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One for the F1 fans, if we have any here - what next for Vettel?
Well "what next" is surely a departure from Ferrari. He's in a Top 2 Team, & used to deliver, but it seems to me age has caught up with him & he can't perform at Ferrari level any longer.
So...
1) Who replaces him?
2) Where does Vettel go next?
Comments
2) Monaco/Nice..wherever he can stash his millions and live a playboy lifestyle
2a) Notts SPT?
Question 2 is the easier of the 2 to answer. Personally, if he has lost his edge, he ought to retire. He's got more money than he can ever spend, why go on?
Can't see who would want a fading star, either. If he can't drive a fast car fast these days, what will he do in a slower car?
He has an ego, too, & is never going to be happy in a mid-grid team.
I have nothing against him, but it's always sad to see a once great champion when they are past their best.
Age? That will be 2 1/2 years younger than Hamilton.
He is having (by his standards) a bad season. Think he is going to be joint number 1 with Ferrari next season.
You may be right Phil, but I seriously have my doubts, he's made mistake after mistake, & has been out-qualified by Leclerc every (?) race this season.
Younger than Lewis, yes, but not ageing as well imo, Lewis can still cut it. In equal cars, I'd take Lewis over Vettel every day.
It may be that Vettel IS losing it.
Or it could just be that Leclerc is a lot better than Bottas-Hamilton never has a team-mate with the same talent or resources...
Apart from the 2nd Red Bull seat, the top 5 teams in the Constructors' championship have their drivers under contract for 2020. That includes Vettel. They'd have to seriously want rid of him to terminate his contract then go and buy out someone else out of their contract. Even with Ferrari's history of buying drivers out of contracts, I don't see that happening. So I think they'll ultimately stick with Vettel for 2020 and get someone else for 2021 if he doesn't bounce back.
Who are the best 'free agents' atm that could replace him?
Alonso?
Hulkenberg is without a seat at the moment, so that could be a one year 'stopgap' before they throw some money at Hamilton or Ricciardo for 2021 - But he's 32 and at no point in his career has a top team seen enough to take a punt on him, nor has he had the kind of season that is likely to change anyone's mind at his age. This would be an option if we get to January, Seb decides to call it quits and Hulk doesn't have a contract.
Kvyat isn't under contract for 2020 and was a Ferrari development/simulator driver while he was out of F1 last year. If Vettel retires, Ferrari could be looking for a #2 driver behind Leclerc who isn't going to cause any problems and basically do the job that Kimi did for several years. I think Kvyat is a solid option and was pretty unlucky last time he drove for a top team that there was some kid called Max Verstappen waiting to take his Red Bull drive.
The other option is throw money at Ricciardo, get him out of his Renault deal and sign him to a 3 year deal. I think they'd have to be lining up Ricciardo for 2021 already if that were to happen though.
Leclerc crashed in Q3 in Baku, and didn't get out of Q1 due to Ferrari c*cking up in Monaco and not sending him back out to improve his time, which meant he was eliminated in 16th. However, I'm pretty sure he was faster than Vettel throughout practice.
Had to check Australia, China and Spain because I couldn't remember those races, apparently Vettel outqualified Leclerc in those too, which is understandable given he was still pretty new to the team.
So it's 8-6 Leclerc in Qualifying, I think (7-5 if you discount Monaco and Germany where one/both drivers were affected by something out of their control). Much closer than I realised.
^^^^
Fair point as to qualifying for the full season, but also fair to say the last 7 races the Q sessions went 7-0 in Leclerc's favour?
Leclerc could very easily have won 5 races this season - Bahrain where the car broke while leading by half a minute, Baku where he was dominant all weekend but hit the wall in Q3 and Austria where he got overtaken in the final few laps by Verstappen were all races where he could have won. Then there's obviously the two races he won, as well.
Apart from Canada, I don't remember Vettel looking like winning a race all year, and in Canada the Ferrari was the quicker car - The circuit layout favoured them, much like Spa and Monza.
When the Mercs have been off the pace or Ferrari have had the better car, it's always been Leclerc or Verstappen that have looked like capitalising, never Vettel.
He's allowed to practice though, and there's a good chance we'll see him in some FP1 sessions for Alfa Romeo before the end of this season IMO, especially if they aren't keeping Giovanazzi for next year.