VETTEL AND FERRARI PART WAYS
Sainz to partner Leclerc in 2021
How did it come to this: one of Ferrari’s most successful drivers in history being willingly left to slink out of the back door, a victor of 53 Formula 1 races and four world titles set to be remembered for everything he didn’t win?
There were hints of a Sebastian Vettel decline in 2018, but no dramatic fall from grace. The arrival of Charles Leclerc at Ferrari in 2019 changed everything.
In 18 months or so, Vettel slipped from Ferrari’s number one priority to an error-prone former giant who eventually became surplus to requirements.
A new long-term deal for Leclerc in December last year made it very clear where Ferrari planned its future, and it also signalled the end for Vettel. Around the same time, Ferrari is believed to have held its first serious discussions with Carlos Sainz Jr.
Back then, this was little more than an agreement in principle: ‘in the unlikely event Sebastian quits, you’re our guy’. Now the unlikely event has become reality: Vettel will leave Ferrari at the end of 2020, and possibly say goodbye to F1 for good.
“When taking these decisions it’s because we are convinced we made the right decision,” says Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. “We closed a cycle with Sebastian, it’s been six years he has been working in our team. I admire Sebastian as a person and as a driver.
I hold him in great esteem.
“Over the last weeks the world has changed, not only from an economic point of view but also a technical and sporting point of view. There are challenges and obstacles ahead.
“We are laying the foundations for our future. And we want to have a specific perspective.
“We discussed it with Sebastian and we found out we didn’t share the same short or long-term goals.”
A cynic would follow that up with ‘which one of you didn’t want to win, then?’but the answer is they both wanted to win. But Vettel wanted to win with Ferrari. Ferrari wants to win with Leclerc.
Events over the 2019 season cemented a feeling that Vettel could not be trusted to spearhead Ferrari’s title ambitions, where Leclerc – at only 22 years of age – had convinced Ferrari’s top brass that he could be.
Ferrari’s faith in Vettel had already been shaken by the errors that meant he stumbled out of championship contention in 2018, such as the crash as rain started to fall in Germany or spins in Italy,
Japan and America.
Then as he continued to err in 2019, while Leclerc was robbed of victory on only his second start for the team, the tide irreversibly turned. The image of Leclerc standing atop the Monza podium, after defeating Lewis Hamilton in wheel-towheel combat in a race Vettel spun (again), was a defining one for Ferrari. A few races later there was another: Vettel’s move that caused contact with Leclerc in Brazil and sent both cars into retirement.
All this conspired to make the once unmatchable Vettel completely replaceable. And Ferrari had lined up its replacement – initial conversations were also held with Daniel Ricciardo but Sainz was the chosen one.
There is even speculation it planted a story about Vettel rejecting a derisory offer, to make the reality a little less painful: there was no offer, Ferrari simply didn’t want him that much anymore. It explains why Vettel insisted in the press release announcing the news that money had not played a part. How could it if there was never any on the table?
It appears that Vettel came to the conclusion that his heart wasn’t in continuing with Ferrari anymore.
Whether Ferrari helped push him to that conclusion is unclear, but it’s likely the terms were simple: Vettel wouldn’t be number one, and he was probably not long for Ferrari’s world anyway.
Once the decision was reached it left Ferrari in an easy position, so turned Sainz’s agreement in principle into a fully-fledged, two-year deal.
This is why Sainz’s appointment alongside Charles Leclerc, and Ricciardo’s move to replace Sainz at Mclaren, happened so quickly.
The discussions had been taking place for months.
“I’ve come to learn in Formula 1 don’t expect anything except for the unexpected,” says Mclaren CEO Zak Brown. “We had a sense, we started talking to Carlos in the off-season about his future with us and whether he wanted to drive for Mclaren or Ferrari.
“We’ve got a very strong, open relationship with Carlos, his management and his father. This didn’t come as a surprise, given how quickly we announced Daniel, and how quickly Carlos announced what he was doing.
“We were very joined up through this entire process.”
And the comment that cements the feeling that Vettel’s days were numbered – even if he wanted to stay: “I think these movements would have probably happened with or without Covid-19, because we started these conversations pre-covid.”
