Ecclestone shrugs: ''That's never been the case at Ferrari''

Sebastian Vettel has left Ferrari and whoever watched the last season of Drive to Survive saw the irritation bubbling up inside the German. The love between the two was over, as Bernie Ecclestone also saw.

Vettel was told before the 2020 Formula One season even began that Ferrari no longer needed him in 2021, and that announcement hit the German hard. The confidence in the team was gone and Vettel never reached his old level again, bar a podium in Turkey. According to Ecclestone many people forget how sensitive Vettel is.

No love for Ferrari

''We talked about everything and the best thing he can do is forget about his years at Ferrari. What many people may not even know is that he is very sensitive. He likes it when people love him. That has never been the case at Ferrari,'' Ecclestone said in the AvD Motor & Sport Magazine of Sport1.de.

''He is now back on the right track. He would not have liked to go to a team where there is no challenge, where he could have won just like that. He is now at a new team and he wants to help improve it, as he did at Red Bull. He won four world titles with Red Bull and he couldn't do it with a team outside England."

Happy at Aston Martin

In the last year Vettel fell further and further behind and the mistakes piled up. The German was no longer comfortable in his skin at Ferrari, and that can also be seen in the new season of Drive to Survive. According to Ecclestone, the German will therefore be only too happy to be joining Aston Martin.

''What he went through last year was that he wasn't happy and also didn't get the full support. He was perhaps also irritated. So it had to be the right team for him, and I'm sure that's the case now. They are looking after him there and I am sure he will be successful there,'' the former Formula One CEO concluded.