Behind most of the successful F1 drivers, the team bosses have made a huge contribution. For every Lewis Hamilton there is a Ron Dennis, for every Fernando Alonso a Flavio Briatore and for every Sebastian Vettel a Helmut Marko.
Especially in the case of Sebastian Vettel, as he relies a lot on his old mentor. He’s spoken a few times about calling Helmut Marko as soon as he got the bad news from Ferrari in May.
And the Red Bull agent advised him to take a year off and then come back fresh for 2022. However, Vettel ignored this and signed with the up-and-coming Aston Martin team. Since then, however, things have been going downhill for the German.
Formula 1 F1 – Bahrain Grand Prix – Bahrain International Circuit – March 27, 2021 Sebastian Vettel of Aston Martin. REUTERS / Hamad I Mohammed
The season opener in Bahrain expected to turn a page of their 2020 nightmare with Ferrari and brought back similar haunting experiences. Now its critics are louder than ever. To see how his former protégé suffers fills Helmut Marko with great pain.
In an exclusive interview with the editor-in-chief of Formel1.de, Christian Nimmervoll, he could not hide his feelings.
“I had the opinion […] he should take a year off, sort things out, ask himself what he wants. I believe that a lot is possible in Formula 1 next year. He didn’t do it. Now he is sitting in the Aston Martin, which of course suffers, much like the Mercedes. They are very similar cars. And this race was nowhere near what a break could have brought. “
OPINION: Should Sebastian Vettel have listened to Marko and taken the sabbatical?
At the time Vettel made that decision, it was viewed as a step backwards. He moved from the biggest team to the one with the worst factory in F1. It was the best team available as all the large cockpits were already occupied.
However, as the season progressed, it seemed like the right decision. Lawrence Stroll had great ambitions and put his money where his mouth should support them. Off track, the team was renamed Aston Martin, and just before the end of the season they celebrated their first win at Sakhir.
Things looked good and the positive attitude continued into the off-season and when the car started. However, the problems have started since the racing action started again.
The problem here isn’t the failed pre-season testing or the Bahrain race. That was unique and everyone could shake it off. The real problem here lies in the changes in regulations the FIA made to the floor and diffuser of the cars.
Formula 1 F1 – Eifel Grand Prix – Nürburgring, Nürburg, Germany – October 11, 2020 Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel comes off the track via REUTERS / Ina Fassbender during the racing pool
As Marko said, it has made teams with a low-rake design, mostly Mercedes and Aston Martin battling the back of their cars. We have seen that the German has often lost his SF1000 balance over the past season when he got into a corner and at times did a 360-degree turn.
At the Bahrain GP, those battles came back when he couldn’t control his car in a wheel-to-wheel battle with Esteban Ocon. Unfortunately, this may not be uncommon for him this season. In retrospect, he could have been better off with a sabbatical.
Also, there could be a lot of driver movement in the coming off-season. It wouldn’t be a good sign of his credibility if he didn’t perform this season. But let’s hope they can find a solution to overcome their problems and give him confidence in the car.
Continue reading – Prefer a nervous rear end in a car: Sebastian Vettel contradicts the theory about his driving style
The post Marko regrets that Sebastian Vettel has not followed his advice after his grim F1 debut at Aston Martin first appeared on monter-une-startup.
