https://www.motorsportweek.com/joesaward/id/00304
This isn't bashing or anything; I think Ferrari have done an absolute amazing job since 2014 and I think Vettel joining the team had much to do with that. However now that the Scuderia have a car that's on par with Mercedes, I do seem to think the pressure that is mounting on them, the expectations and how that trickles down on to the drivers is perhaps part of why they have been missing the beat lately.Joe Saward wrote:Sebastian Vettel, on the other hand, seems to be a little destablised by the political goings-on at Ferrari, where the sands have shifted significantly in recent months, opening the way for the arrival of Charles Leclerc, and the end of Vettel's comfortable world with Kimi Raikkonen as his wing man.
Raikkonen will growl at such a description, but it is hard to view it otherwise, as when he is on the pace, the team has played strategic games that have always aided Vettel, hardly surprising when one considers the results and the unhealthy atmosphere that seems to be a part of the Ferrari experience. The team seems to be one that is ruled by fear, its bizarre strategy towards the media having been devised to try to stop the paranoia getting out of control. But Ferrari has almost always been a team that has made its own life difficult with its fear of being judged not good enough for Italy.
Ironically, the most success in the modern era came when Maranello was run by foreigners, who ring-fenced the team and allowed it to operate in a more relaxed atmosphere - and it thrived. Jean Todt may have his faults, but he understood what was needed at Ferrari and he implemented a system that allowed the team to win and lose without fearing the headlines of Gazzetta dello Sport every day. It is this volatility that has been the Achilles Heel of the prancing horse down through the ages, but trying to pretend that the media is not there is not the answer and one can only hope that now that the menacing presence of the jovial but stiletto-yielding Sergio Marchionne has gone away that Maurizio Arrivabene will finally allow the team to breathe, without feeling the need to look over its shoulder. The media is not the enemy, the enemy is fear.
Over at Mercedes the culture is very different. They understand that mistakes get made and they embrace the mistakes and try to learn from them. The recent mea culpa of strategist James Vowles live on global TV was an indication of why Mercedes is a stronger team, because people can admit mistakes without fear of being drop-kicked out of the door...
In any case, all of this has created a fascinating situation and things will be even more interesting now that Raikkonen is no longer in a position where he must play the role of domestique to Vettel. Sebastian already knows that he must step up to the mark and must not make any more mistakes. The pressure is on. Pressure, of course, is what you make of it, but with Charles Leclerc moving into Ferrari next year, Vettel must know that he is now being hunted down by men 10 years his junior. When Fernando Alonso is gone and Raikkonen is shunted into the sidings at Sauber, Lewis Hamilton becomes the oldest man in a top car, with Vettel not far behind.
There's also a quote by Arrivabene, i think on C4, when they asked him on the signing of Leclerc and how Vettel felt about it, and the answer was fairly blunt that Vettel is just an employee or something to that effect.
