has become Ferrari's shining light in a season when his veteran team-mate has failed to halt the mistakes that also derailed his title bid last season.

But if Leclerc thought he was winning the intra-team battle, there is concrete evidence that Vettel will not go down without a fight.

Leclerc's response in public in Russia was diplomatic. But one doubts it was honest.

"I will always trust the team," said Leclerc immediately after the race at Sochi. "The tactic was me giving the slipstream to be one-two at the end of the straight, which happened. But then... I don't know, I need to speak with the team to know the situation better."

Before he could do that, he was asked about incident again, in the official FIA press conference. At this point, Leclerc started to try to rationalise the situation.

"The situation was quite tricky, there was a safety car straight away," he said. "I tried to stay as close as I possibly could for two or three laps but then it was very difficult to follow, especially first and second sector. The tyres overheated and then I dropped back a little bit.

The Leclerc who adapted so quickly to life in F1, to Ferrari, who learns so rapidly, who shows such ruthlessness, cannot possibly be that naive

"But I had 100% trust in the team to do it themselves, as it was agreed before the race, and that's what they did at the pitstop."

But that's not what Ferrari said later on. Team principal Mattia Binotto stated that the early stop for Leclerc, which gave him four laps on fresh tyres and jumped him back ahead of Vettel, was not to reset the order at the front.

On this occasion, Leclerc's position is the more believable one. Ferrari had to take matters into its own hand and did. But when Autosport asked if Leclerc still trusts Vettel, his answer was less convincing, despite being emphatic.

"Yeah, I think the trust doesn't change and we need to trust each other, Seb and myself," Leclerc answered. "It's hugely important for the benefit of the team in some situations, to know that you can count on the other car and vice versa.

"It's very important. But, yes, the trust is still here."

The Leclerc who adapted so quickly to life in F1 last season, to Ferrari this season, who learns so rapidly, who shows such ruthlessness, cannot possibly be that naive.

His team-mate was willing to ignore a team order while leading a grand prix with nothing on the line in terms of the championship.

So will he be afraid to do it when there's a title up for grabs?

Actually, we needn't pose a rhetorical question. We know from the past - and the infamous incident between Vettel and Mark Webber at Red Bull in the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix - that Vettel will do exactly that to assert his authority.

He will not think twice about defying an agreement, or interpreting an agreement differently, if it benefits him.

Leclerc must now expect a repeat of Sochi.

Ferrari's progress across 2019 has the makings of a title challenge if it can be sustained next year. So let's assume Ferrari is finally capable of a year-long championship attack in '20, with Vettel and Leclerc in the mix and Lewis Hamilton leading Mercedes' charge.

Should a situation like we had in the Russian GP arrive, Ferrari's priority will be to have both cars ahead of Hamilton. That means deploying team orders when appropriate. That means trusting Vettel to do what he failed to do at Sochi, and with something much bigger on the line.

Why would he do that? Vettel is a four-time world champion who once ignored a team order at Red Bull to win a race he didn't absolutely have to win.

He did so because the elite have a ruthless streak and leave nothing on the line, and we could have had a repeat in Russia.

Leclerc is wise enough to know better, is ruthless in his own way and hardly free of guilt this season

They say no individual is greater than the team. But individual success equals team success. If the individual is good enough, their selfishness tends to be forgiven.

Vettel knows that, and Leclerc should too.

The Ferrari dynamic doesn't help, and perhaps was always likely to lead to a defining moment like what happened at Sochi. Vettel/Leclerc is different to Hamilton/Valtteri Bottas at Mercedes.

Hamilton is the established lead driver even the team does not like to commit to a number one/number two split. His relationship with Bottas is not acrimonious because there is no sustained threat to Hamilton internally.

"We work together, so it's about having respect," said Hamilton. "And I think the respect has been there since day one.

"We talk about the scenarios very openly. Valtteri has always been respectful in all those scenarios and I think it's vital that we're both acting accordingly, which we do."

Remember when Nico Rosberg wilfully gave up track position in Monaco in 2016, costing himself 19 points to Hamilton in their title fight?

"The final result made it worthwhile for the team," said Rosberg at the time. And yes, he went on to become champion that year, but only because of Hamilton's misfortune.

It is hard to imagine the steely, modern-day Hamilton, who knows the value of every point earned thanks to his 2016 defeat to Rosberg, doing the same today.

The same goes for Vettel. It almost certainly goes for Leclerc, too.

Leclerc is wise enough to know better, is ruthless in his own way and hardly free of guilt this season.

He did not heed Ferrari's call to stay behind Vettel early in the Bahrain GP, because he was quicker and sensed the opportunity to win. Likewise in qualifying in Italy, when Leclerc refused to move ahead of Vettel to give him the tow - as agreed - because it would likely compromise his own final flying lap.

When it suited Leclerc, Ferrari's best interests were not his top priority. He drove to win at Sakhir, he drove to avoid losing pole position at Monza.

Leclerc has not acted without self-interest this season, and rightly so, because an F1 driver who does is not a top-line operator.

Actions such as Leclerc's in Bahrain or Italy were tailored to the circumstances, which had the potential to take the situation away from him when he was in a position to control it. That is not all too different from Vettel's actions in Russia.

The key distinction is Vettel's defiance of team orders was the violation of a pre-race agreement. That is more powerful, and Leclerc cannot believe otherwise.

Leclerc has learned a lot in his first season swimming with the sharks, but this might be the most valuable lesson of all.

It was a powerful reminder of exactly what Vettel is capable of and why he is a four-time world champion: a team player when it suits him but an individual when it matters.

That does not mean Leclerc needs to become a driver who cannot be trusted. He just has to be smart enough to realise that's what Vettel is.