Rows, tears, rants, crashes and apologies – the overwhelming pressure that crushed Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari dream


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It’s difficult to know exactly when Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari dream started to come off the rails.

It may have been as he sat sobbing in the cockpit after the silliest of self-inflicted accidents in front of his own fans at Hockenheim in the summer of 2018.

“Sorry guys,” came across the radio in strangled sobs.

What should have been the season that produced Vettel’s fifth title – and a glorious first with Ferrari – became a textbook example of Maranello’s ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

TTo most, Monday’s announcement of the German’s departure wasn’t a surprise in anything but timing. But it was sad, desperately sad.

Barring a miracle in these tough times, F1’s cherished dream – to win a championship with the Prancing Horse – is over for a modern-day great.

It would be too easy to blame Vettel’s decline on Maranello’s lightning fast, new, poster boy, Charles Leclerc.

But his speed certainly played a significant part. What started with so much promise dissolved into bungling of epic proportions: strategy debacles, radio rows, tears, rants, crashes and apologies.

Banging on the steering wheel or gesticulating from the cockpit become a regular part of the show.

As long as he has sat in racing cars Vettel dreamt of being at Ferrari. So what went wrong?

Could it be the ascent to the boiling cauldron of intrigue at F1’s biggest operation was the step too far that led to the unravelling of one of the most successful careers in F1 history?

I remember Eddie Irvine climbing off the podium in Suzuka 1999. Michael Schumacher’s Silverstone crash injury had gifted the Ulsterman top dog status at Ferrari six months earlier.

That elevation came with massive expectation, pressure and microscopic worldwide examination of every move he made.

Irvine took third place on the podium in Japan, behind Schumacher and winner Mika Hakkinen.

That day, I had expected Irvine to be devastated in defeat. Instead my abiding memory is the sense of relief he exuded. Relief that whatever the result, however painful, at least it was all finally over.

Vettel, in turn, was clearly, often overwhelmed.

The early signs of fragmentation came in his second season with an inexplicable radio rant at Race Director Charlie Whiting as he raged at Max Verstappen’s tactics.

The following year Vettel inexplicably rammed Lewis Hamilton in Azerbaijan, waving his hands in fury from the cockpit in the belief he had been dangerously brake-tested.

“You can’t have passion without emotion,“ noted Vettel later after a fruitless 2017.

By the start of 2018, it was clear the Ferrari dream was not the only thing at stake. Vettel’s place in history was being rewritten by Hamilton just as Ayrton Senna had done for Alain Prost.

The “lifelong dream” had become a living nightmare, all the more because, in his mind, he was surely working towards the day when he could stand at his fallen idol’s bedside and tell Michael Schumacher he had restored his beloved Ferrari to glory.

The cinematic ending was just too much for reality. This was not a story of resurrection but one of decline and fall.

In hindsight 2018 was probably Vettel’s best chance. But he threw it away in Germany, spun in Monza, crashed with Verstappen in Japan and Ricciardo in Texas. Car problems often blighted the times when it all did come together.

Top drivers make a handful of mistakes in a lifetime. Vettel and Ferrari’s were almost weekly.

The arrival of Leclerc for 2019 appeared to signal renewed team faith in their champion – at least until Leclerc’s speed became apparent.

A below par Bahrain for Vettel was followed by a team orders debacle of rare quality in China to which Vettel contributed personally.

In Canada there were more mistakes and petulance, at Silverstone he caused an accident and then screamed at Verstappen. Another rant followed by another apology.

Mid-season it was clear Ferrari were being forced to choose between two alpha drivers and were inclined to favour a promising future over the unpredictable present.

In Russia, Vettel had clearly had enough and twice ignored clear team instructions to cede his position to Leclerc. His car broke down anyway.

A juvenile accident followed in Brazil when he edged right, triggering an avoidable and embarrassing 180mph smash with his own teammate and another double DNR.

The German finished a devastating year beaten on every score by a driver who had been in F1 just two years.

While speculation continues he could join Mercedes, Renault or McLaren – or even quit the sport altogether - it will be a good while before Vettel can look back at his Ferrari years without a real sense of a golden opportunity missed.

ELIO

Starring: Yonas Kibreab, Zoe Saldana, Brad Garrett

Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina

Rating: 4/5

Founders: Ines Mena, Claudia Ribas, Simona Agolini, Nourhan Hassan and Therese Hundt

Date started: January 2017, app launched November 2017

Based: Dubai, UAE

Sector: Private/Retail/Leisure

Number of Employees: 18 employees, including full-time and flexible workers

Funding stage and size: Seed round completed Q4 2019 - $1m raised

Funders: Oman Technology Fund, 500 Startups, Vision Ventures, Seedstars, Mindshift Capital, Delta Partners Ventures, with support from the OQAL Angel Investor Network and UAE Business Angels

Step by step

2070km to run

38 days

273,600 calories consumed

28kg of fruit

40kg of vegetables

45 pairs of running shoes

1 yoga matt

1 oxygen chamber

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

Global state-owned investor ranking by size

1.

United States

2.

China

3.

UAE

4.

Japan

5

Norway

6.

Canada

7.

Singapore

8.

Australia

9.

Saudi Arabia

10.

South Korea

Company profile

Name: Steppi

Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic

Launched: February 2020

Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year

Employees: Five

Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai

Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings

Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

TOURNAMENT INFO

Opening fixtures:
Friday, Oct 5

8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Paktia Panthers

Saturday, Oct 6
4pm: Nangarhar Leopards v Kandahar Knights
8pm: Kabul Zwanan v Balkh Legends

Tickets
Tickets can be bought online at https://www.q-tickets.com/apl/eventlist and at the ticket office at the stadium.

TV info
The tournament will be broadcast live in the UAE on OSN Sports.

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
  • Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Our legal consultant

Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The specs
  • Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
  • Power: 640hp
  • Torque: 760nm
  • On sale: 2026
  • Price: Not announced yet
ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

SQUADS

South Africa:
JP Duminy (capt), Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wkt), AB de Villiers, Robbie Frylinck, Beuran Hendricks, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle (wkt), Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Tabraiz Shamsi

Bangladesh
Shakib Al Hasan (capt), Imrul Kayes, Liton Das (wkt), Mahmudullah, Mehidy Hasan, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mominul Haque, Mushfiqur Rahim (wkt), Nasir Hossain, Rubel Hossain, Sabbir Rahman, Shafiul Islam, Soumya Sarkar, Taskin Ahmed

Fixtures
Oct 26: Bloemfontein
Oct 29: Potchefstroom