Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Red Bull Ring, 2020

“We’re the best team at turning drivers around”: Green sure Vettel will thrive at Racing Point

2020 F1 season

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Racing Point technical director Andrew Green believes Sebastian Vettel will rediscover his form when he joins the team next year.

Vettel has made a poor start to his 2020 campaign since learning he would lose his Ferrari seat at the end of the season. After 10 races he lies 13th in the championship, 40 points behind team mate Charles Leclerc.

“We can help Seb,” said Green. “I think he’s not in a great place at the moment in his head. He’s lost his mojo a little bit.

“We are just the best team at turning drivers around and getting them back into that sweet spot. So I think we can we can really help him.”

Green expects Vettel will benefit from being in a less political environment than Ferrari. “We are very driver focussed. We take a lot of time to understand our drivers and work with them and form a really strong relationship and bond with our drivers.

“That helps to nurture them and to get them to feel comfortable and secure and not worry that things are going on behind their backs. We take out all the politics and it just allows them to focus on driving the car as quickly as possible. And I think we can get Seb back into that place.”

Vettel will “bring a new dynamic to the team” says Green
Racing Point will be rebranded as Aston Martin for the 2021 F1 season. Green believes Vettel will bring a huge amount of useful experience from his long career with top teams such as Ferrari and Red Bull.

“I think it’s going to bring a completely new dynamic to the whole team,” said Green. “It shows a measure of intent by Lawrence [Stroll, team owner] in where he wants to take the team and what he wants to do with it.

“I think that’s a really strong statement. He’s is a multiple world champion. He’s going to bring a methodology of working that we haven’t seen before. And that’s what we want.

“We want someone who’s been there and done it and can show us what it takes. What does it take to start winning races? What does it take to win a championship? He’ll bring that.”

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48 comments on ““We’re the best team at turning drivers around”: Green sure Vettel will thrive at Racing Point”

  1. Force India did kind of save Perez’s career in 2014, and helped him become a better, much more consistent driver over time too. Seb’s redemption seems unlikely to me, but maybe things can actually work out for him at RP.

    1. I’m thinking this @neutronstar, plus the Mercedes rear aero will be good for him.

      1. Two questions

        Does the dude really want them to drive backwards? My bad joke.
        Why does he act like he is the one who can make Vettle a great driver?
        Isn’t Seb already a champion? Like more than once too.
        That Stroll guy must be damaged from the money. He can’t make a driver better but he can build a better car. Mr Vettle know the way. He don’t just drive good but makes any team better. The Ferrari is a modern pig. That why Vettle is leaving.
        Let’s see if Stroll builds anymore copy cars

      2. Rear everything. Even the power steering is different to when hulk drove for them.
        Last years nerc is a great car, I’m sure seb will be able to drive like he used too.

  2. Biskit Boy (@sean-p-newmanlive-co-uk)
    5th October 2020, 7:28

    Seb has already shown the talent he has for turning things around. Unfortunately its usually the car when he least expects it.

    1. Haha, I got late with that, although I thought that they are a perfect match based on this.

    2. You had me in the first half 😄

  3. Must feel weird having your teammate’s dad own the team though.

    1. He’ll hardly be the only person in the world who’s boss’s kids are their co-workers or even their superiors.

  4. Dumped by current team. New employer openly saying that you have lost your mojo. Not pleasant being Seb right now.

    Also, this statement comes from Andrew Green, and not the owners. If this question were to be asked to Lawrence or Aston Martin, they would never even say that Seb has lost his way / lost his mojo or anything to that effect. Why would you put down the asset that you just purchased at a hefty price after all. But Green can be honest about what he feels about the same asset as it isn’t his money being spent.

    Further proof that Seb’s hiring is primarily driven by its new owners and not the leadership of the current racing team (who probably would have given a pass to Seb)

    1. He’s not being hired for his abilities or form. He’s just being hired for marketing value of having a multiple WDC winner, in a reentry of iconic car brand in F1.

      On performance, half the drivers on the grid are a more attractive prospect than Vettel.

      1. Can you name 10 drivers who are on the grid and better than Vettel?

        1. @jureo no. That is a good point you make.

      2. max
        lewis
        leclerc
        norris
        sainz
        danny ric
        perez
        bottas
        russel

        1. @f1fan-2000
          I agree that HAM, VER, LEC (and possibly RIC) are overall better than VET. But the rest haven’t shown anything that suggests they can become WC given the right car.

