A huge mistake by Aston Martin: 'His last two years were miserable!'

18:44, 16 Jan 2021
24 Comments
After a long search during the 2020 season, Sebastian Vettel managed to find a place for the upcoming season: Aston Martin F1. According to Eddie Jordan, the team made a big mistake in doing so.
Even before the season had begun, Vettel immediately received the bad news from Ferrari. From 2021 onwards he will have to find another employer. That news immediately caused a whole landslide, with several drivers changing teams. Because of that shift it seemed for a long time that there would be no place for Vettel in Formula 1, but that doubt came to an end after Racing Point - from this year on Aston Martin - announced the German as its new acquisition.
The team is immensely happy to add a world champion to its ranks, but according to Eddie Jordan, there is no reason to be happy at all. "I like Vettel very much, but I think Aston Martin made a mistake in giving him a contract. The last two years against Charles Leclerc at Ferrari were miserable. I don't know why he looked so bad, he won four world titles after all. But I think he's past his prime. I would have kept Sergio Perez," states the former team boss in an interview with F1-Insider.com.

Little opposition for Vettel

Yet Jordan does not think the German will be canned at his new team. Of teammate Lance Stroll, the Irishman has an even lower opinion. "Lance is like a knapsack. You never know what's inside. Sometimes he drives well, sometimes extremely badly. He's anything but consistent," Jordan concludes. Whether Stroll can compete with Vettel will become clear in March, when Formula 1 starts again.
24 Comments
Neil Henderson 17 January 2021 at 15:49+ 3182

hahaha ! ej is always good for a laugh isn't he ? he hasn't been relevant for a long long time now, if he ever was. don't get me wrong he certainly has entrepreneurial flair and what he achieved in his life is remarkable but according to most f1 insiders he was really far from the mark in terms of having what it took to be a serious contender for f1 glory. virtually every f1 personality i can remember noted that jordan was nowhere near having the abilities to manage a top flight f1 team. and it wasn't as if they were being mean or rubbishing the guy in a nasty way, it was just that compared to todt or dennis or williams/head or even briatore the general consensus was that he was miles off in terms of management ability.
when i see him in those longer tv shows or webcasts talking with coulthard or derek daly or even eddie irvine he does seem a little out of his depth. personally i think he's a bit like icing sugar; i can only take him in small doses.
who isn't going to take vettel over perez ? it's pretty much a no brainer. i lthink perez is pretty good but he simply isn't bringing what vettel is to the table. vettel is obviously not as fast as he once was but for a name brand automaker like aston martin a 4x wdc german vs a mexican with a decent reputation ? on pretty much every level he provides more punch. it will be interesting to see if he slides further but i think rp/am will know how to treat him to get the best out of him.

Howard Lawrence-Brown 27 January 2021 at 04:23+ 299

Seems to me Perez win after so many races,was kinda by default,don't Yu think,,lots of experience mostly mid field,but at the front ? Well we will see,should be fun to watch though,any thing new will help change this o so boring train.

Fez Nene 17 January 2021 at 10:47+ 17880

I think Seb would make a brilliant team boss or strategist.. he is smart, calm, sensible, honest n understands the workings of the car n has a vast driving experience to make right calls n help develop a team! He can excel in Steiner n Otmar's jobs...;)

harish 17 January 2021 at 09:06+ 67

On Marketing Prospects AM selected Vettel, Daddy Stroll might thought Vettel will be useful in Guiding baby stroll and helpful in his development.

Gianni Jordi 17 January 2021 at 03:15+ 294

Time will tell but Daniel and Checo are better drivers in my opinion. Don't forget that Vettel bought shares in Aston Martin, his he a paying driver?

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George Xenakis 17 January 2021 at 01:30+ 246325

A huge mistake by Aston Martin: 'His last two years were miserable!' = That is why Szafnauer is the cardinal of Aston Martin ,and not Jordan.

krishsud 17 January 2021 at 24:50+ 4806

Only advantage with vettel is when everything is correct in that car and its into his liking he is better than Perez but if that car is not to his liking then he would be worst than Perez as well..

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Ncode429 16 January 2021 at 20:37+ 109

Vettel mostly won from the front. I think way back in 2014 against Ricciardo showed he wasn't that good.

racingluv 16 January 2021 at 21:19+ 1657

Winning from the front sounds like a good idea.
However, he did manage to come through the field as well.
Remember when he got spun round at the start, had the instant presence of mind to grab reverse so he could avoid the pack speeding towards him, then came back through to take another championship!

