Sebastian Vettel says he must atone for the crash which cost him victory in last year’s German Grand Prix when he returns to the Hockenheimring this weekend.
The Ferrari driver crashed out while leading his home race with 15 laps to go. “We have got to make up for last year, especially myself,” said Vettel ahead of this year’s race.“I look forward to racing in Hockenheim,” he added. “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.”
Team principal Mattia Binotto is also heading to Hockenheim with memories of last year’s defeat on his mind.
“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.”
Binotto believes the team could be in better shape this weekend despite not bringing any new hardware to the track.
“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,” he said.
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LosD (@losd)
23rd July 2019, 15:46
Nope. It’s not plural “you”, Vettel. It’s singular “you” and singular “you” alone.
Your team did great. (singular) you screwed up.
(I’m not a native English speaker, so sorry about any gaffes. Is there a less… Ehm… Clumsy way to differentiate?)
nase
23rd July 2019, 16:54
@losd
The crucial words here being “especially myself”.
Also, I really don’t think the team did great last year. The race started off with an interesting strategy on Räikkönen’s side of the garage, i.e. with a very early pit stop that allowed him to undercut Bottas and made sure Bottas would have to overtake Räikkönen on the track at a later stage. Using Räikkönen as a meat shield to protect Vettel’s lead instead of having him circle around uselessly in third place: not a bad idea.
However, they apparently forgot where they were going with this after Vettel made his sole planned pit stop and emerged behind Räikkönen. Instead of telling Räikkönen to let the clearly faster Vettel through and mind his own business (i.e. trying to defend 2nd place against Bottas, or, at the very least, delaying his compatriot to allow Vettel to extend his lead in peace), it took them 10 endless laps to realise that they were effectively sabotaging Vettel’s race.
No one knows whether this strategic gaffe contributed to Vettel’s race-ending accident. He might as well have crashed anyway. But there is no denying that he lost quite a bit of time behind his team mate (around 6 seconds, judging by his lap times before and after regaining the lead, and the evolution of the gap to the cars behind him), which meant that, instead of enjoying a comfortable lead, he still had both Finns in his mirrors as it began to rain.
The rest is history.
Long story short: No, his team was far from great that day.
Chaitanya
23rd July 2019, 17:08
Mercedes werent particularly great either. Last year almost all teams messed up some greater than others.
Jere (@jerejj)
23rd July 2019, 16:04
A year later, all I can really do, when looking at the top image is to laugh due to how embarrassing that error was considering circumstances.
Gabriel (@rethla)
23rd July 2019, 19:01
You have already fallen flat this year, you did better last year despite Hockenheim.
rpiian (@rpiian)
24th July 2019, 3:23
SHAME!
…
:)
georgeboole (@)
24th July 2019, 9:59
So this year I will have a spin (as usual), Charles will do a spectacular 360 (expert in that) and then we ll crash on each other while fighting on the radio on who is faster. Perfect!
NeverElectric
25th July 2019, 3:01
Vettel feeling the pressure, eh? He doesn’t hold up well under pressure, and rain is forecast for the race.
Will not end well
Carlos Medrano (@carlosmedrano)
25th July 2019, 11:23
Lol “we”