“Yes, it’s not the great love story anymore”

(Motorsport-Total.com) – This year Sebastian Vettel is going through the toughest Formula 1 season of his racing career to date. Discharged from Ferrari before the start of the season, the German is fighting on the track with an inferior car and also with insecurity, as he confesses in an interview with the weekly “Die Zeit”.

“This year is difficult for me. I also doubt myself because, let’s face it, I didn’t come across a green branch”, analyzes the 33-year-old.

To date, he has only managed to reach one place in the top 5 in 14 races – at the last Turkish Grand Prix in Istanbul, when he finished third in difficult conditions and took the podium for the first time since Mexico 2019.

Relationship between Vettel and Ferrari “a little frozen”

In addition to the shortcomings in the car, he also blames the internal situation of the team for the long period of drought: “The situation is also not the easiest: the relationship between me and the team, which is a bit frozen – yes, it is no longer the great love story, “admits Vettel openly and honestly.

However, his own expectations are “still very high,” he continues. “I still have the ambition to get the best out of it, also out of respect for the team. If we are not good enough, the work that is put into us from all sides is at least equal to that of success.”

“But I admit it: if what you have fought for in the past is no longer within reach, it’s a different situation.” This also applies to teamwork, which he will leave at the end of the season.

“The bottom line failed”: Vettel draws a sad Ferrari conclusion

“Since it became known that our paths were going their separate ways, the situation has changed. I am not as involved as before,” confirms the outgoing Ferrari driver. “I don’t want to say that I’m doing my time. But what really matters now is what I have in front of me, everything that goes beyond must no longer interest me, it doesn’t bring me anything, and neither does Ferrari.”

After six years together, the conclusion is sobering: “We as a team have tried a lot in recent years, but the conclusion is that if you put it very hard, we have failed, because we have not won.”

“I think I have had and have had my share,” says Vettel in a self-critical way. “That’s why I’m looking forward to something new next year.”

Then the German will dock with the new Aston Martin factory team. The racing team currently operates under the name of Racing Point. In Istanbul Vettel got on the podium with Sergio Perez, of all people, who must give way for him. He finished second.