Sebastian Vettel's defiance and Ferrari's response is good news for Charles Leclerc

Russian GP

Vettel's defiance and Ferrari's response is good news for Leclerc

The Scuderia showed their hand in Sochi.

Matthew Scott

Sunday 29 September 2019 18:06

"I put myself above the decision today." "Sebastian thought f*** you." "When he overtook me I wasn't so much angry as very sad that the team had reached this sorry state."

Sebastian Vettel certainly has a history of ignoring team orders, and while his Russian Grand Prix defiance may not have the wide-reaching consequences of 'Multi 21' but it shows he is not yet ready to give up status inside Ferrari to Charles Leclerc.

Like in Sepang 2013, Vettel opted not to follow the team's wishes when leading the race from his team-mate.

Similarities between the incidents are limited from there, but no less telling of Vettel's intentions.

Vettel taking the lead in Sochi was part of the plan, at least in some way, with the pole-sitting Leclerc having agreed to tow his third-placed team-mate past Lewis Hamilton off the line.

He will have been fully aware that the huge run to Turn 2 could also give Vettel the chance to take the lead, which of course transpired.

Also part of the plan, however, was Vettel giving his place back to Leclerc, although we're talking about a driver whose lawyers served Red Bull with pages of reasoning as to why he should not have been punished for his Malaysia transgression, so when Vettel barked "I would have passed him anyway" over team radio, it was clear something was up.

This was not a place that Vettel would simply hand over, it was made clear that Leclerc would at least have to reach for it, while running in dirty air as Vettel was able to stack up purple laps with nobody in his way.

In doing so, Vettel showed he was ready to fight for his Ferrari future.

A return to the comforts of Red Bull has been mooted for Vettel, as has a switch to Mercedes to bring a German driver into the fold of Germany's team, which has perhaps struggled to nail down that identity since returning to F1.

Vettel taking the fight to Leclerc shouldn't be seen as a last chance to stick one to his team-mate either.

See the 2014 campaign for ho Vettel might be reacting now if he had given up on Ferrari – it clearly hasn't happened.

If Vettel wants to fight to retain his team leader status, what followed might suggest that Ferrari have already taken it from him.

Having tried to put his destiny in his own hands by building a four-second gap to Leclerc, Vettel could only watch on as the second car was called in first and Vettel was kept out.

Mattia Binotto claimed immediately post-race that this was done in case a safety car was called.

So perhaps it is just coincidence that Vettel was kept on-track, on shot tyres, until Leclerc had closed his pit window, at which point Vettel was immediately called in, serviced and sent back out behind his team-mate.

The message was clear. Vettel will have to play by Ferrari's rules.

In 2013, he was Red Bull's golden boy, but now that status sits across from him in the garage, and with good reason.

Leclerc's pole in Russia was his fourth in succession.

Only Hamilton and Nico Rosberg have put together a similar run in the V6 Hybrid era, the previous non-Mercedes driver to do likewise was Vettel in 2011 and a Ferrari driver had not done so since Michael Schumacher in 2001, when Leclerc was three years old.

Leclerc's team radio also suggested he is well-aware of his status, as he spoke to sporting director Laurent Mekies.

"I completely understand. I gave you the slipstream, no problems, but then I tried to push at the beginning of the race. No problems. Manage the situation."

'No problems' was delivered with a tone that suggested there certainly was a problem, as much as can be read into tone when a driver is travelling at 180mph.

This followed the Singapore GP, when Leclerc was chided for his radio transmissions after being undercut accidentally by Vettel.

Perhaps Mattia Binotto ought to issue both Vettel and Leclerc's race engineers with similar brickbats after this race – that the drivers' plan was played out so publicly was farcical, and may well have taken focus away from what was most important – Mercedes' developing strategy behind.

In the end, Vettel's breakdown, and subsequent VSC, took the race even further out of Leclerc's hands, leaving Ferrari with more questions than answers, despite their impressive charge in recent weeks which has put the fear up Mercedes for sure.