German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’ reflects on how Scuderia Ferrari decided the line-up for the 2021 Formula 1 season:
Ferrari already decided during the winter that Charles Leclerc would be the team’s new “centre forward”. Perhaps there would have been a future for Sebastian Vettel in Maranello with the original budget cap. But with the new restrictions resulting from the Coronavirus crisis, the Italian side could no longer make the German a reasonable offer.
TV expert Martin Brundle is convinced: “The collision of the Ferrari drivers in Brazil was the nail in the coffin for Vettel.” Not because Ferrari blamed the German for the incident, but because in Maranello, the thought matured: two top dogs in one team does not work.
Who the future is for Ferrari became clear just before Christmas. Ferrari extended the contract with Charles Leclerc by five years. Not even Michael Schumacher was able to get that. The contracts with the German superstar were always extended by three years. Just like with Sebastian Vettel.
Nobody at Ferrari makes a secret of saying, “Charles Leclerc is our future.” In future, the team management will operate on the principle that it’s better to have one centre forward and one passer than two at the top, battling for the top scorer’s crown. “We’ll play 4-4-1-1 instead of 4-4-2.”
Only a team with the best car can afford two top drivers. Like Mercedes has done in the last six years. “If Hamilton and Rosberg were still racing as a team in 2017, Mercedes’ shot could have backfired. We had a car that was good enough to benefit from that,” says the Ferrari man.
Same job, less money
Ferrari already started talks with Carlos Sainz in January. This shows that even at that time Ferrari had little hope in a model with two number one drivers. That’s why Daniel Ricciardo was also short-listed. Nevertheless, Sebastian Vettel could still have had a chance to add another two years. But only without the Coronavirus crisis and its consequences.
This is forcing Ferrari to completely rethink its future plans. With the fixing of the chassis and 18 other components by the end of 2021, the possibilities of completely making up for the technical deficit, which was already indicated during the pre-season testing sessions, are limited. The engineers have found that this will require more than just a few new baffle plates.
The reduction of the budget cap from 175 to 145 million dollars means a new beginning for all top teams. Especially for Ferrari. On the one hand, the Scuderia has to make up ground on Mercedes and Red Bull with the 2020 car, on the other hand, it has to build a completely new car for 2022 with 20 percent less money than originally planned.
On top of that comes the difficult task of bringing the team down from 1,000 employees. And everything has to happen simultaneously. At least a small team doesn’t have this downsizing process on its hand. Bad luck for Sebastian Vettel: the consequences of the Coronavirus crisis and the disarmament of Formula 1 have had a significant impact on Ferrari’s timetable, and not in his direction.
Too great a sacrifice for Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari estimates its chances for 2020 and 2021 realistically. With the SF1000, it may be enough for GP victories, but not the World Championship title. Therefore Maranello will work at full speed towards the 2022 season. For someone like Vettel, who would have liked to become world champion with Ferrari and would have had at most two more years to go, this model would not have been very attractive.
He would have had to accept that Ferrari would have had to concentrate all his efforts on a period when his next contract was about to expire. It should have worked out in 2022 or not at all. So all the work would have been mainly worthwhile for the one who stays on board until 2024. And this is Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz may be put through this waiting period. For the Spaniard, Ferrari is a step up. He will fit into the program and not start a small war against his team mate as long as Ferrari is in the rebuilding phase. Vettel, on the other hand, is running out of time. “We would have had to ask him to make sacrifices in 2021 that were hard for him to accept,” the Ferrari source said. Red Bull has already shown in the 2019 season that this model can work. At least with a view to the drivers’ World Championship. Whoever wants to win the Constructors’ title needs two winning drivers on board. Ferrari hopes that Sainz will develop into one.
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