Why Vettel’s Departure Tastes so Bitter.
When Sebastian Vettel opted out of his Red Bull contract and joined Ferrari in 2015, there was an air of hopefulness. No driver since Kimi Raikkonen, in 2007, had won a world drivers’ championship for the prancing horse, and recruiting a 4-time champion seemed like an unbelievably good decision. It relieved Sebastian of the stress that Daniel Ricciardo had put him under at Red Bull, and it also instantly made Ferrari a potential contender for the championship.
Sure, the Mercs were clearly at the top, and thanks to their innovative bi-turbo technology and superb management by Toto and Niki. It seemed like no other team had the back-end that would propel them to a greater height than Mercedes. However, it could be argued that nobody on the grid understood what it took to be Ferrari driver more than Seb did. His relationship with his mechanics, his clever and humorous approach to handling the media, and more importantly his rapport with the team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, all made him seem like just the driver that Ferrari needed.
But we never got to satiate our hunger for the German and Italian anthems being played together. Instead, we were left wanting more from both Ferrari and Vettel. And now, all we’ll get is an ambulatory season of Sebastian and Ferrari on their goodbye tour instead of a renewed and reinvigorated challenge for the world championship.
Here are some of the reasons why we think that Sebastian and Ferrari’s relationship was dysfunctional.
Sebastian understood Ferrari.
When Seb joined Ferrari, he knew he was not going to win championships off the bat. He surely knew it was a project. He developed a relationship with Arrivabene, the team principal of the Scuderia at the time. And when you compare what he brought to the team to Alonso’s involvement from 2010 to 2014, the difference was clear. Vettel was far more involved with the goings-on of a team. He didn’t have the arrive-and-drive approach of Fernando. Instead, he wanted to implement what his hero, Michael Schumacher, was able to do with his time at Ferrari. Vettel wanted to help the team develop a car that fit his driving style from the start.
I mean, the guy sang Happy Birthday to his engineer over the team radio. He was deeply in love with Ferrari. So, news of his departure was obviously heart-breaking.
Ferrari lacked leadership.
Ok, that’s a heavy claim to make. But over the last decade, Mercedes have had one team principal and so, one vision. However, Ferrari has had four different team principals with four different visions. Domenicali was in charge of the Alonso era. Mattiacci held the fort upright before Arrivabene started the Vettel era, and it’s fair to say that Binotto has been the flagbearer of the Leclerc era. It’s fair to say that Mattia Binotto’s vision is not what Vettel signed on for.
In fact, this is plain to see.
The main point behind Seb’s statement is what matters for him at a personal level, and the main point of Binotto’s statement is how Ferrari’s vision is different from Seb’s. Regardless of how those statements can be interpreted, it’s clear that Seb wasn’t in tune with the vision that Binotto had for the Scuderia.
Vettel didn’t have the support structure he had at Red Bull.
Red Bull Racing has established itself as THE team for a young F1 driver. Not only do they have the consistency that Newey and Horner bring, they also have a proven infrastructure to let young talent thrive.
Christian Horner puts it best. When asked about Seb’s stint with Red Bull, he said, “With us, Sebastian was like a metronome when he was in the lead of a Grand Prix. He obviously looks a lot more under pressure these days as he is carrying the hopes of Ferrari in what looks like a pressure-cooker environment. [We believe] to get the best out of people, you have got to deliver the right environment for them — that is so important.”
When Seb was at Red Bull, he had his trusty race engineer, Guillaume Rocquelin, to guide him through difficult situations on the team radio and beyond. However, when he moved to Ferrari, he was expected not just to be a leading driver, but also to adapt to a new style of team management. He no longer had the race engineer that knew his psyche and constantly motivated him through races. He was expected to find his own motivation.
He could never be a #2 driver.
When Sebastian understeered into the barriers and effectively ended his 2018 title bid at Hockenheim nobody saw it coming, but Vettel’s constant banging of his steering wheel set off a train of thought. It made pundits and fans alike think that Charles was a better prospect for Ferrari, given how the team was structured and the proximity of the new regs that 2021 would bring.
Nobody thought that a 4-time world drivers’ champion would suddenly seem out of depth compared to his 21-year-old teammate. However, in a string of races, especially the British Grand Prix where Charles roundly outperformed his teammate, Leclerc’s talent became undeniable. Naturally, rosy visions of Ferrari’s would-be future started forming and by the time the Italian Grand Prix was concluded, those visions became that much more palpable.
You can’t help but think of the state of Seb’s mindset while these events unfolded. Yes, Vettel won the Singapore Grand Prix, but his teary celebration on the podium made us all think of how fragile his state of mind was at that point in time. Here we all were, appreciating the emotional magnitude of Seb’s victory, but at the same time, we knew that Charles had let the team down far lesser in 2019.
Look, it’s simple why Sebastian’s departure hurts. Both Seb and Ferrari wanted something that neither party could provide. It reminds us all of a bad break up. A hopeful blonde with blue eyes meets his ideal mate. Dysfunctional as it may seem, the union gave us all some hope. But in the end, the relationship just wasn’t what we all hoped it would be. This doesn’t discredit what Seb or Ferrari is capable of. All it does is make us swallow the bitter pill that Seb will never take Ferrari back to the topmost echelon of Formula 1.
