When Sebastian Vettel accepted his Autosport International Racing Driver of the Year award in 2013, he opened up with a few interesting stories. He recounted the tale of the Hungarian Grand Prix and the qualifying session in particular. According to the German, he had done a decent lap time. Additionally, the pole position fight with Lewis Hamilton was close.
However, Red Bull motorsport advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko, was not completely satisfied with Vettel’s performance. Apparently, when Vettel was at his most vulnerable, changing in his hotel room, Marko barged in. Sebastian Vettel imitated Marko’s voice and said, “You f**ked that one right up.”
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When Vettel asked him to point out the errors, Marko said, “Yeah, Turn 5 I’ve seen it. You lost more than 5 hundredths, if you only copied the lap from Q2 into Turn 5, you’ll have pole.”
Sebastian Vettel on his relationship with Helmut Marko
Vettel confessed that he and the Austrian share a decent relationship, though his little story does little to prove that. However, Marko was not afraid to speak his mind and bluntly spoke the truth. So the older Red Bull representative gave Vettel a massive ‘b******ing’ for ‘f***ing up’ and not clinching pole position.
Years later, Sebastian Vettel would jump ship to Scuderia Ferrari after several years in the Red Bull family. Admittedly, he has not met the same amount of success that Red Bull brought him, and his mistakes are only increasing. Regardless of what many critics think, he is considered a top-class F1 driver. Furthermore, Scuderia Ferrari knows that he is a valuable asset.
The only question is, Can Sebastian Vettel regain his mojo and put up a stiffer challenge? To be perfectly honest, the arrival of Charles Leclerc makes things increasingly difficult, as he has already beaten Vettel on equal grounds. Despite this, the four-time world champion is not about to give up. He will surely take the fight to Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
