After the end of the 2020 season, Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari will go their separate ways. In 2021, the four-time world champion will be hoping for more joy with Aston Martin.
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For six years, Sebastian Vettel did his best to win the Formula One title for Ferrari. Had he done so, it would have been Vettel's fifth title and Ferrari's first since 2007. Instead, a project that began with so much hope now ends ingloriously and unfinished.
"Twice we got close to the title, but it just wasn't to be," were Vettel's words looking back at the 2017 and 2018 season when he finished runner up to Lewis Hamilton. The last two seasons have been more of an ordeal for Vettel. The Ferrari car was no longer competitive, places were lost due to tactical errors and Vettel's teammate Charles Leclerc often left him in the dirt.
The news of Vettel's departure came in spring, and in truth it was more of a sacking. Vettel wanted to stay and talk about extending his contract, but Ferrari planned without him and signed Carlos Sainz as his replacement. His final year was accompanied by a career low finish in the drivers' championship — 13th.
Ferrari said Vettel left huge footprints at the team, said team boss Mattia Binotto. Vettel's response was a bit more sober. "We respect one another," Vettel said of Binotto to "Gazzetta dello Sport", before adding: "but there was never a love between us, and that is fundamental."
New love, new success?
Whether or not a loving bond will emerge between Vettel and his new team boss at Aston Martin, Otmar Szafnauer remains to be seen. Both have known each for years, and think highly of one another.
Szafnauer told "Sport Bild" that with Vettel, the team will learn that there's a chance to improve in every small detail. "We hope that he will teach us what we need to do to help him win four world titles."
Vettel said the move would be an adventure and they would try to reach the front group. First though, it won't be about winning the world title but rather enjoying race weekends free of frustration and full of trips to the podium.
And the conditions are good. Aston Martin - who until the end of this year are still named Racing Point - are racing on a Mercedes motor and are still using the unit that in the year before was used by Mercedes. Both Lance Stroll and the departing Sergio Perez have shown this season that it is possible to drive fast with this car.
Nevertheless, the gap to Mercedes will remain. The defending champions will likely be without competition again for the 2021 season, so long as they don't make any of their own errors.
Former champion in the "old boys club"
Aston Martin will be the fifth team of Vettel's F1 career. Since 2007, the 33-year-old has been in the big show and along with Kimi Raikkonen (41), returning Fernando Alonso (39) and Lewis Hamilton (35) makes up the old boys club on the circuit. But with age comes experience - since 2005, one of them has always won the title with the only two exceptions being in 2009 (Jenson Button) and 2016 (Nico Rosberg).
Other than keeping one another at bay, the old boys will also have to keep the young stars from claiming top spot - and more and more are starting to appear.
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc (both 23) are already established and Mick Schumacher's arrival is proof that these young talents keep coming. At 21, Schumacher looks destined to compete for the world title one day. His first year at Haas will be a year of learning, but Ferrari will likely be keeping an eye on Schumacher after he joined their driver academy in January 2019.
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Ruthlessness required
George Russell is just one year older than Schumacher. In 2021, the Briton will be entering his third season and showed at the Sakhir Grand Prix what he is capable of when he's in a competitive car. In 2021, Valtteri Bottas' contract ends and Russell will likely join Mercedes.
After a strong season for Alpha Tauri, Pierre Gasly (24) has earned a return to the Red Bull cockpit, where Alexander Albon has disappointed. McLaren's Lando Norris (21) and Lance Stroll (22) have also regularly picked up points this season.
No one in Formula 1 is short on confidence or ambition. The young guns will do their best to learn from the talents of the older drivers, whilst also waiting to pounce on any sign of weakness. Whoever ruthlessly seeks to find their own advantage will rise to the top in F1. The young drivers know this and will act accordingly.
And in doing so they will do just as Raikkonen, Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel once did when they were the young drivers in the Formula One field.
Sebastian Vettel to Aston Martin: A look at his F1 career
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will race for the newly rebranded Aston Martin works team in 2021 and beyond at the end of his sixth season with Ferrari. DW looks back at the German driver's F1 career.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Teaming up with Aston Martin
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will remain in F1 beyond this season after signing with Racing Point, who will rebrand as Aston Martin F1 Team from 2021. "I am pleased to finally share this exciting news about my future," said the German, who will see out the last of his six seasons with Ferrari in 2020. "It’s a new adventure for me with a truly legendary car company."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Zuma/D. Oliveira
F1 breakthrough with Sauber
The German driver's F1 career began with BMW Sauber. After spending most of the 2006 season in Formula Three, he became a test driver for Sauber in 2007. At the United States Grand Prix, the 19-year-old became the youngest driver in F1 history to score a point after replacing the injured Robert Kubica — Daniil Kvyat broke his record in 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Okten
Toro Rosso triumph
Midway through the 2007 season, Vettel got his first permanent spot in F1 with Scuderia Toro Rosso, a feeder team for Red Bull Racing. The German gave the Italian outfit its first-ever race win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The victory also made the 19-year-old the youngest-ever F1 race winner — a record Red Bull's Max Verstappen broke in 2016 when he won the Spanish Grand Prix aged 18.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Ghement
Four straight championships
Vettel achieved even greater heights when he moved up the grid to Red Bull Racing in 2009. After becoming the youngest world champion in 2010, he went on to win three more with Red Bull in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He clinched his fourth title after winning six consecutive races, the final one at the Indian Grand Prix on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Image: Reuters
Comparisons to Schumacher
Vettel's four consecutive championships put him in the same bracket as another German great, Michael Schumacher (right). Vettel's rise inevitably drew comparisons with the F1 legend, who won seven world titles including five straight from 2000 to 2004 with Ferrari. "When I was a kid, Michael Schumacher in the red car was my greatest idol," Vettel said in 2014.
Image: Getty Images
Fall from the top
Vettel followed up his four-straight titles with an underwhelming 2014 season. He became the first defending champion in 1998 to not win a race as he struggled with the RB10 car. Rumors of a pre-arranged agreement with Ferrari began to swirl, and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner announced in October 2014 that he would join Italian outfit — a move Ferrari didn't confirm until a month later.
Image: BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images
Start with Ferarri
Vettel officially joined Ferrari in November 2014, taking the spot of Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion. He said being part of the Italian outfit meant "a dream of a lifetime has come true." Paired with 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel helped Ferrari rebound from a disappointing fourth-placed finish in 2014 with a runner-up performance in the 2015 constructors' championship.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Azubel
Chasing Mercedes
Though he has continued to win races, Vettel has been stuck behind Mercedes during his Ferrari career. The Silver Arrows have strung together a streak of five straight constructors' championships, with Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton (center) winning drivers' titles during that span. Vettel's best chance to add a fifth world title came in 2018, but he flamed out after a fast start.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Xhemaj
Eclipsed by Leclerc
In an unusual move, Ferrari added up-and-coming 21-year-old Charles Leclerc in 2019, committing to the Monegasque driver until 2024. But the Italian outfit insisted Vettel was still their lead driver. The roles appeared to switch throughout the 2019 season, with Leclerc finishing ahead of Vettel in the drivers' standings.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Hanai
Vettel leaving Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari announced before the start of the season that they would go separate ways once the 32-year-old's contract expires at the end of 2020. This season, delayed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be Vettel's sixth with the Italian outfit, ending a turbulent time that looks set to fail to produce a driver's championship.