          Norris had some great qualy laps last year and a great opening race this year, but his other results were pretty inconsistent.
          Sainz is pretty consistent, but IMO lacks the raw pace and racecraft.
          Perez had had some decent results at Sauber & FI/RP, but his raw pace is just slightly better than that of Stroll & Hülkenberg. IMO that’s not quite fast enough.
          Bottas has had a car capable of winning the championship for the last 4 years (2017-20), but was never a serious threat. He can only win races from the front/when he is ahead of HAM.
          Russell is almost impossible to judge, because of his teammates (an almost retired, handicapped, former race winner and the other one a classic pay driver).

          1. petebaldwin (@)
            5th October 2020, 15:50

            Yeah I agree with all of that. If you want a “number 2” driver, there are plenty better options than Vettel but if you want someone to lead the team, Norris, Sainz, Perez, Stroll, Hulk and Bottas aren’t anywhere near as good.

            If Vettel was in the Mercedes instead of Bottas, I think Mercedes would have scored less constructors points overall than they have with Bottas but Vettel would have won a lot more races than Bottas has managed.

          2. I disagree with this: they haven’t shown they can win titles, vettel had great luck at red bull with the circumstances, I see several midfield drivers atm performing as well as vettel did in red bull back then.

            Vettel is being ranked in the worst quarter of drivers btw this year.

            It’s imo easier to say who has performed worse than vettel this year: giovinazzi, latifi, grosjean, albon, I have a hard time finding anyone else, and certainly those f12007 mentioned clearly did better.

          3. Dave (@davewillisporter)
            5th October 2020, 18:44

            @esploratore I’ve defended Lewis against this “it’s the car” rationale and I’ll defend Seb too. So….. taking Mark Webber’s opinion over yours (soz) Webber states that Seb was an absolute master at driving the blown diffuser Renault engine. In overtakes, mid corner Seb would boot it momentarily to generate downforce. That’s why Vettel, not Webber won 4 WDCs. Because he figured out how to get the best out of the car. I’ll probably say this until my grave but not just the car!!!!!!!

          4. People love to hate Vettel,
            @srga91 summed it up nicely.

            Underneath all those rookie spins is a driver low on confidence and overdriving a dog of a car.

            Not long ago he was destroying Kimi in similar fashion to Alonso.

            Under all this latest disappointment is a guy who was heralded as the next Schumacher.

            Also he is te primary reason Lewis only has 6 titles, Alonso is stuck at 2, and many others never won a race.

            Time will tell if he can regain any of his former greatness, but if he can, then he wouls be atleast top5.

          5. @jureo Vettel never destroyed Raikkonen to the extent Alonso did in 2014. Alonso beat Kimi 16-3 in qualifying, was on average over 0.5s ahead in qualifying, finished ahead every single race bar 1, and got over triple the points Raikkonen did. Vettel never managed a degree of dominance to match that.

        2. @f1fan-2000 certainly lewis, ric, lec, and max, though I’m sure there are 10 better drivers than some of your picks.

          1. against kimi? surely there are better drivers to compare to than someone off f1 for 3 years and off his prime?

    2. F1oSaurus (@)
      5th October 2020, 9:18

      They might not even care if Vettel performs well. I could imagine Stroll (both sr and jr) are hoping that Stroll jr can beat Vettel.

    3. sumedh Disagree completely with your stance. You’re not even being accurate. They haven’t ‘put down’ SV, Green has said he has lost his mojo ‘a bit’ and that has been obvious for all to see anyway and SV would likely admit it. Poor car, leaving the team, still trying his best anyway because he is a quality person. You have ‘further proof’ of nothing.

      I’ll take from what CL said which was that he really appreciates all that he has learned from SV at Ferrari, and I have no doubt SV will bring a ton of knowledge and experience to the team that will help Stroll and all of them. I also think yes there is a good chance his driving will improve too. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest.

      No matter what anyone’s opinion is, this deal will be considered a home run for all those at AM.

  5. I’m really wondering what Seb can do with a strong rear end. Expect him to grab at least a couple of podiums. Currently he’s ran out of motivation – I’m not saying he’s not trying what he can, but knowing the limits of the car he’s probably more cautious than he would be.

  6. Does Vettel need help turning around? He seems to be quite good at it – especially when running alongside another driver.

    1. Especially when along side a slow teammate you mean. Got destroyed by Ricciardo ran to kimi. Got beat by Leclerc ran to stroll

      1. I think you didn’t get @red-andy’s joke

  7. Red Bull should hijacked Andrew Green.

    1. @ruliemaulana They tried that 16 years ago. He went back to Team Silverstone 5 years and 3 name changes later.

  8. Was never a fan of finger boy on the track. I always thought he was a one trick pony with the EBD nailing the rear to the track.

    Still, it’s sad to see the depths to which he has fallen and I would love to see him as a genuine challenger that befits a 4x champions status.

