Sebastian Vettel’s 2019 woes
If there’s someone who’s been at the receiving end of a lot of criticism in F1, then it’s Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.
8 races done and 13 more to go and here’s Sebastian Vettel, yet to open his account for the current season. Mercedes are already flying and Red Bull are steadily going about reducing the gap between the frontrunners. Ferrari, though, are struggling.
To say that Hamilton has beaten Vettel comprehensively would be to merely state the obvious. Vettel’s struggled even when you compare him with Valtteri Bottas, arguably the strongest driver on the grid, after Lewis Hamilton.
While the Finn has been able to emerge with 2 race wins, one each at Baku and Melbourne, Sebastian Vettel finds his wins column absolutely barren.
One wonders, how does that make him and Mattia Binotto feel?
Apart from the four podium finishes, there’s not much that the former Red Bull driver has been able to garner at the top echelons of motor-racing.
This is both odd and challenging because, at a time where Ferrari are trying to rebuild their campaign, with youngster Charles Leclerc having settled well into his new team, there stands Vettel staring blankly at the 2019 outcomes, one that has seen Mercedes dominate from the word ‘go.’
That said, racing resumes this weekend at Austria, clearly, among the most picturesque racing venues on the calendar, nestled at Speilberg.
At a track where he managed to dissect the two Mercedes drivers in the first practice a few hours ago, Sebastian Vettel, one thinks, would do well to remember what happened when he hit the track in 2018. This, it must be said, is a venue where he’s yet to win.
It was during the second segment of the qualifying on Saturday’s session where the German was penalized for impeding Carlos Sainz Jr.
Yet, he somehow managed to gather a fighting third, behind his then-teammate Kimi Raikkonen.
With a somewhat controversial history at Speilberg with there being no dearth of controversy in the recent times, surrounding the Canadian Grand Prix at Montreal, where Ferrari, it’s safe to say, only embarrassed themselves, Vettel’s future has been subject to much conjecture.
It was being believed that a man who won not one but four world titles previously, may not be a part of the 2020 season. To that end, here’s what both critics and fans ought to know.
Sebastian Vettel has himself shared he has no immediate plans of retiring.
Before he set foot in Austria, here’s what the 2013 world champion had to say to the speculation that’s surrounded his immediate future: