When Sebastian Vettel joined Ferrari two years ago, he had hoped to be able to do what his predecessor Fernando Alonso could not and bring the world championship back to the scarlet team.
Now, though, a winless season in 2016 and multiple team personnel shuffled around through the season, mean tensions are once again running high at Maranello.
People think a big change needs to be made at Ferrari, for the Scuderia to become successful once again but is Vettel the key factor to success for Ferrari, or could there be another answer to their nine years of failing to win a world title?
After the first season together, Vettel and Ferrari looked to be a force to be reckoned with. The new partnership brought three victories and a failure to place on the podium only four times over the 19 races. The torrid beginning to the V6-turbo era for Ferrari, that had seen an ugly and public fallout with Alonso, appeared to be behind them. They were Mercedes’ closest rival and managing to reduce the advantage the Brackley team had over the field. Alonso had appeared to jump ship too early.
Another year down the line, however, and it could very easily feel like 2014 again for the Tifosi. The season started off poorly for Vettel, who failed to complete two of the first four races. Reliability issues also saw Kimi Räikkönen take an early exit from the Australian Grand Prix with Vettel failing to make it to the starting grid next race in Bahrain.
A team that had only a few months earlier been the best of the rest was then surpassed as Red Bull replaced them. Vettel’s former team completely dominated Ferrari in the latter stages of the season, raising rumours that the German may be looking for a way back into the team he had had all of his success with.
A Ferrari driver stood on the podium just 10 times in 2016, and most of these podiums came at the beginning of the season whilst Red Bull was still developing their car.
Vettel’s annoyance at Ferrari’s lack of success was clear in his frustrated radio messages to the team. In press conferences, Vettel would not slate the team openly but his opinions whilst racing the car made his stance apparent: he was not happy with the state of the car and the team and he wanted something done about it.
Just like his idol, Michael Schumacher, Vettel is attempting to build Ferrari around him, something that had been a factor during all his success at Red Bull. It worked for Schumacher in his peak Ferrari years and was clearly the attitude that Vettel had taken in his approach to team relationships.
The difference between the Schumacher situation and the Vettel one is that Schumacher brought in a lot of his own team members when he joined Ferrari. A similar thing could be said for Alonso during his tenure at Ferrari. The Spaniard brought in James Allison whom he had had a great working relationship with and success with at his time in Renault. Vettel, on the other hand, has not followed this approach. Entering into Ferrari on his own, he has been forced to shape embedded team members to be ‘his’ men.
It cannot be said that Vettel is not one of the most dedicated and hard working drivers on the current grid, but it is assumed that he took this mentality to Ferrari and attempted to build the team around him. It has been seen this year that team principal Maurizio Arrivabene may not be entirely on board with the German’s attitude.
After the Malaysian Grand Prix, Arrivabene came out in a Sky Sports Italia interview, stating that: “Sebastian just needs to focus on the car. He is a person who gives so much, and sometimes this means he is interested in a bit of everything – so sometimes you have to re-focus him, remind him to be focused on the main job.”
Whilst this comment is not so much a criticism of Vettel’s attitude, it also is not a compliment. When paired with the quote from Arrivabene that states “it is only right that anyone, no matter who it is, earns their place and their salary” it really begins to raise concern for the German’s future. Does Ferrari feel that it no longer needs Vettel and his four championships that he won with another team?
Vettel has been insistent that there is no feud between Arrivabene and him, but reading between the lines highlights that could not strictly be true. The contract Vettel signed at the end of 2014 had the option of a two-year extension. This contract is apparently ready to be signed but no signature has been put to the document. Could this be a decision on Vettel’s part, with the German deciding to see if any success comes from Ferrari next year, or is this Ferrari holding the cards and demanding he ‘earn his salary’ before they extend his contract?
Next year will be a very important one in terms of Ferrari’s success and progress. The talk of the paddock is that the McLaren Honda package will be a big step up from its 2016 challenger, with rumours of it being a consistent challenger for the top five.
If this was the case and McLaren surpassed Ferrari next year, dropping the Scuderia to fourth, it would be a cause of great concern. It would mean that Alonso’s campaign, something that started so woefully in 2015, would now be more successful that the Ferrari campaign he left behind. A campaign that, at the time, a lot of people were highly critical of him leaving.
It could indicate a slip in the Ferrari performance and show that the team is potentially never going to get on top of the V6-turbo era. The chances for a championship would diminish immensely. Where would that leave Vettel, who had crossed over to the Scuderia to try and match his hero’s seven world championships and bring glory back to a team that have been eclipsed by the others since 2008?
Ferrari needs to sort out their team management issues. Having lost James Allison halfway through the year the team structure seems to be in disarray and have no solid planning or foresight in action. A return of Ross Brawn to revitalise the team could be exactly what is needed, but Brawn has already dismissed doing anything of the sort. Maybe a fresh face at the top is what is needed. Someone to come in and sort out the team structuring issues at Ferrari and get some positive actions in place.
Could this be the end of Arrivabene? Has his failed 2016 campaign been enough to lose him his place at the top of Ferrari? Stefano Domenicali was dropped after five years without producing success, and even Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was axed from the programme at the end of 2014. Too little success in Ferrari does not usually lead to contract extensions.
Whatever the future holds for Ferrari, it is clear they need to get back on top quickly. It is important for the sport that there are multiple teams fighting for wins and pole positions each weekend as much as it is important for the team. Vettel can be successful in Ferrari, but there is a chance he will suffer the ‘Alonso factor’ and find himself in a team unable to express
Vettel can be successful in Ferrari, but there is a chance he will suffer the ‘Alonso factor’ and find himself in a team unable to express its full potential. Will he stick around through the tough times and try and help the team grow? Or will he jump ship at the first sign of trouble, like some believe he did in 2014 with Red Bull?