    As frustrated as he must be right now he’s got to be laughing his ass off at the state of Ferrari vs (soon to be) Aston. He was practically forced out of the sport by the team that broke him, only to be rescued by the team that has essentially taken their spot in the top 3.

  9. Vettel was amazing, when Red Bull rear end was amazing. 2014 when Riciardo dethroned him, the chassis was sliding allover the place with undrivable engine. Vettel was ok, but nothing great. Atleast he had some confidence.

    Ferrari years were ok, when he was living his honeymon period. But also it should be said that car never fully suited him and results varied. Especially depending on him loosing control of the car or not, usually the rear end. He has no god-like car control of say Verstappen or… Leclerc.

    The differences this year are apparent, Both Leclerc and Vettel can stick the nose in get the car to rotate, but Vettel can keep the car rotating… and rotating… and then rotating. Leclerc can cope with this admirably bad car.

    If Vettel slows down a bit, he can control the car but also he is then a few seconds over a race distance behind Leclerc.

    I would argue if that rear end was stable, they would be equaly fast … even if around P7-8.

    Forward to 2021, Racing Point – Astron Martin, that chassis comes with some massive Mercedes aero advantages. It looks amazing in the corners, often even better(handling, not grip) than the main Mercedes.

    Vettel should be flying, and when he gets some confidence back he’ll be better than most current drivers.

    And when you launch a new Astron Martin? Perez sure is a nice guy, but he ain’t no dominant 4 time WDC. Vettel can do his german accent expert thing and say the new Aston drives as well as it looks and he will look convincing.

    Not a bad place to be next year. Certainlly better than that political pressure cooker he is about to explode from.

    1. but Vettel can keep the car rotating… and rotating… and then rotating

      That had me rolling on the floor.

    2. @jureo Fair comment.

    3. @jureo I keep hearing how Vettel is a god with a stable rear end and a fast car. Name me one driver who wouldn’t?

      1. @rockgod the argument that is more often put forward is that Vettel has a particular driving style that is more reliant on having a car with high rear end stability, particularly through the mid-part of a corner – whereas some drivers tend to aim more at maximising corner entry and apex speed, Vettel seems to lean more towards maximising the corner exit speed by setting the car up earlier in the corner and then applying more throttle sooner.

        It is then reasoned that, with the blown diffuser cars that Red Bull produced during the V8 era, Vettel’s style was particularly well-suited to them as that pattern of applying the throttle early in the corner maximised the exhaust gas flow and helped maximise the performance of the diffuser early in the corner, enhancing aerodynamic grip and creating a positive feedback loop that maximised cornering performance. However, the introduction of the current turbo engine format also saw the exhausts being relocated much higher up, reducing their aerodynamic influence significantly.

        The criticism is that, since then, his particular technique does not work so effectively with the current cars and becomes more of an issue if the car suffers from a greater degree of instability during the mid-corner transitions, where he then has to wait to apply the throttle.

        Whilst it is true that all drivers will be impacted to at least some degree by an imbalanced car, there is a question of whether some drivers are impacted sooner – in Vettel’s case, the perception is that he starts seeing his performance drop off more quickly if the rear is unstable. There is a sense that Vettel hasn’t been able to find a way to adapt his driving style to accommodate the type of cars used these days, and a criticism that he lacks the adaptability necessary to adjust his driving style.

  10. After Ricciardo destroyed Vettel he went to Ferrari looking for an easy teammate to make himself look better. Now after Leclerc is beating vettel he is going to Force india looking for an easy teammate, Vettel is so predictable

    1. Except stroll is not as bad as his critics said and might beat him, maybe finally ending vettel’s career.

  11. Seb does a lot of rapid turning about all by himself…

  12. They sure are, they turned Perez right around and pointed him in the direction of the door!

    1. Ahah, that’s a fun comment, even as someone who thinks perez deserves better, hoping he goes to red bull.

      1. Yes, would be nice to see RedBull take a chance in Perez. For all their exciting image they can be very conservative over drivers at times.

  13. I think most of people who criticize Seb have forgotten they’re taking about youngest champion of all time

    Some says
    don’t say anything let your honors answer them

  14. The cynic in me says that even a 60% Vettel will probably beat Stroll anyway over a season.

    It would be funny if Vettel gets a confidence boost from being #1 again and he actually raises his game…

    1. Raising his game.? Probably relatively easy from where it is now. But having said that, SV is making the right noises these days.
      Not the slightest bit optimistic that SV can be the Team Player that Andrew Green wants. Dynamics will be fun to watch.
      Would be great to see it work out, but expectations, not so good.

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