Sebastian Vettel will leave the paddock at the end of this season. His Aston Martin team announced it on Thursday July 28. Before ending his career in a green single-seater, the German will have especially shone within the Red Bull team, powered by Renault. Cyril Abiteboul, former boss of the Renault team, therefore rubbed shoulders with the quadruple world champion at that time. For franceinfo: sport, he evokes the Vettel he knew, and the imprint he will leave on F1.
Franceinfo: sport: What mark will Sebastian Vettel leave in the history of Formula 1?
Cyril Abiteboul: He meant a lot of course, and especially for Renault with whom he won many titles. His results of course speak for him but, for me, Vettel is above all the product of a complete Red Bull strategy with this team which arrived by disrupting the model in place because it was not backed by a manufacturer. She landed with the ambition to upset this fairly conservative system with a fairly explosive brand image. Vettel comes from this subsidiary, via the lower single-seater categories. This driver materialized the success of the 360 degree strategy of the Austrian team.
Would you place Vettel on the same level as other multi-world champion drivers?
The facts are there and they are stubborn: Sebastian is a four-time world champion. He beat real tough opponents, even if it is true that he benefited, during his titles, from the power of a very young, very efficient, very dynamic team. But he is also someone who was able to push his team in terms of development, in particular for innovative exhausts which blew out in turns and which made it possible to maintain aerodynamics.
Vettel was among the first, and most insistent, to persevere on this path. More generally, we will obviously remember the qualities of the driver but he is also someone who knew how to animate the relationship between him, Renault and Red Bull. When he left for Ferrari, the other two parties undoubtedly paid the price. A great driver is therefore also someone who knows how to federate and create links, well beyond his first circle around the car.
His end of career, on the other hand, does it leave you with the impression that he had somewhat lost the sacred fire?
It’s true that when he left a structure, Red Bull, where everything was built around him, to join a team [Ferrari] which existed long before him and which made him fully understand the weight of tradition, things have become more complicated. To be at his highest level, Vettel needed a very favorable environment. Because even if he is a competitor, he is quite sensitive. Similarly, at Aston Martin where there have been many changes, shareholders and objectives, he has not been able to find the stability he needs to flourish.