Sebastian vettel: why ferrari star will be scared by charles leclerc

That is the opinion of F1 expert Tony Jardine, who believes Vettel could be in for a repeat of his final season at Red Bull. Vettel will take to Melbourne's Albert Park circuit on

Sunday morning with high hopes of starting the new season with a third Australian Grand Prix victory on the spin. But he will be aware he has a serious fight on his hands as he looks to

maintain a title push and dethrone reigning champion Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver is the biggest obstacle to Sebastian Vettel's chances of reclaiming the World Drivers'

Championship he last secured in 2013. Although Jardine believes the German will not be taking the challenged posed by his own Ferrari team-mate Leclerc lightly. Charles Leclerc showed in

pre-season testing in Barcelona that Ferrari's decision to snap him up from Sauber was a wise move. And he will be desperate to deliver on the promise which has seen him tipped to scrap

it out at the front of the grid from the off this year. Jardine, who worked with Goodyear, Brabham, McLaren and Lotus during his own career in F1, reckons Leclerc will already have given

Vettel a headache. And he's backing the 21-year-old to outperform the man he'll share a garage with over the course of the coming eight months. "Don’t get me wrong, where I

put Leclerc on this, I think Leclerc is going to show up Vettel," Jardine exclusively told _Express Sport_. "You can tell from what I’m saying, I’ve never been a massive Vettel

fan. "I like him, he’s a great driver, but he won those four titles in an Adrian Newey-designed Red Bull which had the best blown-diffuser, with the underwings at the back that used to

use the exhaust gasses to get more downforce. "He was an expert in driving those cars and he had the best car on the grid. "But in 2014, his last season at Red Bull, in came

[Daniel] Ricciardo and Ricciardo finished ahead of him on points and beat him in many races. "He’s vulnerable and he is going to be watching Leclerc like a hawk. "He’s gonna be

making sure that he has the right treatment and Leclerc is a threat. "Ferrari need to have that intra-team challenge of the young gun pushing the old master. "So we’re going to be

watching very, very closely with Leclerc. "I’m sure he could win a couple next season and possibly get more points and finish higher than Vettel in 2019." The Australian Grand Prix

is scheduled to start at 5.10am (GMT) on Sunday morning. _TONY JARDINE SPOKE TO EXPRESS SPORT ON BEHALF OF BEIN SPORTS. BEIN SPORTS WILL BROADCAST LIVE COVERAGE OF THE ENTIRE 2019 F1

SEASON._