I tend to consider much of the commentary on Sebastian Vettel as simple the bravery of being out of range. It’s easy to be excited about Charles Leclerc—and as a Ferrari fan, I am—but Toto Wolff thinks it’s a little early to write off the German.
“I’m just saying, don’t write him off,” he said after Vettel’s latest troubles.
“He’s a four-time world champion, and the difference between the great ones and the good ones is that the great ones are able to get up again.
“And I have no doubt that he can do that.
“He’s had a spell of bad races, and now it will be about the ability to get himself back into where he deserves to be, and [Italy] for sure is a bad day for him.”
Vettel’s struggles were present prior to Leclerc being at Ferrari so I am not convinced the young man from Monaco is the reason Vettel has had a string of challenging races. I think the issue stems back to the tumult at Ferrari, the inability fo the team to solve their issues and one might argue Sebastian’s inability to get the team completely behind him or create the ecosystem that Schumacher did in order to win. There are missing pieces and through major management changes, those pieces still aren’t there are have been slow in coming.
I don’t work at Ferrari so I have no way of knowing but from the outside looking in, it would seem that the system just hasn’t been firing on all cylinders. However, the struggles Vettel has had with this year’s car are clearly capable of being overcome as Leclerc has shown and that does speak to an internal motivation and ability to rise to the occasion.
The biggest question mark in Wolff’s commentary is if Sebastian wants to rise to the occasion. If he does, he’ll have to dislodge Leclerc who is systematically wrapping the team around himself and there is a part of me that doubts if Sebastian wants the hassle and task of doing all of that. I hope I am wrong.
Hat Tip: Autosport
