At the second race in Austria within a week, Sebastian Vettel experiences the next day to forget – his teammate is to blame. At the top, the world champion drives his laps lonely.
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Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari just can’t get out of the negative headlines at the moment: At the Austrian Grand Prix in Styria, the four-time world champion and Scuderia experienced a debacle right at the start, as Vettel by his own teammate Charles Leclerc was shot down – The end for the 33-year-old and a short time later for the Monegasque. Lewis Hamilton, however, drove confidently to his first win of the season ahead of team-mate Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen.
The Ferrari farewell tour from Vettel is becoming more and more a laughing stock. “It is difficult at the moment because the negative predominates,” said the 33-year-old from Heppenheim after his absence in the first round. “We have to keep fighting and try to give everything.”
“It hurts already”
A week after his sobering tenth place to start in the same place, the Styrian Grand Prix was over early for Vettel. Because Leclerc, second in the previous week, drove him violently into the car with a thoughtless maneuver in turn three and his rear wing broke away immediately, the Hesse had to park the already crippling Ferrari in the pits. Only four laps later was also over for Leclerc from Monaco.
Only last year in Brazil, Vettel and Leclerc collided and then also dropped out. At that time, they had raked on the open track at high speed. As a result, there had been a lot of trouble for pilots and team leadership from the top management of Ferrari – this should now be repeated. “It hurts when both drivers drop out after two laps,” said Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto and spoke of the “worst way to end a difficult weekend”.
Ferrari continues to simmer
The Italians see the future in Leclerc, the hotspur was only equipped with a contract until the end of 2024, while Vettel has to leave at the end of 2020 after six years and still has no cockpit for 2021. “I don’t know what gap Charles saw,” said Vettel, adding, rather pissed, “it’s extremely bitter.”
While world champion Hamilton defended his lead confidently and nobody could be dangerous for him in empty ranks in second ghost races in Formula 1 history, Ferrari simmered. After the mixed start, the factory team had preferred an upgrade package with a new front wing and new underbody. But one day after the difficult rain qualification, there was no way to compete with the competition. Vettel had got off to a poor start and fell back from tenth. Leclerc, who was 14th in the Grand Prix, did not have a good perspective either.
Mercedes is driving ahead
“It makes me want to do it, but the race was extremely short,” said Vettel: “It’s a shame, especially after last week. Today it would have been much better than last week, I noticed that. But that didn’t happen . ” Ferrari will have a chance to do better next week in Hungary. That it is enough to seriously endanger Mercedes remains more than questionable.
The black painted silver arrows also brought the second victory of the season shortened by the coronavirus pandemic. A week after Bottas, the 35-year-old Briton Hamilton took the first important step towards his seventh world title. Should he become champion again this year, he would catch up with world champion Michael Schumacher after titles.
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