Vettel’s not made his next move clear, possibly because he is still coming to terms with the reality of his situation: a four-time world champion, who should be in the prime of his career, with a surprisingly short list of options.
But that fits the narrative that Ferrari and Mclaren were planning for this scenario for a long time. It’s why Mclaren never considered Vettel: whereas if Sainz’s exit was a sudden consequence of Vettel’s
shock departure, Mclaren would have needed to draw up a shortlist and Vettel’s name would almost certainly be on it.
“Obviously Seb’s an awesome driver and a four-time champion,” Brown says. “But I think we were pretty far down the path in the off-season and knew we would either land with Daniel or Carlos.
“We never really entertained anyone beyond that, and especially with Seb’s late breaking news – we were pretty far down the path at that point.”
Of course, it’s no guarantee Vettel would have wanted to devote time at this stage of his career to a team with work to do. Slumming it in the midfield is not befitting of a man with so many wins and titles.
Vettel and Renault – which is furious at Ricciardo’s exit, despite the Australian objectively doing little wrong – are the jilted parties in all this. But that doesn’t mean they are going to form their own relationship out of spite. Renault’s yet to convince anyone but itself that it is capable of progressing towards being a championship challenger.
In all likelihood, Vettel’s F1 career will end with the 2020 season. His wording in his Ferrari announcement, combined with the shift in his standing in the team, was indicative of a man who believes F1 has offered all it can.
Time at home with his growing family in these extraordinary Covid-19 times has, it seems, altered Vettel’s perspective. “What’s been happening in these past few months has led many of us to reflect on what are our real priorities in life,” he says. “One needs to use one’s imagination and to adopt a new approach to a situation that has changed.
“I myself will take the time I need to reflect on what really matters when it comes to my future.”
Assuming there is a 2020 season to be completed, Vettel still has time to further his legacy at Ferrari and in F1.
Ferrari’s shift towards Leclerc means any title challenge will likely be undertaken by the young Monegasque, if the SF1000 is even good enough – of that there are no guarantees, given Ferrari’s performance in pre-season testing.
But a competitive Ferrari is all Vettel needs to remind the world, and the team letting him disappear at the end of the year, why he was won as many grands prix as he has.
This is a man who compares favourably with Ferrari’s greats, at least statistically. But he has not clinched the big prize, or even won over fans with heroic exploits like Gilles Villeneuve or valiant near-misses like Fernando Alonso.
What should be said in Vettel’s defence is that the dream to emulate Michael Schumacher’s title-winning exploits at Ferrari were sold by a hierarchy that has changed considerably over the years.
The chairman/team boss combination that hired Vettel – Sergio Marchionne/ Marco Mattiacci - changed almost immediately and Ferrari’s prospects were fundamentally limited under Maurizio Arrivavene, a yielding Marchionne right-hand man who often seemed incapable of individual thought and only focused on carrying out his master’s wishes.
That did not gel with Vettel’s need for an ‘arm around the shoulder’team boss, as he had at Red Bull with Christian Horner. Nor did it get the most out of the team, and when Vettel spoke out about that he was told in no uncertain terms to mind his own business.
By the time Ferrari started to get its act together, Vettel had been worn down. Perhaps that’s where the chinks in the armour came from. Regardless, only a driver and team at the top of their game could have achieved more than Vettel managed with Ferrari in this era: and those two factors were rarely aligned.
It is worth remembering that Vettel’s time with Ferrari would have been significantly more successful – probably to the tune of at least two world titles – if it did not coincide with the freakish phenomenon that is the Hamiltonmercedes alliance.
To be defeated by arguably the greatest combination in F1 history is hardly a resounding failure. Perhaps, when the dust settles on Vettel’s career, this period will be looked on with greater sympathy.
The harshness of the errors will at least fade with time. When only the numbers are left, Vettel’s still a statistical marvel: more wins than any but Michael Schumacher and Hamilton, more titles than any but those two and
Juan Manuel Fangio.
When all is said and done, even this inglorious, unfitting exit cannot take the shine off Vettel’s tremendous career.
“We did not share the same long- or short-tem goals” Mattia Binotto