Sebastian Vettel opens up on self pressure as he says driving for Ferrari is a privilege and not a burden for him on the eve of the F1 German GP.
Vettel finds himself in a rough spot as he is in a chase for his fifth F1 title while up against Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, for few seasons now but a mix of his errors and Ferrari not having the package, it hasn’t materialised, raising the media/fan scrutiny and pressure.
It will be a full circle for Vettel this weekend in German GP after his infamous mistake in 2018, where he crashed from the race lead. Since then, he has had his fair share of misfortune where errors kept happening amid certain shining lights.
It hasn’t been easy in 2019 so far as he lags not only behind the Mercedes drivers but also Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen, with teammate Charles Leclerc only three behind. He has had to answer many regarding self pressure, Ferrari driver and so on.
Here’s the questions and his answers in full:
Q: Sebastian, about the car, you’ve told us in the past that it’s tricky to drive. Can you tell us why it’s so hard to find the sweet spot of the SF90?
Sebastian Vettel: “Well, I think we had occasions where things were looking very good and other occasions where it was a bit more difficult but I think that’s also pretty normal throughout the season: you have different tracks with different characteristics and sometimes the car feels more the way you like and other times less.
“I think we have, after the first couple of races we were able to get quite a good picture of what was missing compared to the performance we seemed to have at the beginning of winter testing. With that, I think we’ve made progress. Obviously we are not where we would like to be, not as competitive as we would like to be, but I think overall, the understanding and the direction is going in the right way.”
Q: You say you’re not as competitive as you want to be – well, Red Bull have taken a step forward in recent weeks, so how do you see the pecking order at the front of Formula One now?
Vettel: “Well, I think obviously Mercedes does have an edge on everyone else, that’s, I think, pretty clear. Similar to previous years, they seem to struggle on tracks where tyre wear and degradation is a bit higher – like we’ve maybe seen in the last part of the race in France, or in Austria. But in terms of raw speed, they are the benchmark – and I think for myself and for us, that’s the benchmark.
“I think obviously between ourselves and Red Bull, it’s been sometimes closer, sometimes we were ahead, most of the times I believe we were ahead, sometimes we were behind but y’know, that’s not the objective. The objective is to fight for wins and to do so at the moment you need to be level or better than Mercedes.”
Q: And what would a victory here, on home soil, mean to you on Sunday?
Vettel: “I think it’s always special, first of all to have the opportunity to race in your home country; yeah, obviously I was very close last year, let’s see how close we can get this year. I think we are, y’know, a less strong position to start the weekend.
“Then again, I think we’ve seen some recent races, we’ve been very strong in terms of qualifying – but also race pace. So yeah, I think we’re fairly open minded. I’m fairly open-minded, to be honest. We start the weekend, see where it goes, obviously it’s going to be very hot initially and then probably cool off a little bit.”
Q: How badly do you want to win on Sunday, and how badly do you need to win on Sunday?
Vettel: “Not badly. Oddly I want to win, that’s for sure – but as I said, I’m also realistic. So, coming here, I don’t feel as we are the favourites but I feel we have a chance. For me, that’s the point of going racing. You have a chance of do well. So, that’s the objective and we will find out during the weekend.
“But certainly it’s a special place to me. It’s very close to where I’m from, it’s a lot of family around and friends close by. To find a good way to celebrate, I wouldn’t need to go very far, so that would be quite handy.”
Q: It’s obviously been a long while since Ferrari won the Drivers’. Do you feel a sort of burden to lead them to victory to lead them after, what 11, 12 years? Does that sort of weigh on you? I mean, the sort of Ferrari dynamic, what it means to the nation. How do you feel bearing that responsibility?
Vettel: “It doesn’t feel like a burden, it feels like a privilege, y’know, to go out and race for Ferrari and obviously my mission or my goal, as well as the team’s goal, is to get back to, y’know, the – how do you say? – the winning ways. If we do that then we have a much better chance to fight for the Championship.
“Having said that, I think from when I joined and where we are now, obviously this year hasn’t gone the way we wanted after the last two years, but still, I think things are progressing in the right direction. In the big picture – but naturally the big picture doesn’t interest you if you are not currently where you would like to be.
“So, I think we all know that F1 is a world where people are very short-sighted, which is also fair and part of the game. Like I said, overall, even if things look good, we still obviously miss that final step and that’s the most important step.”
Q: Following on from the earlier question about racing for Ferrari, is this a team you would like to see out your career with or do you envisage racing for someone else?
Vettel: “Not at the moment. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here but I love racing, I think they’re the best cars to… the fastest there are. The joy that I get from driving is like it’s ever been and as I said, obviously the motivation is high to get the job done with Ferrari so that’s the two things that are, I guess, dictating whether I’m going to be around for long or not.”
Q: Sorry to take you back to 12 months ago here. You had your mistake in the race; since then there’s been a few mistakes along the way, all the way through to Silverstone and the last race. How satisfied are you on your performances over the past twelve months? Is it fair to say that you haven’t delivered, given the car that you’ve been given by Ferrari? And do you feel under pressure?
Vettel: “Well, I always put myself under pressure so I can’t be happy, obviously, if things go wrong. I think some of the things, obviously, were bigger than others. I think the main thing is that – as I said previously – that we keep progressing in the right way but for sure if I get something wrong and make a mistake I can’t be happy with that. The pressure I put on myself after that I think is bigger than any external factors.
“This has been the same as long as I can remember. I think for me it’s the most honest and straightforward way to deal with it myself because I know what I’ve done wrong and what I’ve done right. I know when I had the opportunity to do well or not. I think you’re always your best judge, no matter what you do so that’s the rules by which I play.”
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