Vettel considered leaving Formula 1 in 2014

The 2014 season for Sebastian Vettel was a true ordeal. Outpaced on the track by his new teammate Daniel Ricciardo and overwhelmed by the new regulations which he struggled immensely to adapt to, the German seemed to carry his gloom throughout the year, barely brightened by a few opportunistic podiums.

Christian Horner, the director of the Red Bull team, admits today that his former protégé even considered leaving Formula 1: “Seb [Vettel] didn’t like the regulation changes, he wasn’t having fun with the new engines, and he had a bad feeling with the new systems, the power units, the brakes, the lack of downforce. There was a moment last year when he didn’t know if he was going to stop or not, if he was going to find the same pleasure and continue,” he stated to the British newspaper The Guardian.

The four-time world champion of the discipline struggled to find the motivation to continue his Formula 1 career under these conditions, Horner notes: « One could say he wasn’t happy. He was also concerned by the fact that his teammate won three races. There was this feeling “am I having as much fun as I thought I would? »

« It was as if someone had taken his toy away. It took him a while to get used to it. He went through a certain period of disillusionment regarding Formula 1 » he continues.

The questioning of Vettel was profound and he even went back to the basics of his trade, karting, to rediscover racing sensations lost in his single-seater: He was unhappy with the direction Formula 1 was taking. The previous four years had been such a success for him in a car he loved to drive… and then suddenly, things were very different. He started questioning things. He returned to basics and drove a kart in the middle of the year to get back to the very essence of his Grand Prix driver’s condition, and he rediscovered his passion.

Already in 2012, Horner observed that Vettel had the same kind of questioning after the ban on exhaust systems: « We saw a little bit of these feelings when the ban on blown exhausts came into effect. At the beginning of the year, he won in Bahrain, and then it took him a little more time to bag his second victory. It wasn’t until we regained a bit more performance on the rear end that he really let loose. »

In 2015, Sebastian Vettel decided to take on the challenge of Ferrari, both to reignite his motivation and his career, but also to try to enter the legend of Formula 1, as his model and compatriot Michael Schumacher had done in his time.