Juan Sanchez Mendez 16 January 2021 at 21:32+ 199

Really? Well all that luck he had is no longer with him. Now he drives like a mediocre/bad driver, no rear end grip and spin spin spin spincrashtien

racingluv 17 January 2021 at 01:42+ 1657

What do you mean Really? Unless you are only 5 yrs old you must remember his drives like that. It wasn't luck, it was skill.
Lately he has been trying to squeeze performance from a difficult that is not fast enough.

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Ncode429 17 January 2021 at 02:50+ 109

Got to beat your team mate!

Juan Sanchez Mendez 16 January 2021 at 20:30+ 199

The day Ferrari signed overrated Vettel(only because Alonso told them to stuff their project) was the day they should've thrown the contract down the toilet and signed Ricciardo for much less who most recently overcame Spincrashtien over a season. People back then I remember didn't want to see it but it has happened again with Leclerc. Is Stroll going to humiliate him and make him retire? I know what the answer is. The thing is Stroll is just as bad as Seb, they have their good days but most of the time they are bad to mediocre days.

racingluv 16 January 2021 at 21:23+ 1657

You don't win 4 Championships by having mostly' bad to mediocre days.'

Juan Sanchez Mendez 16 January 2021 at 21:27+ 199

You can when the nearest rival's machinery is 2 seconds per lap slower on average.

racingluv 17 January 2021 at 01:34+ 1657

Which was not the case with Red Bull championships, unlike recent years. During one of Vettel's championship years 7 different drivers won the first seven Grand Prix.
You haven't seen real competition like that in the turbo/hybrid era.

Barry Woolnough 17 January 2021 at 05:45+ 6

Your nearest rival is your team mate and suppose to have equal machinery

mp599 17 January 2021 at 21:46+ 11881

RedBull decided Vettel was first drive and did damage Webber by purpose. When Webber challenged Vettel, Seb made mistakes.
As soon as RedBull wasn't any more the dominant car, Vettel was always beaten by rookie Ricciardo.

Iron Duke 17 January 2021 at 02:14+ 81

Very true. Vettel is the most over rated drive in the entire history of F1. He drove an unbeatable car to four titles, but any half competent drive in F1 would have done the same. He only had a journeyman number two Webber to beat, but he even struggled with that at times. He was found out first by Danny and then again by Charles. Lance isn't very good, so Vettel should be comfortable having a journeyman team mate again, but it wont mean he's back or any other nonsense, he just wont have a faster team mate.

MostMender 17 January 2021 at 15:25+ 3

I've never seen a bigger idiot, or a more oblivious statement for years!

racingluv 17 January 2021 at 20:51+ 1657

Agreed.' Most over rated driver in F1 history. Won with a car that any half competent driver would. Journeyman no.2 etc.'
Must be talking about the MOOAT not Vettel.
Also Webber was brilliant would leave Bottas miles behind!
The problem with people like Iron Duke, is that they can't analyse race driving so have to rely on statistics. He has probably never raced single seaters, never mind won races in them.
Which I have achieved by the way.

Howard Lawrence-Brown 27 January 2021 at 04:14+ 299

Can't see the logic of Ricardo to Ferrari,the car and management,are way off the mark

Bob Wheeler 16 January 2021 at 20:28+ 932

Eddy is off his meds again! Whose turn was it to watch him this week?

racingluv 16 January 2021 at 19:56+ 1657

I wouldn't write Vettel off so soon. Rob Smedley wrote an excellent analysis at the end of 2019 which showed that if looked at properly it was bad luck/unreliability of his car, plus events like LeClerc deliberately cheating him out of pole at Monza that made the difference between the 2 Ferrari drivers. Otherwise Vettel would have outscored LeClerc easily.
Someone that is still employed by Ferrari, insists that, after Vettel outqualified LeClerc twice running early last season, the order came to give him a poor car, so that they didn't look total idiots sacking their fastest driver. Remember him examining the car himself at Silverstone? He couldn't believe it was so bad.
Despite a poor car, he took a podium at the most difficult Grand Prix of the year, when drivers in easier and faster cars, couldn't.