Sebastian Vettel Leaving Red Bull at Wrong Time for Fresh Start in F1 Career
In this season of misery and underachievement for Sebastian Vettel, the announcement could only ever have come at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Suzuka circuit has held so much significance for both the German and his Red Bull Racing team during their rise to prominence in recent years, with the grid's most formidable driver-team combination scooping four pole positions and four wins in five seasons between 2009 and 2013.
Each of those victories has either proved his world championship credentials or allowed him to place one hand on the trophy.
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And even on the one occasion when he didn't triumph at the track, in 2011, it didn't really matter—he just secured the crown, as so many before him have done at Suzuka, instead.
This year, however, there has been no title chasing.
No points to prove.
No dreams to be realised. No memories to be made, no champagne waiting to be sprayed. No history to be written.
And no hope.
The man who had previously never started off the front row and has never failed to record a podium at Suzuka is—on the track at least—a peripheral figure this weekend, trapped in ninth place on the grid, almost two seconds adrift, as per the official Formula One website, of the pole position slot that not too long ago had his name on it.
After the blip that was his best result of 2014, second place, at the Singapore Grand Prix a fortnight ago, this was brutal confirmation that Vettel's time at Red Bull had run its course.
The four-time world champion, however, did not hang around for the sentencing, with his departure from the team at the end of the season—presumably to Ferrari—confirmed by Red Bull ahead of qualifying.
The style of the Milton Keynes-based outfit's announcement was telling, with the news that Vettel would be replaced by Daniil Kvyat, the impressive Toro Rosso youngster, included in the same document.
Despite the German's outstanding achievements since the turn of the decade, this is little more than the change of a lightbulb—a case of "The King is dead, long live the King"—for Red Bull.
They, as the most complete team currently in F1—and the only outfit other than Mercedes to win a race this season—will continue to claim victories and challenge for titles for the foreseeable future at least, regardless of how raw their driver line-up may appear.
Yet can the same be said, as he prepares to trade navy blue for scarlet red, for Vettel?
If—as Christian Horner, his current team principal, told Sky Sports—the 27-year-old joins the Prancing Horse, he could face an extended period away from the top, with Marco Mattiacci, Ferrari's boss, quoted by Sky Sports' James Galloway last month that the Italian outfit planned to return to the title-winning contention in three years.
Despite the potential of a 2015 car produced by James Allison, who provided Vettel with plenty of food for thought in 2012 and 2013 as the designer of Lotus' race-winning machines, the after-effects of the losses of experienced figures such as Stefano Domenicali and Luca di Montezemolo may make Mattiacci's target seem very optimistic.
And although the prospect of reviving a floundering Ferrari and building the team in his image is certain to appeal to Vettel—his boyhood inspiration, Michael Schumacher, took that route after arriving at the Maranello-based team, aged 27, in 1996—one must question whether the German would have the patience to truly dedicate his efforts to the cause.
"Vettel: My hero was Michael Schumacher. In my room, as a child, there was a poster of him. And my goal was #F1. pic.twitter.com/DlcMdTsOnz
— Fans of Seb Vettel (@FansOfSebVettel) January 23, 2014"
Vettel has, after all, in his 15 years at Red Bull been groomed in an environment of impatience, with the organisation seemingly on a mission to break each and every "youngest-ever" record on multiple occasions.
An urgency is evident even in his approach to racing and competition, with the German viewing each session as an opportunity to remind us all of his talents and superiority, something which he has been denied in 2014—and is likely to be denied for a few years yet.
Mark Webber, meanwhile—who as a team-mate of Vettel for five years had a great insight to the Heppenheim-born driver's outlook—has previously predicted that his impatience will lead to the reigning world champion retiring early, telling Motor Sport magazine (h/t motorsport.com):
"I think Seb will do everything early in life.
He's got his championship titles and his results early, he's going to have a kid early and I think he'll retire early—he'll probably take a blast in the red car, then sayonara.
"
Vettel's imminent move to the team with the red cars has led to similarities with the most recent out-of-the-blue, high-profile driver switch—Lewis Hamilton's transfer from McLaren to Mercedes at the end of 2012—due to the apparent sacrifice of short-term pain for long-term gain.
It is true that there are parallels between the two—Daniel Ricciardo has this year captured the hearts and minds of Red Bull in the same way that Jenson Button did with McLaren in 2011 and 2012, forcing the lion out of his own den—but there is one major difference.
While Mercedes—as then-team principal Ross Brawn explained to ESPN F1 last year—had for a long time targeted the 2014 season as the time to rise to the front of the grid, Ferrari, despite Mattiacci's three-year plan, are currently living on hope, rather than meticulous planning and expectation.
Although Red Bull are facing a few changes of their own—chief technical officer Adrian Newey will step away from full-time involvement in F1 at the end of 2014, while Vettel's engineer, Guillaume Rocquelin, will move upstairs—remaining at the team for one more crack at the crown next year would arguably have been the safest and wisest option.
When his long-awaited move to Ferrari is finally confirmed, Vettel risks taking his first step on a road to nowhere.
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