Sebastian Vettel is hoping to make up for his 2018 German GP loss in F1 2019 as Ferrari to continue working on the development of SF90.
It will mark one full year since the dramatic end to the 2018 German GP, when Vettel made a small mistake in slippery conditions to hand a comfortable win to arch rivals Mercedes, which kick-started a chain of bad events for the German.
While he has not retired from any grand prix ever since, scoring in all but one (2019 British GP) to create a personal record of 19 consecutive points finishes, but there has been certain race weekends where he has committed mistakes to lose out to his rivals.
Whether it is the car or pressure, only Vettel and his team will know but the German remains focused on his job. A race-losing mistake is something which remains in one’s mind forever, especially when you are returning to the same place in the following year.
But he wants to erase it and replace it with a better memory. “We have got to make up for last year, especially myself and I look forward to racing in Hockenheim,” said Vettel. “The atmosphere is always phenomenal and the crowd is great.
“I remember a lot of German flags around the track from last year, which I really enjoyed.
In terms of the track, it looks quite simple and straightforward at first sight. Especially the last part is very enjoyable but it is also very technical entering the Motodrom.”
It has been a tough year for Vettel and Ferrari so far as they trail by quite a margin to Mercedes. The teammate battle seems to be going Charles Leclerc’s way in the last few races, with the Monegasque now only three points behind Vettel.
Ever since the shenanigans of Canadian GP, Vettel has lost crucial points to Leclerc and the Monegasque wants to carry on with the momentum. “I am looking forward to Hockenheim,” he said. “Over the past few weekends, we have made some progress in qualifying.
“Now we have to focus on the race pace because that’s where we seem to be struggling the most at the moment. As for the circuit, it features some nice characteristics with a mixture of different corner types and straights.
“The last race was very exciting and fun to experience from inside the car, so I hope we can have another good one in Germany and be able to fight for the win.” On the team side, Mattia Binotto confirmed that there won’t be any specific updates on SF90 per say.
They will continue to evaluate the items brought in earlier races. For us, the German Grand Prix is first and foremost Sebastian’s home race,” he said. “Therefore we really hope to do well at Hockenheim, especially after last year’s race here, when the win escaped us at the end of a weekend where our performance was definitely up to the task.
“We are not bringing any specific updates, but studying the data from the last round in Silverstone has provided us with useful information in our quest to get a better understanding of our car.”
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