Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Paul Ricard, 2019

“We’re the only ones without a motive”: Vettel pleased drivers have say in 2021 rules

RaceFans Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel says the involvement of F1 drivers in the sport’s planned rules changes for 2021 is “very positive”.

[dietersinboxpromo]

What they say

Vettel was asked whether he was pleased F1 bosses had invited drivers to give their input into F1’s future rules.

Definitely. I think that’s a very positive aspect, it’s a great opportunity for us to speak our minds. I think we’re probably the only ones around that table that do not have a motive behind what we’re saying. We are very neutral. All we care for is the sport.

It’s a great chance for us plus a great chance for everyone else on that table because I feel we bring something to the table that hasn’t been covered before. We bring the inside perspective. I definitely feel that people are listening and taking it on board.

Now we have to see what happens. Some of it is politics and some of it is tactics and whatever but as I said we are staying out of this and saying what we think is the best going forward in order for us and everyone else who loves the sport to enjoy it more.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Social media

Notable posts from Twitter, Instagram and more:

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Comment of the day

Would reducing the amount of testing play into the hands of F1’s richer teams?

Less testing tends to cement advantage for teams with great simulator resources (e.g. the largest and richest teams), especially in the context of an impending budget cap. There are also too many races, if the first couple are to be treated as testing weekends.
@Alianora-la-Canta

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Wes!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

  • Born today in 1914: Carlos Menditeguy, who achieved a single F1 podium in his home race at Buenos Aires in 1957, driving a Maserati 250F

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

25 comments on ““We’re the only ones without a motive”: Vettel pleased drivers have say in 2021 rules”

  1. Seb back to RBR? Multi 33? This is shaping up to be the best silly season in years.

    1. Multi 33… LOL!!!
      Race Engineer – “Vettel, Verstappen is faster than you”
      Or
      – “Vettel, this is James…”
      I can see him parking his car at the pits “Alonso way” to ruin Verstappen’s lap… :-)

  2. Regarding Vettel going back to RBR, it’s unlikely. First, due to his alleged $40m salary. No need for RBR to pay that amount since they have Verstappen. And they usually do not take experienced drivers anyway. And at last, the pressure at Ferrari had his worst side exposed a lot last year, and that contrasts with the amount of excellent rookies ready to take some pressure. Albon and the “Russian Torpedo”, to stay in the neighborhood, or Russell and Norris. But all they need actually is a really fast SECOND driver that can win races. The likes of Raikkonen, to mention an active one, or Weber, Berger, Barrichello just to mention a few retired EXCELLENT wing men.

    1. Räikkönen can win races? Last time I checked, it took him 78 races to score a single win in a car that was very capable of winning, if 13 race wins by his team mate in the same time frame are anything to go by …

      1. Crunching numbers is not a sport. RAI almost saved Ferrari’s face at Monza last year. Superb driving with blistering rear tyres. Do your numbers show that? Do your numbers say that RBR should ditch VER because it took him 93 races to get a pole while RIC already had some? You should watch the races…it’s more fun than statistics…

        1. Monza last year was Ferraris last nail in the coffin, funny that you should have that as an example where stats lie. Ferrari felt so confident in their dominance that they sacrificed Vettels qualifying to Get Kimi into the first row for PR reasons alone and how gloriously that backfired. Kimis sub par driving and Vettel cracking under the resulting pressure fully exposed.

          #winniow

        2. No need to crunch numbers when the story they tell is that obvious. Those were just three figures that summed up the enormity of Räikkönen’s inability to win. But it seems your allergy to facts is even stronger than I thought.
          Okay then, let me rephrase this: Räikkönen has spent many years at Ferrari, during which his team mate won a lot of races. Räikkönen won a single one, and, rather unsurprisingly, that was a race in which his team mate took himself out of contention by spinning, Verstappen started from the very back of the grid and ran out of laps to catch him, Hamilton’s pit wall fumbled the strategy by finding the worst possible compromise between one- and two-stopping, Ricciardo was sidelined by technical issues, and Bottas showed the kind of non-form that makes him a central character in this year’s silly season. It was handed to him on a plate, and this time he finally accepted the offer, having politely declined it at Monza just a few weeks earlier. Yeah, they say blisters cost him the win. But you know what, those blisters were not a plague sent from heaven. They were the result of his driving style, and a much faster pace was clearly possible, as evidenced by Vettel’s race that saw him finish just 7 seconds behind Räikkönen, without blisters, despite losing much more time than that by spinning, limping back to the pits on damaged tyres, performing an additional unscheduled pit stop without any strategic benefits, and spending most of the race in traffic.
          That race was the final proof, if anyone still needed one, of how untenable Räikkönen’s employment at a team with ambitions of winning races and championships was.

