Goodbye to Sebastian Vettel as 2021 see Ferrari staking their future on Charles LeClerc
It’s Vettel’s fifth season without being on top of the drivers’ standings and as a consequence no constructor championships in that time either for Ferrari. Last year having finished fifth behind Charles LeClerc – his worst result ever as Formula 1 lead driver – the writing was already on the wall. His status as the team’s number one driver was torn in shreds. Time to leave at the end of this season – it has not been working for him or Ferrari and the team spirit between him and Charles has been questionable at best. They say that a bit of competition doesn’t hurt anybody, but when team orders are flouted and there are “misunderstandings” on the racetrack – that arguably cost vital points – then something has to give.
And so to no-one’s surprise the contract negations between Ferrari and Vettel broke down. Did they break down over a rumoured major cut in salary and limited contract duration? Press reports have Vettel saying his leaving has nothing to do with pay. Ironic that the four-time world Champion with Red Bull was once hailed as the young genius who might even rival the records of his countryman Michael Schumacher.
Time is merciless, a new young genius Charles LeClerc will be taking his number one spot on the Ferrari team.
Ferrari’s bets on hiring established World Champions Alonzo and then Vettel have left them without driver’s or constructor’s championships.
Arriving at Ferrari in 2015 to replace Fernando Alonso, Vettel suffered the same fate by also being unable to offer the title of world champion driver to the legendary Italian team.
The last in their list of winning drivers is that of the Finn Kimi Räikkönen in 2007 with a last constructor title earned the following year.
There were once glory days for the German Vettel. He won four titles with Red Bull (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) and to-date has a total of 53 victories. But only 14 of them so far are for Ferrari, and three top three finishes in the drivers’ standings falls well short of the Scuderia’s ambitions.
Ferrari’s new strategy is to go all out with relatively young guns – Charles LeClerc as the conquering number 1 and a new signing to back him up when this season has run its course. And so only two days after it was announced Sebastian Vettel would be leaving Ferrari at the end of 2020, the Italian team have confirmed Carlos Sainz as Charles Leclerc’s new team mate from 2021 onwards.
I've never learnt so much as I did with you as my teammate.
Thank you for everything Seb. pic.twitter.com/jRHEsvMYvg— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) May 12, 2020
It's been a huge honor for me to be your team mate. We've had some tense moments on tracks. Some very good ones and some others that didn't end as we both wanted, but there was always respect, even though it wasn't perceive this way from the outside.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/cN0E9t3huw— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) May 12, 2020
Sainz at 25 years old will join the Scuderia on a two-year contract after two seasons at McLaren. This will create the youngest driver pairing in the Prancing Horse’s most recent fifty year history.
Carlos Sainz’s new deal at Ferrari follows a successful year for the Spaniard in 2019 in which he secured a career-best sixth in the drivers’ standings. That is noticeably the highest of any pilot outside the established top three of Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.
Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow and Sebastian Vettel decide not to extend their contracthttps://t.co/LMvLsJZiP8
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) May 12, 2020
He also won his first career podium with a third place in Brazil to give McLaren their first trophy since 2014.
Could 2021 be the year of Ferrari? Mercedes and Red Bull are surely sitting up and taking notice with new plans to fend off the attack.
