Sebastian Vettel’s transfer to Ferrari from Red Bull came after his run of dominance abruptly ended in the turbo hybrid era.
The German won four consecutive titles from 2010-2013, with his first title producing one of the greatest seasons of the century as he won a four-way battle for the title in Abu Dhabi.
Vettel was almost unstoppable at Red Bull until the switch to turbo hybrid V6 engines gave Mercedes the advantage. The Milton Keynes-based team regressed in 2014, prompting the four-time champion to join Ferrari the following year.
It took the Maranello outfit until 2017 to produce a car that could fight Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton for the championship, with Vettel becoming his main rival.
Despite winning 14 races with Ferrari, the German could not find a way to beat Mercedes. Vettel finished runner-up to Hamilton twice in 2017 and 2018.
The 2018 season was particularly damaging for Vettel. He had been leading the championship until he crashed out of his home race at Hockenheim by his own mistake – and this would start a ‘downward spiral’ at Ferrari.
Toto Wolff felt Sebastian Vettel would ‘thrive’ at Aston Martin after difficult end to Ferrari spell
The 37-year-old never found the same competitiveness after 2018 as he went winless in 2019. The 2020 season was even worse as the SF1000 suffered a huge regression in performance.
Vettel achieved one podium all year and finished outside the points 10 times in 17 races. The German finished 13th in the standings with 33 points – his lowest finish in a full season.
This dismal campaign prompted Ferrari to part ways with Vettel after six years. His next destination would be Aston Martin as they went into their first season in 2021 after being rebranded from Racing Point.
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Lawrence Stroll was building the foundations for an exciting project and brought in Vettel as an experienced head to go alongside his son Lance Stroll. Ahead of his move to Aston Martin, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff felt it would be the fresh start the German needed.
When asked if Vettel would be more competitive in 2021 with Aston Martin, Wolff said via the Beyond The Grid podcast: “I’m certain about that.
“A driver needs to feel well within an environment. He needs to be supported and needs to be looked after.
“And I believe that changing teams will give him a fresh motivation. He hasn’t forgotten about how to drive a car. He’s a four-time world champion and I think just the momentum went against him.
“And then obviously once you’re in the downward spiral, that becomes very difficult to actually escape. And I think Aston Martin is a fantastic brand and I think he’s going to thrive on it.”
Did Sebastian Vettel ‘thrive’ at Aston Martin?
Whether Vettel performed better at Aston Martin than he did at Ferrari in 2020 is up for debate, especially considering the former had a more uncompetitive car than the latter.
Looking at the statistics at face value, Vettel scored 10 more points in 2021 than in 2020, achieving a sensational second place at Baku. But he registered the same amount of podiums (one) and points finishes (seven) as he did the year prior.
The German bagged six fewer points in 2022 than in 2021, but he was more consistently in the points with 10 top 10 finishes across the season. Vettel decided to call time on his incredible F1 career at the end of that season and was replaced by another multiple-world champion – Fernando Alonso.
With the Spaniard in the team, Aston Martin made a huge step forward in 2023 as Alonso grabbed eight podiums and finished fourth in the championship, while the team were fifth in the constructors’ standings.
They repeated their fifth place finish in 2024 but scored 186 fewer points as Aston Martin fell far behind the top four teams. Alonso is excited to work with Adrian Newey in 2025 as they look to push back up the field.
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