In 2020, Ferrari decided to part ways with Sebastian Vettel. The German race driver was hired by Aston Martin soon, where he spent the last two years before retiring from the sport.
For Vettel, Aston Martin’s boss Lawrence Stroll sacked Sergio Perez, wishing the four-time world champion would bring commercial appeal and technical knowledge for the team to grow.
Though the commercial aspect could have got a slight bump, did Aston Martin get better with Vettel? That never happened. On the contrary, it saw a major decline from its Racing Point days.
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Lawrence Stroll got Sebastian Vettel for a bargain
Vettel’s salary at Aston Martin was a shame in front of what he was earning at Ferrari. He got a 90% hit from his $45 million salary at Maranello, claims former Ferrari press officer Alberto Antonini in Business F1’s column.
Vettel reportedly earned only $15 million at Aston Martin. However, it’s not 10% of $45 million anyway. So Antonini is probably exaggerating the figures as even with extravagant bonus clauses, Vettel couldn’t have got $150 million.
That would have made him the richest sportsperson by a mile. In Ferrari, he wasn’t even the richest in F1. Though, Stroll actually saw a nice opportunity to get Vettel for a bargain.
He was lucky to get a seat
Antonini, in his opinion, further writes that Vettel was lucky to find a home in Aston Martin. He claims that Stroll hired the German race driver rather for his reputation than his speed.
He adds that Vettel was conspicuously declining after his crash in Germany in 2018. Vettel, at that stage, was the nearest to win a championship since 2013.
But he crashed while leading the race, and his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton won the race, and it became a stepping stone for the Briton to win another title.
The incident surely affected Vettel psychologically, claims Antonini. From there onwards, he only saw professional hits as at the prime age of 33, he saw a 22-year-old Charles Leclerc getting ahead. Nevertheless, Vettel still managed to beat Stroll’s Lance Stroll in both seasons. So even at his worst, he was better than most.
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