In a rather telling interview with It.Motorsport.com, Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel explains why the Championship was lost.
Starting 2018 as Championship favourite, the German Ferrari driver lost his way by mid season starting with the disastrous error during the German Grand Prix in Hockenheim. But he thinks that it wasn’t just the mistakes, but rather that he didn’t throw away the Championship, rather Mercedes grabbed it with a better performing car.
“Perhaps on this statement I have a different opinion than other people.” explains Vettel.
“It’s fair to say that we had a very competitive car, but I don’t agree that our car has been dominant.
“If I look back on the results we have achieved since the beginning of the year, I don’t see a dominant superiority.
“Just think of Spa: we didn’t have the pole, regardless of the conditions (rain) and we took advantage of the circuit layout using the ascent of Eau Rouge that is done in full and the long straight.”
“In 2017 we didn’t have the same power and that’s why overtaking 12 months ago was not possible, while this year we no longer had that power gap so I was able to manage to pass.
“It was always close”
“During this season in several Grand Prix we have been very close, with competitive race steps, but there is not a race in which we have dominated, which instead happened in the other direction (Mercedes).
“If you look at the races in Spain, France and Russia they (Mercedes) have confirmed a remarkable superiority, which in our case has never been.
“I don’t want people to misunderstand: I’m not here to argue that we have had a car not up to par, because I know we’ve had a competitive car, but I don’t agree with those who say we had a superior car.”
On the criticism the Ferrari driver has faced, Vettel admits he pays no attention to the press explaining that “it’s part of the game”.
I always thought that ‘you’re never good as they say, and you’re never bad as they say’, and I think it’s really like that. ”
“Having said that, I think enthusiasm is a good thing, because that’s why people love our sport. Sometimes this dose of passion involves receiving a lot of criticism, but there are also people who do not, or they do not, but it’s part of the game “.
“Sometimes I find that criticism is not motivated, but even when you’re judged as a hero, sometimes it’s not always right. In the end I think it’s right to keep the distance, rather than analyzing everything that is said and written word by word “.
As for the sudden loss of Ferrari’s CEO Sergio Marchionne, Vettel admits it had an impact.
Vettel, Webber and Horner say goodbye to Red Bull’s Renault V8 engine by revving the hell out of it after the 2013 Brazilian GP.
“It would be wrong to say that this is not the case. I think so, but I think the team has managed to stay very compact, and I do not think we have to use the results that have arrived (after the President’s disappearance) to draw conclusions “.
“Obviously it was a fundamental part of our team, it drove our team, and learning about the disappearance of a person of this caliber suddenly, is always tough.
“But we are a great team, made up of many departments and great professionals, and in many ways, they know what they have to do.”
Vettel on the Constructors’ championship: "In two weeks I will have the opportunity to drive the red car again, the car of my dreams. I will do everything to score many points . We will try to finish ahead of Mercedes in the Constructors’ championship" #MexicoGP
— Gianluca D'Alessandro (@Gianludale27) October 28, 2018
“I do not think the weight of an impact is felt in the short term, what happened this season I think is not connected to the disappearance of the President”.
These days not many interviews avoid mentioning the young ‘wonder boy’ Max Verstappen, and Vettel had more to reveal on the Dutch Red Bull driver and his aggressive driving style.
“Everyone has their own driving style and I think it’s a good thing to be aggressive, provided it is right at the right time. I think he has already ‘calmed’ compared to a few years ago, and that he has found his way, it is a path that all the drivers do “.
“I do not think there is any doubt that he is fast and talented, as I believe there are still many things he will learn in the future. I’m sure he will stay here a lot longer than me. ”
Can’t argue much with anything he said, really. At the end of the day, from my view the cars were pretty even. They traded races back and forth as far as who had an advantage. Mercedes cost themselves points with strategy errors at a few races, as did Ferrari. The biggest difference was Lewis never set a foot wrong while Vettel did repeatedly. It is what it is. That’s not to say he’s a crap driver or anything like that, or that he can’t turn the tables next year but that IS what happened this year. There can’t be two winners in the end. As a direct fan of neither i was just disappointed to see what should’ve been a season that went down to the wire decided far too early.
it is fair to say that with Lewis he had momentum from previous seasons with him, in many ways it’s easier not to make mistakes when you’re in that zone – whereas Vettel has always been prone under pressure
Disagree. Lewis did make mistakes. (quali in Belgium, trying to overtake max in the US etc) but he was lucky each time. Where as Vettel had the bad luck of going off in Germany at one of the few corners on the calendar that still has gravel. In the rain. On slicks. The harder of the two available kinds. Granted he made more mistakes than Lewis, but the one in Japan is hardly one to point fingers at. At that time he was in do or die modus to keep the wdc alive.
But anyway, Lewis has been having the best season of his career and I hope Vettel can gives us a bigger fact next season.
A perfect summing up there in both comments, exactly as I see it and once Seb had made the mistakes the pressure increased and led to more, robbing us of what should be a great battle in the unpredictable arena of the Brazillian autrodroma next weekend with what should have been only 12 to 15 points between them. Roll On 2019 !!
One thing that seems to have been swept under the carpet is the issue of reliability. Vettel went to great pains to say in 2017, his title bid was derailed because of races like Japan. Yet strangely, Hamilton has had quite a few reliability issues this year while Vettel has had bullet prrof reliability, But people refuse to factor that in in the way they did for 2017.There’s a lot of double standards going on.
I’m curious in which races, I’m using the plural deliberately, Lewis had reliability issues. Other than Austria of course.
Or are you suggesting that we have to include issues in Free Practice and qualifying?
Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull could all start from P15 to P20 every race and still finish in the top 6!!
didn’t Hamilton’s car fail paul ricard, and somewhere his car failed in quall?
I would like to know too where Lewis’ Mercedes failed, in a race or quali. I only remember one time. Unlike Vettel in ’17.
Vettel’s car only failed once in 2017 (Malaysia) qual. But Vettel caused his by crashing. The spark plug issue wouldn’t have happened if he hadn’t wrecked his car
Vettel scapegoated to make Lewis Hamilton look fantastic.
Vettel did make an error in Germany but has had to live it over and over again.
Mercedes car was superior, comparing Bottas to Raikkonnen and the incidents Bottas had at the start of the year that weren’t car related, he should’ve been a good 70 points better off.
Hamilton was the best driver this season, but he had the best car too.
Vettel was 2nd best in the 2nd best car. Don’t think anyone can argue otherwise.
Excuses, excuses. The Ferrari was the best car .
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