Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel should learn better manage the pressure if he wants to fight with his closest rivals Lewis Hamilton for the Formula 1 championship next season.
The German has only to blame after escaping the title this season. Everything collapsed in last September rounds, and he was never able to regain his place later.
Hamilton, meanwhile, headed for the conquest of a fourth world championship, and a third in four campaigns alongside Mercedes.
The 46-point gap between Hamilton and Vettel would not reflect the intensity of the fight, which offered Scuderia a real opportunity to put an end to Mercedes’ hegemony before Vettel’s catastrophic decline.
“I’m hungry for next year, we reset the counters. Look at the number of leading positions, and wins.” Vettel said.
“In general, we were not fast enough. It’s simple as that. In the end, you can analyse this and that, individually, but our car was just not good enough.” he added.
The Italian factory, looking for a first drivers’ championship since 2007, it proved faster than Mercedes a few times.
On the other side, Mercedes’ impressive power advantage since the adoption of the new engine rules in 2014 has taken off this season.
Vettel still makes mistakes due to his mood swings despite all his experience, 47 victories in almost 200 races. The 30-year-old driver showed it briefly last year when he had a quarrel with his former team-mate Mark Webber at Red Bull.
Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen crashed out in Singapore GP this season. (Source:www.skysports.com)
There was the hit in Hamilton before a raise at the European Grand Prix in Baku last June, and of course, the spectacular collision he caused involving four cars from Singapore GP, probably the one who defined the season of the German.
Vettel, who was in second place, had the opportunity to gain 25 points on a track where no other F1 driver had more podiums than him. But, he left empty-handed a nightmare that allowed Hamilton to take advantage of the chaos to save himself with the victory, and eventually with the championship.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo, meanwhile, he believed Hamilton’s ability to keep a cool head was key to him winning his near private battle alongside Vettel this season.
“Lewis’s season, I respect that. He had a great car, but I think Seb’s car was also good and Lewis just maintained a cooler head, a better level of consistency and composure. You have to respect that.” Ricciardo said.
