Formula 1: Ferrari cannot afford to prioritize Sebastian Vettel in 2019

Ferrari have prioritized four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel in recent years, but they cannot afford to do so in the 2019 season.

It is no secret that four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel has been prioritized by Scuderia Ferrari during his tenure with the team, which began in the 2015 season.

In his first four seasons driving for the Prancing Horse, the 31-year-old German earned 13 victories, 45 podium finishes and 10 pole positions. Meanwhile, 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen, who was his teammate in each of those four seasons, earned only one victory, 26 podium finishes and two pole positions.

While there were circumstances where this situation was debatable, Ferrari had every right to prioritize the driver who they believed gave them the best chance to win their first driver championship since, ironically, Raikkonen won it in the 2007 season.

Vettel was undoubtedly that driver.

But throughout the course of the 2018 season, Ferrari had the chance to sign Raikkonen to another contract for at least the 2019 season. There was lots of speculation both that they would do so and that they would not do so.

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That speculation ended on Tuesday, September 11, 2018 when the Maranello-based team announced that the 39-year-old Finn would not be returning to the team in the 2019 season and he was subsequently signed by Alfa Romeo Sauber (now Alfa Romeo Racing).

Instead, Ferrari signed Sauber rookie and former Ferrari Driver Academy member Charles Leclerc to a deal that was later revealed to be for at least the next four seasons, meaning that the 21-year-old Monegasque is set to become Vettel’s teammate starting this year.

Vettel signed a three-year contract extension with the team in the 2017 season to continue driving for the team through the 2020 season, so he and Leclerc are set to be teammates for at least the next two years.

But the Scuderia cannot afford to prioritize Vettel now that they have signed Leclerc. The reason for this is simple, but there are a few key elements of it.

First of all, if Ferrari wanted to prioritize Vettel, they should have just re-signed Raikkonen. Raikkonen was a fantastic team player during his four seasons as Vettel’s teammate, as noted above, and he would have been more than willing to continue to play that role.

After all, despite the fact that he lost his ride with Ferrari at the age of 39, he signed with Alfa Romeo Racing, a team for which the odds of him even finishing a single race in the top five driving are very low. He easily could have retired.

But the fact is, Ferrari’s strategy with prioritizing Vettel over Raikkonen did not work. Yes, it had its ups and downs, but it ultimately fell short of producing what would have been the team’s first driver championship since the 2007 season and their first constructor championship since the 2008 season.

While this may be hard to swallow for some, the main reason that this strategy failed was not the fact that Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport, the team whose drivers have combined to win each of the last five driver championships and the team that have won each of the last five constructor championships, have been the top team in Formula 1.

The main reason that this strategy failed was Vettel.

If not for the plethora of mistakes that he made down the stretch in both the 2017 and 2018 seasons as a result of unforced errors, he could very well be a six-time champion as opposed to a four-time champion, and Ferrari could very well have won at least their first constructor championship in the V6 turbo hybrid era, which began in the 2014 season.

Ferrari signing Leclerc as opposed to Raikkonen for the 2019 season was more than simply replacing an aging veteran with a driver barely half of his age. It was a full on abandonment of a strategy that had produced several race wins but no championships during the time it was implemented.

With Leclerc being well beyond his years when it comes to his ability to avoid making mistakes, Ferrari cannot afford to prioritize the mistake-prone Vettel, who has proven time and time again that he cannot beat Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton over the course of a full season even when Ferrari seem to have a slight advantage over the Silver Arrows, which was the case for the majority of last season.

The amount of points that Vettel has surrendered to Hamilton through unforced errors over the course of the last two seasons is downright ridiculous; it is well over 100.

Generally speaking, there are pros and cons to letting a 21-year-old rising star learn behind a 31-year-old who is one of the greatest drivers in the history of Formula 1, especially in that rising star’s first season competing for one of the sport’s top teams right now and by far the most successful team in the sport’s history.

But Leclerc is capable of being a threat to win races and perhaps the championship right now. After a rookie season during which he scored 36 points on 10 top 10 finishes for a team whose other drivers from the 2016 season through the 2018 season scored only 16 points on nine top 10 finishes, it is no secret that he is, quite simply, a stud.

Whether or not Leclerc caves to the pressure of driving for Ferrari remains to be seen, but the 2016 GP3 Series champion and 2017 Formula 2 champion does not seem like the kind of driver who would let that kind of pressure get to him. Assuming he doesn’t, Ferrari will ultimately be grateful that they did not prioritize Vettel.

How will the battle between Ferrari teammates Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel play out throughout the course of the 21-race 2019 Formula 1 season? Who will end up finishing higher in the driver standings, and will that driver be this year’s champion? Where will the team finish in the constructor standings?

The Australian Grand Prix is scheduled to get the season underway in under two days, as it is set to begin at 1:10 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 17. It is set to be broadcast live from Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit in Melbourne, Australia on ESPN, so be sure to tune in to it.