‘Getting Vettel out of slump should be Ferrari’s priority’

Shahida Jacobs
Sebastian Vettel PA

Sebastian Vettel PA

F1 motorsport managing director Ross Brawn feels Ferrari should make it a “priority” to get Sebastian Vettel back on track, saying it will be “essential” for their 2020 hopes.

While his team-mate Charles Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix from pole position, Vettel endured a dismal weekend as he was only fourth fastest in qualifying and then finished down in P13.

His race at Monza was compromised after he made an unforced error that saw him spin off the track and drove into Lance Stroll’s path.

With Leclerc winning back-to-back races, Vettel now finds himself behind his team-mate in the Drivers’ standings.

The German, though, is adamant that he has “not fallen out of love with F1”, but Brawn says Ferrari needs to help him to regain his confidence.

“Vettel is clearly one of the greats of our sport, but at this tough time he really needs the support of the team to regain the confidence he seems to be lacking at the moment,” he said in his post-race review.

“That, as well as pushing on with the car development, has to be a priority for Mattia Binotto in the coming weeks.

“It won’t be easy, but it is essential especially in terms of 2020.”

Brawn says that Vettel only has himself to blame for his race day woes, adding that history is repeating itself as the four-time World Champion is experiencing the same problems he had during his final season at Red Bull.

“Sebastian made two mistakes on lap seven, spinning and then hitting Stroll and the errors look even worse in light of Leclerc’s double victory in Spa and Monza,” he said.

“It’s an unavoidable fact that no matter who the driver is and regardless of how good things are in the team, your first rival is always your team-mate.

“To a certain extent, Sebastian is experiencing what he felt at Red Bull in his final year there, in 2014, when he found himself up against Daniel Ricciardo, a youngster setting incredible pace.”

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