Webber says Vettel lost motivation at Ferrari, tips F1 sabbatical

Sebastian Vettel has suffered from running out of motivation at Ferrari, according to his ex-Formula 1 teammate Mark Webber.

Last month Ferrari announced that Vettel will be leaving the team at the end of the year once his contract expires, with the Scuderia moving swiftly to capture the signature of Carlos Sainz from McLaren as his replacement.

Unless Vettel pulls off a successful title charge when the delayed 2020 season gets underway, the German will depart Ferrari having failed to achieve his dream of emulating childhood hero Michael Schumacher.

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Webber, who was Vettel’s teammate at Red Bull for five years between 2009 and 2013, reckons the four-time world champion has simply lost desire.

“Seb, under that [Ferrari] regime, they did what they could, but I think he’s literally just run out of puff there,” Webber said.

“He’s clearly not getting out of bed motivated to drive a red car.

“Yes, he’s had some challenging times at Ferrari, no question about it, but I still think they will miss him – short term they’ll miss someone of his experience and vision.”

While Vettel has been linked with a switch to Mercedes, Renault and the new Aston Martin project for 2021, Webber has tipped Vettel to take a sabbatical year out of F1 to “reinvent himself.

“I think he’ll have a year off,” he explained. “I hope for all of us he can rejuvenate himself and get back into the spirit of wanting to be competing at the front again in Formula 1.

“I think he can reinvent himself, but he’s got to have the atmosphere. I think he really, really, really misses the English way about going racing [as he had at Red Bull]. I think he really enjoyed that.”