THE RISE OF NO 2 DRIVERS

Leclerc and Bottas ready to shake up world championship pecking order

THE season’s early story has been about number two drivers who refused to read the script. In Melbourne a fortnight ago, Mercedes AMG Petronas’ Valtteri Bottas emerged from the long shadows to beat Lewis Hamilton into second place then Charles Leclerc shook up Ferrari by beating his grander teammate Sebastian Vettel to pole position for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Ferrari newcomer Leclerc, at 21 years and 165 days became the second youngest pole man in history, eclipsed ironically only by Vettel who was 92 days younger when he stormed a wet Monza — and the minds of the wider public — in 2008.

Leclerc, with this clinical act of insubordination in the desert, became the 99th different driver to start a Formula One race from the front.

It will be intriguing to see what bearing Leclerc’s thumping of Vettel will have on equilibrium in the camp just a few weeks after newly appointed team principal Mattia Binotto indicated that his senior driver — the four-time world champion — would be first among equals, bordering on outright No 1.

Leclerc was to play the support role, as he was asked to do at Melbourne: specifically, not to race Vettel when they were running fourth and fifth. He dutifully followed orders.

Vettel paid tribute to Leclerc’s excellence and told him that taking your first pole is a day you never forget.

“It’s his day,” acknowledged the 31-year-old, who was limited to putting in just one flying lap in the pole-position shoot-out after traffic forced him to do an extra lap in the second phase of qualifying.

“Certainly, my day wasn’t ideal but even with an ideal day it would have been very difficult to beat him today.”

The potential demise of Vettel has been a subject of paddock conjecture since the younger man, who drove well for Sauber last year to gain his merited upgrade, was first announced as a recruit to the red corner.

“I think we are all happy,” Binotto said. “He’s a good kid and being a good kid I think we will all love him as we love Sebastian. This is great for the team, great for him. It will not be his last one.”

The 2017 Formula Two champion Leclerc is rated as a future F1 champion, good enough for the team to push aside 2007 titleholder Kimi Raikkonen to make way for him, and Saturday proved his potential.

“The first pole is a dream that you set for yourself when you’re young. It only comes once, so he truly deserves it,” commented five times world champion Hamilton, who holds the Formula One record of 84 career poles.

As for Hamilton, he was hardly downcast on Saturday night, seemingly pleased his Mercedes was not as sluggardly compared to the Ferraris as he had feared. Just three-hundredths separated him from Vettel.

“This has traditionally been a weak circuit for me so I am reasonably upbeat,” said Hamilton.

Meanwhile, former world champion Nico Rosberg believes Bottas is seeking to “get under Hamilton’s skin” and making a good job of it so far this season.

The 2016 champion, who beat his Mercedes teammate Hamilton to take the title, said it was essential for Bottas to try to reduce the Briton’s own confidence by chipping away at his supremacy to beat him.

“He is really trying to get under Lewis’ skin at the moment,” Rosberg said. “He’s giving everything and I think he’s doing a good job. It’s always small steps at a time and you’ve got to pull Lewis down from his high-flying confidence.

“He’s doing that and then you start to see Lewis getting a few doubts and things like that. That’s the way to go for him... And I think he’s done a very good job over the winter to reset.”