Ferrari assistant team principal and race director Laurent Mekies was asked about Sebastian Vettel’s time with the Maranello team, as the German driver confirmed he will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the current Formula 1 campaign. The French engineer, who worked with Sebastian for several years at Ferrari, pointed out the German driver’s ability to unite the team, describing it as “second to none”.
Sebastian Vettel moved to Scuderia Ferrari at the start of the 2015 Formula 1 season and there were high expectations for a partnership that everybody hoped would lead to results similar to the ones achieved by Michael Schumacher with the Italian side. The German races for six years at Ferrari and won 14 races, but as le left Ferrari, there was a huge sense of what could have been, especially in 2017 and 2018, when Ferrari seemed able to challenge Mercedes for the world titles.
After leaving Red Bull as a four-time Formula 1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel’s goal was definitely to add to that tally while wearing the red racing suit, representing the most successful team in the sport. Unfortunately the Ferrari – Sebastian Vettel duo was not able to stop the Mercedes, mainly due to some problems within Ferrari, but also a few mistakes in key moments made by the German driver.
By the time he left the Maranello team at the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season, Sebastian Vettel’s relationship with Ferrari had dramatically deteriorated up to the point it was even rumours that he may leave the team midway through the championship and not even stay until the last race of 2020. The German eventually finished the 2020 season with Ferrari and then moved to Aston Martin for his final two years in the sport. Current Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies wanted to praise Sebastian Vettel’s ability to unite the team, even in the difficult moments.
“I like to separate the driver from the man,” Laurent Mekies said, in an interview for the Italian website Formula Passion – “The driver always had an incredible attention to detail and from his very beginnings you could tell he had something special. He has grown throughout his career and at Ferrari he developed a talent for trying to bring the team together, in good times and bad. In this, he was second to none. Plus, with his talent and dedication, his attention to detail, he achieved what he achieved. But I think we will also remember about him the incredible respect for all his colleagues. In his eyes, you can clearly read that when you talk to him. And that was something that pushed us to improve and it was a privilege to have shared the path with him.” – the Ferrari sporting director explained.
But it is not just Scuderia Ferrari that feels the German driver has the great ability to unite as his soon-to-be former on track rivals also speak very highly of him. Sebastian Vettel is currently the director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association board and there have been a lot of requests for the former Ferrari driver to continue in this role even after he retires at the end of the championship.
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Iranian-Canadian racing driver competing for Williams Racing, Nicholas Latifi, also praised Sebastian Vettel for having the welfare of all racing drivers at heart, not only his contemporaries in Formula 1.
“Sebastian is definitely one of the more vocal ones – that’s not the right word, but he’s definitely one of the drivers who always speaks his mind and gives it to the stewards when he has one. Especially when it comes to the safety of drivers, and not only the drivers on the [F1] grid but also in the junior classes. It also shows what a good guy he is because logically it’s extra work on top of his already busy life as a Formula 1 driver.” – Nicholas Latifi replied, when asked about the German driver.
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