I must admit that I am among those fans that expected more of Sebastian Vettel this season, after his great start to the year it was unbelievable that after Mexico the contest was already over.
Lewis Hamilton had beaten Vettel to a fifth Formula 1 World Championship title when the German had his best chance of winning the title for the Reds. Disappointing.
For sure there were a bunch of mitigating factors that did not help Seb’s cause, none less than the passing of Sergio Marchionne that shook Maranello to its foundations and the tremors have yet to fully subside.
There is also the mysterious tale of Ferrari’s sudden lack of pace during the latter half of the season, and revelations that they indeed went up the garden path with their developments and only by back-tracking to pre-Monza versions of the car did they find the grunt again, but it was far too late.
Even without a slew of mistakes that compromised his year, the well-told Hockenheim debacle will be a stain on his CV forever and that alone was the biggest disappointment watching that Ferrari slither in slo-mo into the barriers. It was game over that day and we probably all knew it. The real Vettel is better than that.
Vettel’s 2018 mistakes
| Race | Session | Incident |
|---|---|---|
| Azerbaijan | Race | Lock up battling Bottas for first place, drops to fourth |
| France | Race | Collision with Bottas at the start, drops down the order |
| Austria | Qualifying | Demoted five grid places for blocking Sainz |
| Germany | Race | Unforced error leads to crash into barriers with a comfortable lead |
| Italy | Race | Bangs wheels with Hamilton on opeing lap |
| Japan | Qualifying | Spins during flying lap, qualifies ninth |
| Japan | Race | Crashes into Verstappen |