Marko analyses: 'This is why his races have not been at Vettel level'

The 77-year-old Helmut Marko is not only known as the man at the helm of Red Bull Racing, he is also one of the people who uncovered Sebastian Vettel's talent. The two still have a close bond, and in light of this Marko has been asked for his view on the underlying reasons for Vettel's mediocre season at Ferrari.

Not only does Marko come up with an answer in his analysis, he even provides the interviewers at Motorsport-Total.com with a timeline. Marko identifies uncertainty in the driving style of his former pupil, which he attributes to a specific event. Marko said: "I think it is an uncertainty that began in my eyes with the crash in Hockenheim 2018, while in the lead.”

Marko speculates that the crash at Hockenheim caused a lack of confidence in the Ferrari car for Vettel, and that as a result this was a cooling of good relations between Vettel and Ferrari. He explained: "At that time Arrivabene was still team boss. From then on, the relationship with Ferrari has deteriorated."

Materially disadvantaged

Despite the fact that it is quite possible that Vettel was put at a disadvantage with teammate Leclerc in terms of material supplied, Marko also acknowledged that the former Red Bull star may have suffered as many self-inflicted failures: "How far he was materially disadvantaged, I can't say. But you have to say that he made far too many mistakes of his own. With this crash, the uncertainty set in, and the driving was very often not Vettel-level."