What next for Sebastian Vettel?
The writing's been on the wall for a while now but the reality did seem to hit Sebastian Vettel hard on Sunday when Lewis Hamilton was finally crowned the world champion for the 5th time. Vettel did cut a sorry figure of a man who has been comprehensively outclassed in a battle that was fought as heavily on the track as it was in the head.
Vettel, for his part, had his moments. Just like last year, it was too close to call between the two until the summer break and then when the time came to tighten the screws, it was again the Mercedes/Lewis combination that prevailed. Losing the championship two years in a row, especially, one of which he arguably should have won, Sebastian needs to ask some serious questions about what went wrong and what would he need to do to beat not only Lewis but also the indomitable opposition in Lewis and Mercedes.
Many people in the Italian media are calling for his head but keeping in mind how fickle the Italians can be, that would be the last thing on his mind. A change of scenery seems out of question with his contract sealed till 2020 and not that many options are now available for him to move either. And that brings into the focus the crucial aspects which ultimately led to Vettel's defeat -- the driver and team behind him.
Cutting down on the errors
BBC's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson noted down as many as 8 costly mistakes that Vettel has made throughout the season and that ultimately did cost him the title because the speed of the car was good enough. Vettel at many junctures of this season had almost seemed desperate when things were not going his way and that invariably led to unforced errors that crept up in a heap. If anything, Sebastian doesn't need to look too far but just at his old team and see what Max was able to achieve when he was able to alter some parts of his driving, which helped him produce one of the best seasons of his career till now.
But for Vettel, this is as much a mental fight because a lot of these errors reflect a hint of desperation that's become a feature of his driving ever since he's stepped into the Ferrari colours.
Team Environment
There is something eerily similar when you look at the dominant reigns in Formula One in the past and present. It was something that Schumacher built from the ground during his reign at Ferrari while both Vettel and Lewis were gifted with during their respective reigns at Red Bull and Mercedes, and that was a strong and stable core unit.
Schumacher had Todt, Brawn and Rory Byrne at Ferrari, Vettel had Horner, Helmut Marko, and Newey while Lewis in Mercedes has had Toto, Lauda and Aldo Costa. If you look at Ferrari in recent years, it has always been going through one turmoil or the other with even Bernie Ecclestone stating that Ferrari is "too Italian" for its own good.
So many personnel have come and gone and every time the team seems to be in a situation of turbulence by the time the season reaches Monza. Even this year there were rumours of a power struggle between Binnoto and Arrivabene during the Italian GP. The effect was clearly visible during the weeks around it, and the team suffered badly during this time and Sebastian's errors on track didn't help himself either. It is this lack of stability that ails Ferrari and is their biggest handicap, as compared to the opposition.
2018 was a year in which more than the team it is Vettel whose image has taken a massive hit and, in so many ways, how he deals with 2019 and how he navigates through that season is going to go some way in defining where he stands in the pantheon of greats of the sport. As for now, Lewis seems to be comfortably head and shoulders above him in that listing.
But if there is a fact that he could look up to for inspiration then it is that 2019 will be Vettel's 5th year at Ferrari and his idol, mentor and close friend Michael Schumacher himself won his first title with Ferrari in his 5th year with the team,
Will history repeat itself?