FERRARI & VETTEL: A DREAM TURNING INTO A NIGHTMARE

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.

STOFFEL VANDOORNE: WHATS GONE WRONG

If you look at the amount of drivers on the grid, you may be able to pin point a certain few who are just a walking bag of bad luck this year. Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso and the one which, in my opinion, has had one heck of a time as of late; Stoffel Vandoorne. In no way, shape or form, does a driver with Stoffel's credibility, have a talent that suddenly "disappears." It's a mystery I am eager to solve. A driver like Stoffel deserves his place on the Formula One grid but why is it just not working out for him?

Stoffel Vandoorne was born in Belgium in the month of March 1992. It wasn't until, at the age of six, during a visit to a local karting track that the Belgian found his passion for motorsport. During his first few years of karting professionally, like many young racers starting out, Stoffel was hindered by a lack of funds. However, he went onto win the Belgian KF2 Championship and finished as a runner up in the CIK-FIA World Cup in 2009. Having a total of 45,000 euros as his winnings, Stoffel could start his racing car career.

Stoffel spent his first season in single-seaters racing in the F4 Eurocup 1.6 series where he won the championship with his first attempt. Because of this, he graduated into the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 series for the following year. He finished fifth overall in this championship before going onto win the title the following year which helped him move up another series, this time to Formula Renault 3.5 where he would come face to face with fellow Formula One drivers Kevin Magnussen and later on in the championship year; Carlos Sainz. After a tough season fighting against the Dane that was Magnussen, Stoffel ended the year in second, just points behind Magnussen. At the end of that year, Stoffel left the Formula Renault family and moved to the GP2 series where it took him only two attempts to win the championship. It was in this year, 2015, in which Stoffel started to catch people's eyes. He dominated that years GP2 season, winning the championship with 108 points difference to his nearest contender, American; Alexander Rossi.

However, due to the limited amount of seats available in Formula One, Stoffel would not graduate to the series for the 2016 season. McLaren sent him to race in Super Formula, finishing fourth overall in that series. But Stoffel didn't have to feel disappointed about missing out on a Formula One seat for the 2016 season for long. Due a catastrophic crash in Melbourne, Fernando Alonso was injured and thus had to sit out the following round in Bahrain. Stoffel was called up and made his debut that weekend. It is more than fair to say that Stoffel impressed many on his debut. He first managed to out-qualify teammate Jenson Button on his first attempt before going onto score points in the race when he finished tenth. Stoffel became the first reserve driver since Sebastian Vettel in 2007 to score points on their debut.

Later that year, current McLaren driver Jenson Button announced his retirement from the sport and that Stoffel Vandoorne would be the guy to replace him. I, personally, was looking forward to seeing Stoffel race a full season in Formula One. After seeing him race in his early single-seater career, I believed we were in for something special. However, things just didn't go as planned.

Stoffel finished a miserable sixteenth in his first full season in Formula One. Although at this point, McLaren were racing with a very ureliable Honda engine. So, seeing both McLaren's finish the season near the bottom of the table was no surprise. However, with a change to engine suppliers for the 2018 season, many were expecting both McLaren drivers to be back on it. Scoring points and possibly podiums but we are now over half way through the season and Stoffel currently sits sixteenth in the championship with a mear eight points.

It is no lie that McLaren are still struggling. But does this prove, with their new engine, that Honda were not to blame at all?

Stoffel has literally been no where bar the back of the grid this season. Where as Fernando has been, at best, just below the top ten. But what annoys me most is that people are looking at Stoffel's recent performance, race results and qualifying compared to Fernando and writing him off. Let's delve into this a bit more. If you look at all of Fernando Alonso's teammates in the past ten or so years, Stoffel is the guy who has been closest to him, racing wise. You could say it has been a bit unfair for Stoffel to go into Formula One with Fernando Alonso as a teammate. Fernando is supposedly the best in the world. And, with a car as temperamental as McLaren's and an engine as unreliable as Renault's, things just haven't been fair on the Belgian. There is no way Stoffel has lost his talent. He's been unlucky. If he looses his Formula One seat after this weekend then a talent has been lost. McLaren or another team need to give him a chance. This guy has a lot more to show us yet.

THE YOUNG BULL

Throughout the years, many a driver has come and gone from the Red Bull family. Some have gone onto achieve great things, other's failed when it mattered most. However, is Red Bull's most recent "young gun;" Max Verstappen, the best there's ever been? And, why has the criticism he has received of late been a very important part of his development as a racing driver? I look at the Dutchman's career so far and determine whether he will one day be one of, if not, THE best.

Max Emilian Verstappen, born on 30th September 1997 in Hasselt, Belgium, is the son of a former Formula One driver and an ex-kart racer. Since the day he was born, motorsport has been in his blood and his heart. The youngster began karting at aged four and a half and won his first karting title in 2006 before going onto win numerous more throughout the years. 2013 soon came around the corner and Verstappen, then only sixteen, got his first experience in a single seater racing car before contesting two full-time drives in 2014.

Verstappen's performance in the 2014 Formula 3 season, finishing third and winning ten races in the process, was an eye opener to a number of Formula One teams, including Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. In August of that year, Verstappen joined the Red Bull Junior Team and only six days later, he was to be confirmed as a race driver for Red Bull's sister team; Toro Rosso, for the following year.

A controversial move from the Red Bull team soon put all the critic's minds at ease. The then 17 year old, found himself consistently scoring points and performing overtakes that one could simply remember for a long time after. The following year was more frustrating. His then teammate; Carlos Sainz Jr, would often contest him, showing similar pace and consistency. This caused an awkward tension within the team and following that season's Russian Grand Prix, Verstappen found himself thrown into the main team; Red Bull Racing. Again, due to the youngsters experience and the "sole" reason for his move (Daniil Kvyat's demotion), this move was also seen as some sort of controversy. But in pure Verstappen fashion, the critics were again silenced when he won his first race for the team. Something no one was to expect as of yet.

Verstappen continued to impress with numerous podiums and consisten finishes in the points. However, it wasn't long before things began to change. The Dutchman brought out his aggressive side, with numerous drivers coming forward to complain of the danger. He cleaned up his driving for the following season, however, due to being plagued by constant mechanical failures, it became an unlucky year. He is currently still driving for Red Bull Racing and in recent times has again received a number of complaints due to his aggressive nature. However, the Dutchman is still consistent and CAN race aggressivley yet cleanly. His most recent win came at the 2018 Austrian Grand Prix, a circuit Red Bull usually struggle at.

So, is Verstappen just that one lucky kid who managed to live his dream with barely any experience or is he seriously one of the best?

I think the latter. Max Verstappen is a driver like no other. To get to Formula One with barely any experience is something no one could ever imagine happening to them. Of course at times his inexperience shows and I, among others, may sometimes wonder if he needed a year in GP3 or GP2 just to give him that extra boost.

However, he is proving the world and I wrong. His driving style is special. Aggressive but beautiful. I for one admire his skill. Like Ayrton Senna once said; "If you no longer go for a gap that exists, you are no longer a racing driver." Max Verstappen will one day be a world champion, maybe multiple. And if this never happens, I will eat my socks. You have my word.