Formula 1: It would be foolish to count Sebastian Vettel out this early

By Benjamin Kuhl | Apr 4, 2019

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 15: Sebastian Vettel of Germany and Ferrari prepares to drive in the garage during practice for the F1 Grand Prix of Australia at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit on March 15, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Charles Coates/Getty Images) /

Only two races into the 2019 Formula 1 season and there are already fans saying that Sebastian Vettel is at his end. But don’t jump the gun just yet.

There was once a time when the Formula 1 silly season marked its end as soon as the regular season began and would then resume again once the final race of the season was concluded.

The 2019 Formula 1 season seems to have skipped this cycle with silly season continuing straight into the regular season with the somehow cemented idea that Scuderia Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel is on his way out and/or now the number two driver at Ferrari behind young teammate Charles Leclerc.

The “doubt” now following Vettel comes from two Grand Prix weekends that didn’t quite go the way of the four-time champion. The 2019 Australian Grand Prix featured Ferrari off the pace as a whole, with Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Valtteri Bottas dominating the race and five-time champion teammate Lewis Hamilton finishing behind him in second place.

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Vettel finished in fourth place behind both Mercedes teammates well as Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen in third but still ahead of Leclerc in fifth.

The seed for this idea about Vettel was planted when team orders were handed down to Leclerc not to overtake him late in the race when he clearly could have, and it has sown discontentment for hampering the potential of the young gun.

Moving forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix, both Ferrari drivers showed significant improvements in pace, with Leclerc continuing to grow the seed of doubt by taking his first career pole position. The race featured Leclerc continuing to put on a clinic, leaving all other contenders to squabble for the remaining podium positions.

After a surprisingly exciting multi-lap battle between Vettel and Hamilton, Vettel spun out without making contact with Hamilton on lap 38 of 57. He continued on but bounced one too many curbs, which separated his front wing from his car in a spectacular shower of sparks. No one was hurt, aside from Vettel’s reputation.

If you look at just these two races alone, you might see an ex-championship-caliber driver starting to crack under pressure with a younger, faster teammate showing seemingly more pace. But there are points to remember when using a two-race stretch to compare the collective driving capabilities of one or more drivers.

In the 2017 and 2018 seasons, Vettel stood as the only real competition to the dominant Mercedes team. In these two seasons, he claimed 10 victories and 25 podium finishes with only three retirements.

The supporting factor to the doubt being leveled against Vettel this season is the fact that his start to the 2019 season has been the worst two-race start to a season for him since the 2014 season.

But tough situations breed tough competitors, and Vettel has in no way lost his competitive attitude. Pair that with the fact that he is still the only driver who has regularly challenged Hamilton and regularly beat Bottas over the course of the last two seasons, and he has an honest chance to bounce back.

In previous seasons, there were times when Vettel was leading the driver standings and struggled to maintain the lead. Now the 31-year-old German knows what position he is in and has proven that Ferrari will honor their commitment to him and try to bring him home in the top position.

It is also a possibility that the 2019 season could feature Ferrari being closer to Mercedes in terms of pace with Mercedes owning the season opener and Ferrari showing strong pace, albeit lacking reliability, in the season’s second race, so while Vettel has dug himself a hole in the driver standings, it would not be surprising to see him dig out of it.

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There is also no doubt in the talent that Charles Leclerc possesses and has shown so far in the 2019 Formula 1 season. In both races, he has shown poise and a humble attitude that other first-year drivers for top-tier teams in the past have not.

On multiple occasions, he has played the role of a loyal teammate when the opportunity for self-glory was present, and in Bahrain, he did everything a driver could do to achieve a glorious first victory only to have a mechanical failure rob him blind.

Leclerc has a wealth of potential and will undoubtedly have a winning future in Formula 1, but Sebastian Vettel has already proven his worth by winning four championships and serving as a constant thorn in the side of Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton.

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