In an interview with ESPN F1 today, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner believes that a number of factors have contributed to Sebastian Vettel’s disappointing performances this year, including fatigue from five years of fighting for the title.
Vettel who is the four-time champion has scored 88 points this year, but has struggled to match the performances of his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo who has scored 131 points. In his interview with ESPN F1 today, Horner said the energy exerted in the past five years (in which Vettel won four titles) has taken its toll on his driver, who has also struggled to adapt to the new regulations. Horner stated the following:-
‘It is a combination of several things. First, when you have fought for the title for five years, it does wear you out a little bit, but that is not the fundamental problem. The way Sebastian brought out those extra tenths from the car in recent years was quite unique. He is very sensitive to the behaviour of the car, especially when braking.’
If you take what Horner has stated about Vettel and his performances this year, it is clear that he is struggling to extract pace and performance from the car unlike his team mate Ricciardo. But I feel that if Vettel can pinpoint exactly what areas he needs to improve, he will see Vettel and his performances improve a fair bit.
Even though there is no question that Horner is right by saying that Vettel fighting for his four consecutive championships may have contributed to his current level of performance, it would not in my opinion have contributed massively but would have been a small part of it. But as Horner says it could be a combination of several things that may or may not have shaped the way Vettel has performed this year, but I do firmly believe that the new challenge that Formula One has presented to the teams and its drivers is the main factor for Vettel’s performances so far this season.
Further on in his interview, Horner believes Vettel has “lost part of his feeling for the car”, adding that his star driver used to drive “like a ballerina, dancing on the throttle and the brakes”. Horner added the following:-
‘The driveability was really bad [at the start of this year], so Seb could not look after the tyres in the way that he always has done. His pace in Hungary showed he is getting the feeling for the car back again.’
As Horner points out, the car at the beginning of the year was very bad at the start of the season but they have managed since then to improve upon this. But over the past few races, we have seen Vettel especially in Hungary showing that he has not lost any of his talent and is starting to get to grips with the RB10 and is able to extract some good performance out of it.
There is no denying that Red Bull and Renault struggled to get the RB10 running, let alone performing, during pre-season testing and the majority of reliability issues have afflicted Vettel’s car. In the latter stages of his interview, Horner believes the reduced track time is also a factor in Vettel’s struggle. Horner said the following:-
‘We can’t forget how many mechanical problems Sebastian has had – many of them just little things that have disrupted his flow. So he has had less time to adapt his driving style.’
There is no question that during the first part of the season that Vettel has suffered many mechanical problems that have forced him to retire from a few races. It would be stupid not to think that these problems wouldn’t have affected Vettel improving, because it would affect him slightly.
In regards to what Horner has said today, I agree that a combination of factors have contributed to his performances this season. You can understand if fatigue as Horner has stated has contributed after winning four titles consecutively, but I feel it has only contributed slightly.
I strongly feel that the new technical challenges that have been introduced starting this season have affected Vettel massively. There is no question that the problems that Red Bull suffered in pre-season testing was something that Vettel didn’t want or needed and as he looked into the first race of the season, he would have been rightly worried about how he and the team would perform.
Throughout the course of the season, Vettel hasn’t been able to extract the pace and performance he needed in order to keep himself in the running to secure a fifth world title (even though he is not mathematically out of the running), while also trying to outperform his team mate out on the track.
But there is no denying that Vettel has done the best job he could despite the problems with the RB10 and also the bad luck he has suffered that have led to him retiring from a few races this season. But I feel that if Vettel looks back at his performance in Hungary, there are signs that if he can build upon what he achieved there and have a better second half to the season than the first. It is still achievable for Vettel and if anyone can do it, it is Vettel without a shadow of a doubt.
