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Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko feels saddened to see Sebastian Vettel struggle at the bottom of the grid after the Australian GP. The Austrian feels the German will lose his motivation if Aston Martin do not lift their game.
Speaking to F1 Insider about the German’s current state of affairs, Marko said:
"Basically, quitting in the middle of the season doesn't suit the strong character that Sebastian is. But there would have to be an improvement from the team soon, otherwise it will become increasingly difficult to stay motivated.”
The Red Bull talent scout has mentored Sebastian Vettel for an extensive period. He revealed that the German does not have it in his virtues to quit when the chips are down. However, Marko feels the four-time world champion might lose his confidence if his team don’t get ahead of their performance issues.
Saddened by the former Red Bull champion’s current performance, Marko lamented:
“In any case, it hurts my soul to see a four-time World Champion in such a situation. He is fighting and struggling to do better. One alternative would be to tick off the season now and move on to next year. But in that case, I don’t think Vettel wants to struggle anymore to help the team.”
Advising the German to write off the current season and motivate himself for the next one, Marko felt it was a sorry sight to see his former protege struggle. The Red Bull advisor also took a swipe at the Silverstone-based team for poaching staff and not being able to work as a collective.
Sebastian Vettel’s performance in Australia was not related to driving according to Aston Martin team principal
Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack defended the German champion’s poor performance in Australia and revealed that the incident was not a result of his driving. Sebastian Vettel was running 12th in the race after which he crashed into the wall at the Albert Park circuit.
Defending the four-time world champion while speaking to Motorsport Magazine, Krack said:
“I think if someone like him — a four-time champion — has these issues that he was having [in Melbourne], this is not down to not driving, because he has driven the car."
"This is really something we need to look at what car we provide him, what feedback he gets from the car. Because he will agree with me that him being off so much as he has been … is not normal and I don’t think it’s related to having missed two races.”
According to Krack, missing two races had nothing to do with the crash in Melbourne but related to the underdelivering car package. The German had missed the first two race weekends of the 2022 season after testing positive for Covid19.
Nevertheless, his maiden weekend started with a retirement and Aston Martin currently struggles in last place in the Constructor’s standings.
