Vettel cracked: "Demonstrates 'throwing toys out of the prem behavior"

“I never understood Seb’s awful season, when Ricciardo arrived," said Martin Brundle in conversation with F1 Racing magazine. The German had just won four world titles in a row with the team of Helmut Marko and Christian Horner, but it didn't come off the ground in 2014. "He kept on about how he hated the hybrid cars – but when he got to Ferrari he was immediately on the pace."

Forced Vettel to leave Red Bull?

The former Formula 1 driver may think that Vettel deliberately showed up so bad in 2014. "I’ve always wondered if he went slowly in 2014 because he needed to trigger his Red Bull exit clause. Whatever, he had to leave, because another year like that with Danny Ricc, and his value would have dropped to almost nothing…”

The best years of Vettel in the king's class of motor racing are behind us, says Brundle. “I think that Vettel’s judgement in wheel-to-wheel combat has gone, and that’s critical. He’s always operated on a pretty highly strung level, but these days his default mood is to get angry, forever moaning about backmarkers, and so on, and that’s sad. I remember when he’d turn up with a rucksack, smiling, ready to go – I adored him in those days", says the Brit.

Vettel shows special behaviour

David Coulthard also makes a contribution. He definitely has a problem with that. Pushed to his raw racing instincts, Vettel is emotional and reactive. You could say that those characteristics are what has made him great, but equally they’ve been a weakness throughout his career.  He’ll never, ever, admit that he was at fault", concludes the Formula 1 analyst.