It looked as though Vettel had put all that behind him as the gantry lights went out in the floodlit dusk and he made a beautiful getaway to lead, as Leclerc struggled for a few corners to get his tyres up to temperature and briefly lost a place to Bottas before repassing at the end of the opening lap, as gusty winds caused the Merc to lock a wheel. With the Ferraris running 1-2, Vettel ahead, it might ordinarily have been assumed that was that, even as Leclerc quickly closed up onto the tail of his team-mate. But Leclerc\u2019s speed advantage from qualifying was still there and this was the moment he made specific his intention not to fall into any notional support role. <\/span><\/p>\n Bobbing around in Vettel\u2019s mirrors was the talent and ambition of an aspiring champion a decade younger than the leader, the driver Sergio Marchionne had singled out for the future. Well, the future had just arrived on Vettel\u2019s tail and now the team was faced with a situation that had always been coming. \u201cGuys, I\u2019m quicker,\u201d Leclerc advised the team. \u201cStay behind for next two laps,\u201d he was advised. <\/span><\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t much interested in complying with that as the opportunity to pass presented itself three-quarters of a lap later, Leclerc getting DRS onto the pit straight and passing cleanly before Turn 1. Disobeying a team instruction but also grabbing hold of his destiny, he sailed off into the night. <\/span><\/p>\n This was a fascinating dynamic. Rather than become embroiled in a discussion with the team, Leclerc had simply transcended the situation. It was also the first test of Mattia Binotto\u2019s leadership and, as befitting his calm demeanour, he let it ride. In public, at least. The fire had been put out before it had even started, which in as combustible an environment as Ferrari was significant. There was no public censure later, Binotto emphasising that the drivers were allowed to race.<\/p>\n Leclerc\u2019s dream ended with a control electronics failure that cut an injector out, putting him a cylinder down in the late stages. But Vettel wasn\u2019t there to take advantage, having spun (again!) when dicing with Hamilton. Hamilton took the victory for Mercedes \u2013 but very much against the run of play \u2013 as Leclerc limped home third, behind Bottas, helped from running out of fuel in the misfiring engine by the race ending under a safety car. Hamilton, who\u2019d offered an almost apologetic gesture as he\u2019d passed the sick Ferrari, commiserated with the young Mon\u00e9gasque, his body language suggesting respect above all else. This one is strong. <\/span><\/p>\n Two weeks later in Shanghai, Binotto was throwing his support behind his senior driver, without admonishing Leclerc. \u201cSebastian has won four championships and certainly for us he\u2019s the driver who has most probability to challenge for the title\u2026 he will be prioritised if there is any 50-50 situation where we need to make a decision. But on the track, they\u2019re free to fight. On the track I think if there is one driver who is certainly faster, he will get the advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n Leclerc said an equally smart thing: \u201cI understand. We need a number one and a number two, but I will be sure to change these things as soon as possible. It is not easy. I have to stay in front for qualifying. Seb is extremely quick. My job? I have to do it in the car.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c[In Bahrain] I wasn\u2019t happy with my performance,\u201d said Vettel, \u201cnot yet happy about my feeling with the car. I know that I can be better and I know we have lots of races to show and prove that. But at least when I\u2019m not at the top of it, it\u2019s good that he is.\u201d<\/p>\n For Vettel, a lot was riding on his performance in China. It was good for him that there\u2019d been a Bahrain test after the race there. \u201cThat was very helpful. We learned some things about car behaviour that we couldn\u2019t in Barcelona, where we were looking at other things. Hopefully I have a better feeling in the car this weekend, with the rear end in particular.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n That was the good news for China, the 1000th race counting towards the world championship. The bad was that Mercedes was clearly quicker around a layout very different to that of Bahrain. Vettel outqualified Leclerc by a couple of hundredths of a second for third on the grid \u2013 a good 0.3sec adrift of the Mercedes pair. He beat him in the race, too, but not in a straightforward way.<\/p>\n The tension was very evident as Vettel \u2013 having lost out to Leclerc in the first corner jostling behind the Mercs \u2013 cruised up to the back of his team-mate and returned Leclerc\u2019s Bahrain serve. \u201cI\u2019m quicker,\u201d he related. He didn\u2019t force it as Leclerc had, but waited \u2013 and waited \u2013 for Ferrari to tell the youngster to move aside. He did so, but not particularly gracefully. \u201cWhat now?\u201d he asked as he sat close behind Vettel, whose tyres had degraded running so long in Leclerc\u2019s dirty air. <\/span><\/p>\n A little while later, Leclerc offered the following: \u201cI\u2019m losing quite a bit of time here. I don\u2019t know if you want to know. Just letting you know.\u201d It was all smoothed over post-race by Mattia Binotto and Leclerc himself accepted, \u201cIt\u2019s difficult to see the full picture when you\u2019re in the car.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Vettel delivered a solid third place behind Hamilton and Bottas \u2013 the best the car could deliver around a circuit where its downforce deficit to Mercedes was too much to be offset by its qualifying power advantage. Leclerc was a distant fifth, compromised further by Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen undercutting himself past at the first stops. This flustered Ferrari, which put Leclerc into a strategic no man\u2019s land that cost further time.<\/p>\n \u201cI want to be ahead of Charles, he wants to be ahead of me,\u201d said Vettel. \u201cObviously, that\u2019s the name of the game. I\u2019m not keen to expand much further.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n If Leclerc\u2019s inexperience showed up anywhere in these two races, it was in how he reacted to the reality check of China after the beautiful \u2013 albeit broken \u2013 dream of Bahrain. Vettel might have reasserted himself in Shanghai, but this partnership is clearly going to be rather harder work for him than his last one with Kimi R\u00e4ikk\u00f6nen. <\/span><\/p>\n![\"Ferrari](\"https:\/\/motorsport-motorsportmagazine.express.pugpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/173\/2019\/04\/1017438405-SUT-20190414-JA1_5190.jpg\")