Sebastian Vettel finally announces Aston Martin contract
- John Quinn
- Sep 10, 2020
- 4 min read
After months of speculation about his future, following the shock announcement that he and Ferrari were parting ways, Sebastian Vettel has today made public that he will be racing for Aston Martin F1 from 2021 and beyond.
It had been speculated for several months that he would join the team, which is currently known as Racing Point but will be branded Aston Martin next season, after team owner, Lawrence Stroll became a majority shareholder in the British marque earlier this year.
The delay in Vettel's announcement seemed to lean on what the future of the team's current driver, Sergio Perez, was. The Mexican, who has been with the team since 2014, came out last night and told the world he would not be continuing his time with the team.
The merry-go-round of driver changes began, when it was announced, pre-season, that Ferrari had decided not to renew Vettel's contract when it ends this year. It was a shock announcement so early in the year, but Vettel's relationship with the team has been showing cracks for several months.
Mid-way through 2019, Ferrari made it very clear that they were investing in their new young-gun, Charles Leclerc, when they signed him to a deal for five years, a contract length almost unheard of in F1.
The boost in confidence this gave Leclerc saw his fine form only improve, taking two back to back wins in 2019's Belgian Grand Prix, and more importantly, Ferrari's home race, in Italy.
Meanwhile, with the pressure on him, Vettel was making sloppy mistakes, most notably at that fabled Italian Grand Prix. While his teammate took a lights to flag victory, Vettel spun his car in a messy overtaking challenge and finished the race in 13th and out of the points.
Vettel redeemed himself somewhat at the next race in Singapore, a circuit he has always excelled at, by taking his first and only win of the season. He did so by not following team orders however, and although Ferrari are always ecstatic in victory, Vettel's disobedience will have raised eyebrows within Ferrari management.
Ferrari's season began to unravel after that, something I have discussed previously here, but the lowest point in 2019 for the Italian team was in the penultimate round in Brazil. When Leclerc, the faster of the two Ferrari's in the race, overtook Vettel and when Seb fought back, the two collided, an incident which took both cars out of the race.
Teammates colliding is the biggest no-no in F1, and although it takes two to tango, many put the blame for the incident at Vettel's feet, it felt he could have given his teammate more space and avoided the incident. It's this incident that is believed to be the moment that caused Ferrari to reconsider Vettel's position in the team.
Vettel has history of this type of behaviour. He and his former teammate at Red Bull, Mark Webber, famously collided at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix. Again, it was felt Vettel fought the place too hard, when the team were on for a 1-2 finish.
Vettel also took a controversial win at the Malaysian GP in 2013, similar to Singapore 2019, by quite publicly disobeying team orders. The difference between then and now though, is Vettel was Red Bull's golden-boy back then and went on to win the championship, quite convincingly, in both those seasons.
The fairy-tale romance between Ferrari and Vettel has never really materialised since they joined forces in 2015, although the team are as much to blame for this as Vettel, he made mistakes, but so did they.
Red Bull embraced Vettel and gave him the confident environment he needs to excel. With Ferrari backing Leclerc long-term, Vettel has felt shunned and that's when his performances started to wain.
Racing Point/Aston Martin's show of confidence in him, might be the shot in the arm he needs to get back to his winning ways. The press release for the deal didn't specify how long he has signed for, but it is a multi-year deal.
His team mate will be Lance Stroll, son of team owner of Lawrence. Whether that relationship will cause any issues is yet to be seen, but Stroll senior is a shrewd businessman, so results will mean more than any blood connection. He treats his assets like children, and he now has a four-time World Champion in his portfolio.
Where does this leave Sergio Perez? Hard to say, there are a few seats still open for 2021, at HAAS, Alpha Tauri and Alfa Romeo. It's been rumoured he could return to Alfa, the team he began his F1 career with in 2011 (when the team was still called Sauber). That very much depends on what their current driver Kimi Räikkönen decides to do with his future however.
It will be a shame if Perez doesn't find a seat, he has been a reliable set of hands at Racing Point (and Force India as it was previously branded) grabbing several podiums over the years and a consistent points scorer. He was also instrumental in saving the team from bankruptcy in 2018. F1 is brutal though, and he won't be the first driver forced out of the sport unjustifiably.
With more than half the 2020 season still to go and several drivers in teams they won't be continuing with in 2021, we could see some interesting racing in the coming months.
Commentaires