Ex-F1 Team Owner Suggests Sebastian Vettel Fell From Grace Since Germany 2018

The F1 world was quite stunned when Sebastian Vettel elected to leave Ferrari at the end of 2020. The German has often faced criticism for constantly ‘bottling it’ and cracking under pressure. One of them is Minardi F1 founder Giancarlo Minardi.

Admittedly, a four-time world champion of Vettel’s calibre deserves more credit and respect from Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel obviously values himself highly, but Ferrari don’t feel the same. Minardi confessed that he understands the position that Ferrari are taking with regard to the 4-time world champion.

The former team owner told La Gazzetta dello Sport that he also followed Ferrari’s example. According to the Italian, the COVID-19 crisis offers Ferrari a golden opportunity to re-evaluate itself and plan for the future. Clearly, Ferrari took that opportunity and Vettel was no longer part of that future.

Minardi said, “It is clear that Leclerc has the future on the track. Seb has been in crisis since Hockenheim two years ago. I don’t know how the relationship with Ferrari has been since then, but something has certainly changed. The arrival of Leclerc only made it worse. He showed that he is faster with the same car.”

Where did it all go wrong for Sebastian Vettel?

The Italian has a theory on where exactly Vettel’s downward spiral began. He alluded to the mistake Vettel made in 2018 on a slippery Hockenheim. At that definitive moment, he lost the connection with Lewis Hamilton in the championship. For the second year in a row he saw the chance to become champion with Ferrari falling apart.

Since then Vettel would have made too many individual mistakes and lost speed. According to Minardi, his age and the fact that he has a family could be reasons for this. Carlos Sainz is in his eyes the perfect replacement, although the experience of Daniel Ricciardo can’t hurt.