If you think back in time and look at the history of Formula One, you may start to think of drivers such as Fangio, Senna, Prost and Schumacher. You may also think of Formula One's longest and most successful team; Scuderia Ferrari. The team known as the "Prancing Horse" has guided a good handful of drivers to World Championship Victory, thus gaining a very valuable reputation in the world of motorsport. For the 2015 season, one of Formula One's most notable, current drivers; Sebastian Vettel, joined the Italian outlet, where, after a number of tough years, the team were back on track. As of 2018, Ferrari and Vettel had a decent start to the season but slowly things began to change. The partnership that many Ferrari and Vettel fans had dreamed of, was turning into a nightmare. But why? Here, I look at some points as to why this could be.
Scuderia Ferrari. A team of history. Debuted in Formula One in the 1950's, taking part in every single Formula One round since the beginning. Sebastian Vettel. A four time Formula One World Champion. Made his debut in 2007, racing for BMW Sauber. Since the start, Ferrari had always been Vettel's goal. And in 2015, that goal was achieved.
It is no lie that Vettel and Ferrari have been a match made in heaven. A team that is so passionate about it's sport and a driver that is so passionate about his job. A perfect pairing which has more than proved itself on track with Vettel challenging for the championship since his inaugural season with the team. And, the beginning of 2018 was no different, winning the first two races of the seasons, Vettel was a majority's favourite to win the championship this year. Now, with only six races to go of this 2018 season, what has gone wrong?
I think first of all, the one thing we cannot ignore is the strange strategy calls coming from the Ferrari team. Pitting at the wrong time, putting on the wrong tyre and/or leaving the car out for to long, to name a few. Teams, especially with Ferrari's experience and reputation cannot be making mistakes like this. It's a rookie error. The practice sessions are there for a reason. The teams have data and telemetry for a reason. It's almost like the team ignore this and do what they want. In fact, it reminds me of a very infamous quote from Kimi Raikkonen; "Leave Me Alone, I Know What I'm Doing." Well, you'd think Ferrari should know what their doing but obviously not. You can't deny, being a strategist in a team is a hard, pressurized job and you can't expect them to get it right every single time. But there is a different between one time and four/five. And, the pressure of the strategies is starting to wear onto the drivers, especially Sebastian Vettel. Raikkonen probably just doesn't care.
This leads me onto my next point, the drivers. As this post is focused purely on Vettel, that is who I'll focus on. Sebastian Vettel has had his fair share of errors this year. A handful being rookie errors. However, despite that, they are errors in which valuable points have been thrown away. With these extra points Vettel would be leading the championship but that is not the case. Has the pressure of mistakes from the team gotten to the four time world champion? Or, is he just being impatient? Probably both. Seeing Lewis Hamilton winning championship after championship must be painful. Patience will run out sooner or later.
Talking about patience, comes my third point; criticism from the driver. When the driver criticizes his team, something is not right. In this case, with the teams troubles, you can understand why Vettel points this out. However, the guys in the team work just as hard as the driver and it's almost an insult when the driver starts to ask questions. Has Vettel's passion and sensibility strained his relationship with the team? Possibly.
So, how do Ferrari and Vettel work around this? Personally, I think the structure of the team itself needs looking into. Communication is a key and it's like the team has none of it bar Vettel. With better communication, strategies are more precise, consistency returns, making the team calmer and with less mistakes made. They have the car, they have the driver. But right now, they don't have the team.
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