Sebastian Vettel lost the Champion of Champions clash against Sebastien Loeb but leaves Sweden with a new found love for off-road racing.
Vettel’s outing in Pite Havsbad for the 2022 RoC was eventful to say the least. He partnered up with Mick Schumacher for Germany, but had a disastrous run in the team outing on Saturday. He even lost to e-sports driver Lucas Blakely in one of the heats.
In the end, team Germany scraped past the eROC All Stars team, but fell to the American duo of Colton Herta and Jimmie Johnson. Vettel’s fortunes turned around on Sunday when the individual event kicked off.
The Aston Martin driver defeated Emma Kimilainen, Colton Herta and Tom Kristensen to set up a bout against WRC legend Sebastien Loeb in the finals. However, he lost out to Loeb, 3-1 in what was a thoroughly one-sided affair.
Despite leaving the snowy track without winning the trophy, Vettel admitted that the idea of off-road racing has him intrigued. He acknowledges the fact that he has a lot of ‘catching up’ to do. But, he is open to trying out similar racing ventures in the future.
Also read: Sebastian Vettel loses to Sebastien Loeb in the finals of the 2022 Race of Champions
Sebastian Vettel needs time and experience to properly adjust to off-road racing
Vettel revealed that he was involved in learning a lot about how to handle a car in off-road conditions throughout his time in Sweden. One stark difference he pointed out, was the fact that in races like this, drivers have more opportunities to make up for the mistakes they make.
“I always enjoyed watching what they are doing,” said Vettel. “It is a different discipline so you’re still having fun with a car. But it’s just there are a lot of differences.”
“Very much like Formula 1 or in any category, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes. Doing your pace notes and getting all the information you can. The same with us preparing the race and the analysis after.”
“You need the time and experience but if somebody is willing to give me a shot and a chance and has a lot of time, I’m happy to look at it. I think it’s something that is as a driver very satisfying, to play with the car and to have more margin.”
“Normally when the car steps out you correct it immediately and you’ve lost a bit of time. Here I think there’s much more grey. You are sideways, maybe the timing’s a little bit off but you can correct it,” the four-time F1 Champion concluded.
