27/01/2015
NEWS STORY
Disillusioned with the new formula, Sebastian Vettel came close to walking away from F1, claims former boss Christian Horner.
"Seb didn't enjoy the regulation changes," says Horner, according to The Guardian. "He didn't enjoy the new engine, the feel from the new system, the power unit, the brake-by-wire, the lack of downforce.
"You could tell he wasn't happy. He was preoccupied and to compound that his team-mate won three races. There was that feeling 'am I enjoying this as much as I thought I was?'
"It was like someone had taken his toy away," he continued. "It took him a while to get to grips with that. It was not something he was used to. He went through a period of disillusionment about the direction Formula One was going in. There was a stage last year when he thought whether he wanted to stop or not, whether he was getting the same level of enjoyment or not and whether or not he wanted to continue.
"He was unhappy with the direction Formula One had gone. His previous four years had been so successful for him in a car he loved driving - and then suddenly things were very different. It raised some questions he had to deal with. He went back to basics and drove a kart in the middle of the year to get back to the bare essence of why he was a grand prix driver and rediscovered his passion for being a grand prix driver."
Interestingly, Horner claims that Vettel went through a similar period in 2012.
"We saw a little bit of it at the start when the regulations were changed about the exhaust-blown diffuser," said the Briton. "At the beginning of that year he won in Bahrain but it took him to the flyaways at the end of the year to win his second race and it was only when we found some performance around the rear of the car that it opened up his envelope for him."
While the German never made any secret of the fact that he was unhappy with the new formula, Horner's claim that he was seriously considering quitting the sport is surprising, to put it mildly.
To be fair, a number of drivers had problems with the new regulations, including his 2015 teammate Kimi Raikkonen, but none appeared to struggle as much as Vettel who was in difficulty from the outset. Indeed, the lack of pre-season testing put him seriously off his stride and the lack of confidence built from there. Even changing his chassis a couple of times failed to help.
Those who have previously opined that much of his success came from the fact that he had the best car will feel validated, especially when one compares the German's season to that of his relatively inexperienced new teammate. That he never won a race, whilst Ricciardo won three, speaks volumes. Indeed, the only time he led a race was when Hamilton pitted from the lead in Singapore.
Now at Ferrari, where he is aiming to repeat the feat of his hero, Michael Schumacher, Vettel should take note that it was in his fifth year, following four long, frustrating seasons, that the German finally took the first of his five titles with the Maranello outfit.