          But, to return to the initial point: You said Räikkönen is a driver who can win races (in a Red Bull), but the cold, hard facts tell a very different story: He was able to win a single race that everyone else was busy screwing up. While driving a Ferrari that was arguably the car to beat in quite a few races (as evidenced by the fact that his team mate spent significant portions of their partnership actually winning races with a plural s), not a Red Bull that currently seems to be lagging slightly behind, awaiting their turn to strike when the big 2 fumble a race. While partnered with Vettel, whose form has never been the same after the beating Ricciardo gave him. Throw him into a team with an up-and-comingVerstappen, who made said Ricciardo look decent at best. What could go wrong.

          Seriously, that’s delusional.

          1. Raikkonen was a 2nd driver… and he could have got 2/3 more wins (Monaco, Hungary, Spain).
            I won’t speak about 2014 as it was him against the duo Ferrari/Alonso. 2015 was extremely poor though. Other than that, as a 2nd driver I believe he did more than ok for a 40 YO pilot.

            As for the race, they were on different strategies…

  3. Regarding the COTD: Maybe, but the same is true with entirely unrestricted testing as used to be the case back in the day.
    Regarding the Motorsport Magazine-article: Again, it’s rather pointless to take Seb into the silly season-speculations as he’s already contracted for next season.

    1. @jerejj, I would agree that I think it is unlikely that Vettel is going to be moving out of Ferrari, though I would note that the fact that Vettel is still in contract with Ferrari isn’t a guarantee that he will stay there. It is worth remembering that, when Vettel moved to Ferrari in 2015, he did so despite the fact that he had originally been under contract with Red Bull for the 2015 season.

  4. In terms of a second driver at RBR I still think Hulk is their best option or possibly a Mr Bottas were he to be demoted from Merc.

    In reality though I still think it most likely that if they decide Gasly is not doing a good enough job, they will promote internally.

  5. In the round-up: Sebastian Vettel says the involvement of F1 drivers in the sport’s planned rules changes for 2021 is “very positive”.

    Absolutely agree I think drivers should always be involved as they are the ones who in many cases have to cope with the changes, as do the people in pit lane for that matter.

    1. @johnrkh Yeah for sure one would think that would be a no-brainer yet it certainly wasn’t under BE. It always saddened me to hear of drivers basically having it implied to them ‘just shut up and drive,’ or ‘the computer model tells us this, so that’s what we’re going with.’

      I continue to have great optimism towards the new chapter and the new leadership, and consider that the inevitable bumps in the road trying to rectify everything that needs addressing in F1 will still culminate in a better product all around. And, as always, it will continue to be a work in progress, so we needn’t heap pressure on Liberty and Brawn to get it perfect for race one of 2021. I just cannot fathom it not being much better and a much better platform from which to continue to build (read re-build).

  6. Vettel won’t be driving in F1 in 2021. I honestly think this is his last season. He’s lost his passion, you can see it!

    1. I don’t think he’s lost his passion but my interpretation in terms of what we can see is that fairly early on into the season he resigned himself that they weren’t going to have the package to beat Mercedes this year in spite of their pre-season form that seemed to suggest otherwise. To me in a way some pressure seemed to lift from Seb knowing that his hands would be tied wrt a Championship fight. Just go out there, do your best in a non-WCC car, and try to sort the issues, while Mercedes continues their run since 2014.

      1. Vettel is having an Alonso 2012 moment at Ferrari.

  7. If Vettel does go to RBR alongside Verstappen, you have to give him massive credit for doing so. Going to the massively regarded Verstappen as team mate has to give you credit.

  8. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    10th August 2019, 14:47

    Seb would be absolutely annhilated at RBR alongside Max. I’m a fan of Seb but don’t completely ruin your legacy by going up against Max.

    1. Would he? You don’t know that. Also, if he does beat max, what are you gonna say? Just pick all of the wins apart and undermine them based on really nothing, just like everyone has always done to all of his previous success.

      1. This. Now every driver needs to prove themself against Verstappen.

        I estimate RedBull will win a title before Ferrari does. If nobody else capable is alongside, then Max will take it.

      2. F1oSaurus (@)
        11th August 2019, 1:17

        Vettel was annihilated by Ricciardo in 2014. Now look at how Ricciardo fared against Verstappen.

        1. They are all great drivers. Senna sometimes could pull 1.5s over his teamate’s best lap (4x WDC Prost…). Schumacher could sometimes open a large gap to Barrichello or Massa in a couple of laps. Now we’re talking about 0.2s VER over RIC, 0.3s HAM over BOT. After 10 laps you have what, a 2 to 3 séc advantage? That’s not How you rank drivers in a 70 lap long Race. Today is more about doing all that while saving tyres or fuel. Or dealing with a faulty MGU-K. Or keeping cool in the heat of the battle. Combine all that with a tiny 0.1sec margin per lap and you have your Winner.

  9. why wouldn’t the team’s motives become the driver’s motives by default?

  10. “burn the rulebook”

    “all the rules should be on two A4 sheets of paper”

    No, no bias there.

Comments are closed.