Strong race by Sebastian Vettel at the start of the Formula 1 summer break: With eighth place in Spa, the German celebrated his best result since the Azerbaijan GP at the beginning of June. Alone: Vettel is left behind in the race scene on Sunday and finds himself in the role of Ricardo Zonta.
In the race scene, Vettel is left behind on Sunday and finds himself in the role of Ricardo Zonta.
“The Zonta was even slower than me on the straight,” Vettel says with humor after the end of the race. “He felt the same way: If I twitch to the left or right, it becomes dangerous, I prefer to stay in the middle,” explains the Aston Martin star of his behavior in the duel with the two Frenchmen Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Curious: Ocon even explains after the race: “It’s a crazy coincidence! I spoke to Mika of all people before the start today. He wished me luck and apparently that helped.”
Vettel has eight more races for this, then his Formula 1 career ends. “I’m finishing my season and I’m looking forward to the races that are still to come. Sure, I’ll be gone then, but it’s going on. Sitting around at my age isn’t possible at all,” emphasizes the Hessian and reveals: “Even if I I have a few things on my mind, I have to let it come to me.”
In any case, he will keep his fingers crossed for his buddy Mick Schumacher in the future – as he is currently doing: “I wish Mick a little more drive for the next races. Unfortunately, nowadays you go by the last results and that there is a lack of foresight,” says Vettel.
He has a lot of praise for his compatriot, who is twelve years his junior: “He’s learning, that’s his absolute strength. The speed is there too. He got going after a bad start, but it’s also difficult to attract attention with the car,” believes Vettel: “I wish him a car in which he can show what he can do.”
Definitely not Haas on Sunday in Spa: Schumacher finished the race in 17th place, one position behind teammate Kevin Magnussen.
“As expected, it was quite difficult, the other cars simply have a lot more top speed than we do. Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to fight at all,” said Schumacher after the race. However, he succeeds once with flying colors: in the Eau Rouge dip of all places, he shows a great maneuver against Williams driver Nicholas Latifi, who ends up behind Schumi Jr.
Ironically, in the depression of Eau Rouge, Mick Schumacher shows a great maneuver against Williams driver Nicholas Latifi.
Not only does this test of courage make Schumacher sweat, but also the engine on his Haas: “Something like an insulation tape broke, so hot air was blown from the engine into the cockpit all the time. At some point it was 60 degrees hot.” , explains Mick and jokes: “It felt like we were already in Singapore.”
In Spa, Schumacher had the new parts on the car for the first time: “They bring us a little more speed here and there. I’m happy that we have upgrades and hope that we can (next weekend; ed.) get back into the can drive points.”
