After a complicated goodbye Ferrari, German driver Sebastian Vettel was looking for a new start in the team Aston Martin, change the air and relaunch your career; However, his debut was as frustrating as his more recent times at Formula One: away from points and as a target of criticism from fans and former pilots.
The German had a difficult qualification in the Bahrain Grand Prix which opened the 2021 season of the superior category, in his presentation in front of the green car he could not pass the first stage, with the third worst time of the session, just above two cars Haas; as if that wasn’t enough, he received a five-place penalty for not respecting the yellow flags and started from the last position on the grid.
In the race, the situation did not improve, he had a connection with the car of the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and received a 10-second penalty to finish 15th in a lap behind the leaders and even overtaken by Williams of George Russell. The worst start imagined for the four-time series champion.
Critics did not wait. One of the strongest was the former British pilot Damon Hill on the F1 Nation podcast: “It’s like watching that Mexican party game, piñata, constantly attacked; what is happening to him is difficult to notice, something has to click on his psychological constellation, he has to see a mystic and that he takes that kind of evil spirit, something negative will be done to deserve it ”.
The result in Bahrain joined Vettel’s nightmare years at the end of his Ferrari career. After being the main rival of Lewis Hamilton’s title in the 2017 and 2018 seasons, the arrival of the young Monegasque Charles Leclerc in the Scuderia instead of his friend Kimi Räikkönen in 2019 seemed to affect his performance.
From five victories in 2018 he went to one in the next calendar, from 12 podiums to nine and from second place in the championship with 320 points he fell to fifth place with 240 units, surpassed even by his teammate, who had only a season of experience and with a Sauber car.
For 2020, the situation was even more desperate for the four-time monarch with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013, with Ferrari fully focused on Leclerc and the announcement of the signing of Carlos Sainz to replace him in 2021, the German had the worst in F1, from his debut stage, with only one podium (third in Turkey) and 33 points for 13th place in the championship.
For this reason, and the former pilot David Coulthard He hypothesized about the German’s present: “I wonder if it’s part of a branded construction, but not for Aston Martin, but for Lance Stroll (his new partner). If he can beat Vettel, he can say he can be a champion in the future, I’m not saying he is or isn’t, but there are still doubts about where he ranks in the order of the knockout. If he does to “Seb” what Charles (Leclerc) did to him, I don’t know how the season can end “, the Scot said on the podcast On the Marbles.
For several weeks it was speculated that Sebastian would take a Sabbath or even retire from the series at the age of 33, until millionaire Lawrence Stroll recruited him for the new Racing Point project, a team that was fourth in the constructors’ standings. with 64 points more than Ferrari, but which is far from having a car capable of fighting for the victories of each race.
“The team is not yet a winner, it is growing, he knows it, he will understand it, but how will it help him in terms of motivation and timing? I’m nervous, “his former partner said Red bull, Mark Webber also on the On the Marbles podcast.
Vettel’s downfall coincided with the relegation of the Scuderia, but it takes on a new dimension with its bad start in a garage where it should feel more comfortable. – How many bullets do you have in the room? I don’t know, I think he will enjoy the environment, there is no doubt, not being in Maranello and in an English environment, he always felt good, I know, what will not automatically translate is in performance; he will like it better, but I don’t know how this will happen on the timer and that means F1 “, added the Australian.
The one from Heppenheim took over the top flight. In his debut with Clean in the 2007 United States Grand Prix was the eighth and to end that campaign was the fourth Red bull in China, even less than a year later and still in the second Red Bull team, he won in Italy, to make his quality clear.
Former driver Gerhard Berger was the garage manager with whom he shared that success more than a decade ago and also made an analysis of what is happening to the German. “Sebastian is a four-time champion, he is one of the outstanding drivers, no doubt, but he never reacts well under pressure, let’s remember when Daniel (Ricciardo) came to Red Bull, he was very strong and he was a threat to ‘Seb’ “It’s hard for him to handle that.”
The Austrian returned in 2014, when Webber retired after the German’s fourth crown and Red Bull promoted Ricciardo, who had also shone with Toro Rosso. In that season, the first of the hybrid era, hegemony ceased to be the team of energy drinks to start the Mercedes era; however, Daniel had 71 points more than his partner, who as the monarch reached the fifth place in the ranking.
In 2015, “Seb” went to Ferrari, to be a partner of Räikkönen, “at Ferrari it was the same (with Leclerc), now I think he is not free, relaxed, he may want to show things, but at this time not it is possible because the car is not good enough or it is not in good shape, when you are in that situation you have to sit down, take a step back and calm down and success will return “, Berger deepened in podcast In Fast Lane.
“Somehow, it didn’t work for him, he starts making mistakes, people question him and there he goes slowly, more and more pressure and he doesn’t like it. It’s an awkward situation when you’re on a team and your partner is faster (Stroll was 10th in Bahrain) and obviously maybe they spend more time, but it’s something you have to deal with. ” concluded the winner of the 10 races series.
However, the motivation for Aston Martin is that there is only one race out of the 23 scheduled in the 2021 calendar, he has a few weeks to better understand his new car and to draw conclusions from what happened in the pre-season and at the beginning bell; with his experience he has the ability to turn the situation around.
“He feels that punishment, and the blows he received worries him, I’m afraid this will get worse, he has to release all the evil, the negative feelings, when he does, he has all the capacity in the world, he can run ahead, next to Lewis and Max (Verstappen) “, said Damon Hill. It is Vettel’s job to claim his rightful place in the elite of motor sports.