VETTEL BANKS ON ‘MANSELL MOUSTACHE’
Ferrari ace hopes facial hair tribute to ‘The Lion’ can help end Mercedes domination
THE newly moustachioed Sebastian Vettel looks like Nigel Mansell — ‘The Lion’ — and now has to roar like him. Trampled by Lewis Hamilton’s brilliance last season, and with the expectations of pre-season form having evaporated in the opening round in Melbourne, Vettel requires a quick riposte in this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix to keep his season — and, one guesses, his confidence — afloat.
He was in cheerful mood in the desert paddock this week, relishing the facial-hair sported by the 1992 world champion.
“I like old Nigel,” said Vettel. “He is a great person and he was a lion in the car. I bloody hope Melbourne was a one-off. The key factor for me is that I drove a car in testing that I really liked and I didn’t have much to moan or complain about.
“Then we went to Australia and it wasn’t there. We have done lots of analysis since and we hope it’s back to where it was.”
Yes, the evidence of practice in Friday’s dark cool evening air was that they will not be out of the picture today on this twinkling circuit built on an old camel farm.
Vettel topped the time sheets with Charles Leclerc in the other Ferrari second. They were a commanding six-tenths of a second ahead of the Mercedes AMG Petronas.
This is a track on which Vettel has traditionally excelled. His
four victories here put him ahead of anyone else. Hamilton, by contrast, has won only twice in Bahrain.
Putting aside local factors, one question at the heart of Vettel’s season is whether he will retain adequate self-belief if it comes down to a close scrap with Hamilton for the title?
Was he not damaged by the Mercedes man beating him last season despite having a faster car for part of the campaign?
The Briton held his nerve, pushing Vettel to his limits and beyond. The German cracked and his team fractured. Bruised?
“No,” insists Vettel, rationalising it the way sportsmen must.
“I didn’t lose out personally against Lewis. It is always a team effort and we got beaten fair and square, me and them, by Lewis and Mercedes. It didn’t come down to one thing.
“No, I am not bruised by the experience, but it is not nice to finish second —let’s put it that way — but there were plenty of positives. We built a strong car and we developed it until the end of the summer break and then it got wobbly. We developed the car in the wrong direction but it was not a horrible ride.”
If Vettel wins today it would end a 215-day wait for a victory, since Spa last August. It would also provide the season with the lift it needs.
An internal Mercedes fight between Hamilton and the man who unusually beat him in Melbourne, Valtteri Bottas, would be too narrow to be much fun. And we all know who the winner would end up being, and probably with some ease. So step up, the new Nigel.
Williams, meanwhile, have appointed Patrick Head as a consultant to help steer them out of their malaise. The engineering grandee, who co-founded the team with Sir Frank Williams in 1976 and remains a shareholder, has started work on a short-term basis.