“We can offer him an environment in which racing is fun again”- How Otmar Szafnauer intends to maximise Sebastian Vettel’s output

“We can offer him an environment in which racing is fun again”- Otmar Szafnauer fully believes that Sebastian Vettel will revolutionize the team.

Sebastian Vettel is set to embark on his journey with Aston Martin in  2021, a few days ago only, the German race driver reached the team factory to get used to the machinery.

For Otmar Szafnauer is everything this team needed, and he has explained how he intends to bring the full potential of the four-time World Champion, who had an underwhelming 2020 with Ferrari.

“We can offer him an environment in which racing is fun again. In which it is a pleasure to be in Formula 1. That’s exactly why most of us do this job. What does it mean to have fun?” he said to Auto Motor und Sport.

“You can ask Seb that yourself. I think it means to him that you get the most out of every branch of the team and the car. This is what this team stands for. We have shown that in the past.”

“We cultivated this environment – and he was looking for this environment. He’ll get the best out of us. And we get the best of him.”

No lack of self-confidence in Sebastian Vettel

Vettel had a tough couple of years in Ferrari, as it was conspicuous that he is no longer in the plans of Ferrari, especially in 2020, when Carlos Sainz was announced even before the start of the season. But Szafnauer doesn’t think Vettel had any dip in self-confidence.

“No, not at all. He’s already driving us. He is very inquisitive. He keeps asking us: Why do you do it this way and why not differently? In just two days he had so many questions,” he said.

“He not only asks us questions but also passes on his experiences. That is exactly what we need. We want to turn every stone to improve performance so that we can say in March that we made the best of our possibilities over the winter.”

“Both Seb and us as a team. I don’t see a lack of motivation, a lack of self-confidence.

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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