Herbert: "Don't write Vettel off, he's not experiencing tremendous pressure now"
General
- GPblog.com
Sebastian Vettel has not (yet) been able to achieve at Ferrari what the common goal was: to become champion. The German will say goodbye to the Italian team at the end of this year and for that reason it could well be that he will perform extra well in the coming season. According to former rider Johnny Herbert, Vettel should definitely not be written off yet.
Huge pressure
Sebastian Vettel doesn't seem to be able to perform very well when there is enormous pressure on his shoulders. Now that he knows he's leaving at the end of this year and that Charles Leclerc is becoming more and more important for the team in that sense, it may turn out to be beneficial for the German. That is the opinion of Johnny Herbert, who explains this in more detail at Sky Sports.
"Has he already checked out? The Sebastian I know hasn't. When he was leading the team, he had the might of Tifosi on his shoulder, Italy on his shoulder, and all the pressure from Ferrari as well. It didn't really help him. When you look at the garage at Mercedes, Lewis doesn't have as anywhere near as much pressure."
"Has that now been released, and are we going to see the Sebastian Vettel of old? I hope so. He's not a four-time champion just because he had the best car, and it's not a given that Leclerc is going to go to Austria and be the quickest Ferrari driver." That could be something if we are allowed to believe Herbert, although it is of course completely dependent on the mindset of Vettel.
Speed
Karun Chandhok is a bit more reserved about that: "I really wonder which Sebastian Vettel is going to show up. Last year in Singapore, Russia, we saw the quadruple world champion with devastating speed. But then we also saw the error-prone Sebastian at times."
Meanwhile Charles Leclerc has turned out to be a more stable driver and after the race in Austria last year the Monegask has become a bit more aggressive. Herbert: "Charles Leclerc has grown over the last season. We saw that brilliant battle last year with Max where in the latter part of the race they were battling side-by-side. That released a new Charles Leclerc, a very aggressive Charles Leclerc who decided: Right, if that's how you're going to play this game, I'm up for that."
Whether he can be just as aggressive depends a bit on Ferrari and especially the car. "Of course Ferrari have got to give him that opportunity. I hope they've had that time to analyse what they've done and now put themselves in a better position, because at testing they weren't up to speed at all", said Johnny Herbert.