For a man at the sharp end of the championship battle for a number of years, it has not been the easiest of seasons thus far for Sebastian Vettel in his final year at Ferrari.
Six races into the new campaign, the German’s stand-out result was sixth at the Hungarian Grand Prix last month.
Recent underwhelming results are a vast contrast to his six previous seasons at the Italian marque, when he averaged three podium finishes in the first six races.
Making the best of a bad situation in Barcelona, Vettel soared from 11th on the grid to seventh at the flag by way of a remarkable one-stop strategy.
Starting on the medium tyres, the 33-year-old pitted on lap 29 before being asked midway through his second stint whether he believed a one-stop was possible.
Initially, there was a level of frustration over the radio from the four-time world champion. However, he remained committed to the strategy, lasting 37 laps on ageing softs.
He had run outside the top-10 for much of the race. But as team-mate Charles Leclerc retired and the bulk of those ahead of him pitted for a second time, Vettel stretched his softs far longer than expected.
He moved as high as P4 at one point and, although he was passed out by the Racing Points and Carlos Sainz Jr. late on, he hung on for his second-best finish of the year.
It was an impressive performance for Vettel, managing the tyres to perfection and navigating the long straights plus sharp corners around the Circuit de Catalunya.
The only excuse for the Ferrari strategists, who have made their fair share of poor decisions in recent weeks, was that they expected rain to fall on lap 50.
Irrespective of potential tactics, they should have sent Vettel longer on the mediums and shorter on the softs, in a bid to maximise performance from the SF1000.
Another option would have been to communicate with Vettel better so that he could conserve his rubber with greater care for the latter stages of the race.
If key decisions were made faster, the 53-time race winner, who is widely expected to pen a multi-year deal with Racing Point from 2021, could have netted a top-five finish.
Impressive work from Seb to nurse his tyres home 🎧 🙂
— Formula 1 (@F1) August 16, 2020
He finished P7 in Spain and won the vote for Driver of the Day 👊#SpanishGP 🇪🇸 #F1 pic.twitter.com/4q6VoINp7m
Nevertheless, the former Red Bull man stayed composed and pushed hard on his one-stop strategy, holding off Alex Albon, Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris late on.
As a result of finishing seventh, he moves up two places in the drivers’ standings to 11th on 16 points. His toughest start to a season since his full debut in 2008.
While only 16 of his 3,0001 career points have come in 2020 – the second driver after Lewis Hamilton to surpass the 3,000 point barrier – a statistic like that does remind people how gifted a driver Vettel is.
Seventh in Spain is unlikely to spark any celebration. However, it is a step forward for now and should provide him with renewed belief in a difficult campaign to date.
His team boss Mattia Binotto says Ferrari have not lost faith in him, yet it appears clear that Vettel is not receiving the same support as his younger colleague Leclerc.
Ferrari is a struggling car, sitting fifth in the constructors’ championship, and has dropped from being a title contender to a midfield outfit, lacking pace and aggression.
Without everyone at the Prancing Horse pulling in the same direction, there will not be the same consistent and formidable results of previous years.
The next stop on the calendar is Spa, a circuit where Vettel has won three times, and Ferrari have enjoyed notable success over the years.
If strategy and a bit of luck goes his way, Vettel can hopefully turn around a dismal season into a promising one, in what will be his swansong campaign at Ferrari.
