Berger not surprised if Vettel would quit Ferrari
Gerhard Berger thinks it is possible that Sebastian Vettel will pull out of his Ferrari contract.
German Vettel, a quadruple world champion, has won a grand total of 52 races -- the third highest tally in the sport's history. But his last win was exactly a year ago, at Spa Francorchamps in 2018.
"I am convinced that we will stand on the top step this year," Vettel told Blick newspaper ahead of his return to Belgium this weekend. "We will certainly not give up. We are actually pushing the development of the car and I feel like the problems I had with the rear are now not as bad."
However, there remain uncertainties about Vettel's future.
The 32-year-old, who keeps his family life fiercely private, has admitted a certain disillusionment with modern F1. His wife Hanna is understood to be pregnant with their third child.
Finland's Turun Sanomat newspaper claims that a clause in Vettel's contract, which is valid also for 2020, would allow the German to quit Ferrari if he is outside the top three drivers in the championship.
The report claims Vettel could use the opportunity to return to Red Bull, where he won all of his four titles.
But F1 legend Berger, who was Vettel's first F1 team boss at Toro Rosso, thinks he could retire from the sport altogether.
"Sebastian is a very intelligent guy and certainly he has a lot of other aspects to his life," the former Ferrari driver told DPA news agency. "He is very family-oriented, he has children, and he has a lot of money -- he doesn't need any more," Berger said. "His heart is very much with his family and his old motorcycles and cars."
Vettel has played down any retirement talk, but Berger is not so sure.
"I can well imagine that he wakes up one morning and says 'it's all getting on my nerves, I'm doing something else or I'm going to drive cars that are more fun and not operating under such complex rules'," said Berger. "It's not like Sebastian is not good at surprises."
Berger says the situation Vettel is in at Ferrari, where he is not currently winning and young teammate Charles Leclerc could begin to get the upper hand, is "not easy for Sebastian". "He is running out of time," Berger said.
"It's a bit different to Michael Schumacher, who was much stricter with his team and guided it more, which is not a criticism of Sebastian," he explained. "Sebastian is very clever and hardworking, it's just not his nature. It's the management's duty to make the team work," said Berger.
Sebastian Vettel is now P4 in the 2019 F1 drivers standings. The German driver is 25 points behind Max Verstappen who is 3rd.
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Should retire, he's lost the plot
Vettel can't win for losing.
No doubt he is not indifferent to his fans not seeing him at his best.
But to every cloud there is a silver lining - his detractors are firing on all cylinders.
And that in itself shows the measure of the man.
Sebastian can't take all the blame. Ferrari has a long history of wrong decisions during races putting a lot of pressure on both their drivers. Leclerc made mistakes as well & a couple of crashes this year so why put all the blame on Vettel ????
because he's paid millions to be the team leader. It's mad to compare him to a virtual rookie.. Vet has made more mistakes than Ro Gro so he deserves what he gets
Really, really should retire, that is pathetic.
Sebastian has put his heart and soul into it, you should be thinking of who to get rid of in his support team, the ones that are throwing the wrench in the works and making such bad decisions, which are making it look like he is failing.
Retire please.
Sundance
I have always defended Seb against unjustified attacks.It is up to Ferrari to make it possible for him to claim a few victories before the end of the season, otherwise Seb will lose trust in the team and he will leave or he might still like to stay in F1 if he enjoys racing and that means he will go to another team, possibly Mercedes if he hopes to get another title before he retires. So we might still see him as Lewis's team mate. We want to see what is happening with Red Bull and Verstappen who can still steal the title from Lewis . I think that Vettel will give us his decision on his future in October and I trust it will be a right one for him but I would like him to to stay as I just think he has provided his fans with great racing and lots of drama and such a great sense of humour and we certainly saw his passionate outbursts which showed us his human character.
Go Vettel, be the number one you are
Not winning in a TOP car in nearly a year isn't good enough for their Nr1 driver. Looks worse when the nearest a Ferrari has come to winning recently was their Nr2 driver in only his second year.
Ferrari will be sniffing around in the background and I wouldn't be surprized if Verstappen is their target man for 2021.
Jedra, I agree with you entirely, should the Ferrari campus have been up to the standard that of Michael Schumacher's era, Sebastian would be a driver to be reckoned with.
It is the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps this weekend, I do hope Ferrari will have got there act together after the summer break.
Go Seb go
Spa, Ferrari certainly did get their act together, as did Leclec !
'Go Seb go' has never been more fitting
Mssr. Berger probably knows the situation Vettel is in better than most of the commenters here; no offense, but he is on the inside and also knows Vettel personally — something very few people can say. It takes guts to just step away from something that has been your life's work and passion. That he nis disillusioned with F1 cantankerous rules and rulings is no surprise, and why not? They are not doing the sport much good at the moment, are they? If I could trade places, I would have to seriously consider calling it a day and begin another life with my family as the top priority. Don't be alarmed if that turns out to be the case. (As you get older you relish family more and the other joys you've missed in the past.)