F1 Racing - UK (2020-03)

GP RACING MARCH 2020 59

FERRARI

CHATTINGTO ANTHONY DAVIDSONat Daytona back in 2013, I asked him for his

thoughts on the coming Formula 1 season. He didn’thesitate: “Sebastian

Vettel will winhis f ourth worldchamp ionship – I’d bet my house on it,

and why? Because the rules haven’t changed, which means you can still

have a blown diffuser – Adrian Newey is the master of designing it, and

Vettel’s the master of driving it.

“If we were talking a year from now, when the rules change hugely,

I wouldn’t have a clue about the seasonto come, but for now I think there’s

no way Vettel and Red Bullwill lose...”

Davidson was spot on. Although Sebastian won only four times in the

first half of the season, after the summer break he never lost a race, reeling

off nine on the trot, a string of faraway grands prix seemingly blurring into

Once a dominantforce in Formula 1, Sebastian

Vettel ended last season in the shadow of

his young team-mate CharlesLeclerc.Nigel

Roebuckponders whether number-two status

awaits thefour-time champ...

one triumphal procession. “We need to remember thegood times, boys,”

he radioed in as he put the Red Bull into a series of victory donuts in India.

“It won’t always be like this...”

And it wasn’t. In 2014, when the hybrid engines arrived and the blown

diffuser disappeared, Vettel didn’t win a race – andwhat made it worse was

that Daniel Ricciardo, his new team-mate, put three on the board.

Throughout that year Sebastian was in a resolutely bad mood, missing no

opportunity to stress his dislike ofthe new, heavier cars, the hybrid engines

that powered them, and the Pirelli tyres on which allwere required to run.

Before the season began, MarkWebb er, his erstwhile team-mate and

sometimes bitter rival, told me he doubted Vettel was in this for the

long haul. “He’s got his championships early, going to have a kid early,

PICTURES

YESTERDAY’S MAN?

GP RACING MARCH 2020 59

FERRARI

CHATTINGTO ANTHONY DAVIDSONat Daytona back in 2013, I asked him for his
thoughts on the coming Formula 1 season. He didn’thesitate: “Sebastian
Vettel will winhis f ourth worldchamp ionship – I’d bet my house on it,
and why? Because the rules haven’t changed, which means you can still
have a blown diffuser – Adrian Newey is the master of designing it, and
Vettel’s the master of driving it.
“If we were talking a year from now, when the rules change hugely,
I wouldn’t have a clue about the seasonto come, but for now I think there’s
no way Vettel and Red Bullwill lose...”
Davidson was spot on. Although Sebastian won only four times in the
first half of the season, after the summer break he never lost a race, reeling
off nine on the trot, a string of faraway grands prix seemingly blurring into

Once a dominantforce inFormula 1, Sebastian

Vettel ended last season in the shadow of

his youngteam-mate Charles Leclerc.Nigel

Roebuckponders whether number-two status

awaits thefour-time champ...

one triumphal procession. “We need to remember thegood times, boys,”

he radioed in as he put the Red Bull into a series of victory donuts in India.

“It won’t always be like this...”

And it wasn’t. In 2014, when the hybrid engines arrived and the blown

diffuser disappeared, Vettel didn’t win a race – andwhat made it worse was

that Daniel Ricciardo, his new team-mate, put three on the board.

Throughout that year Sebastian was in a resolutely bad mood, missing no

opportunity to stress his dislike ofthe new, heavier cars, the hybrid engines

that powered them, and the Pirelli tyres on which allwere required to run.

Before the season began, MarkWebb er, his erstwhile team-mate and

sometimes bitter rival, told me he doubted Vettel was in this for the

long haul. “He’s got his championships early, going to have a kid early,

PICTURES

YESTERDAY’S MAN?