Irvine regards Vettel-Ferrari relationship as “a screwed up dynamic”
Eddie Irvine spoke about the “screwed-up dynamic” which was put in place by the Italian team and claimed that Ferrari paid Sebastian Vettel to stay out of this F1 season.
The start of the 2020 Formula 1 season did not go great for Ferrari. This will also be the last season in which Sebastian Vettel will race with Ferrari.
The question of the German driver's position in Ferrari has been reassessed, just as team principal Mattia Binotto said, due to the pandemic and finances.
Former Formula 1 and Ferrari driver, Eddie Irvine said the Italian team most likely paid the four-time world champion to stay "out of the game" during this season.
In an interview with Omnisport Irvine said: “At Ferrari, the pressure is second to none, it’s a tough situation but I think now it’s even tougher, because Ferrari are stuck with a driver that knows he’s getting sacked at the end of the year.
"Really the loyalty is not there and Leclerc is their number one hope, so I just think it’s a really screwed-up dynamic.
"I would have got rid of Vettel this year to be honest, just paid him to go and taken a young guy, or anybody.
"I think it’s destructive having Vettel there, but they had their reasons, I guess.
"Maybe they didn’t want to pay so much money for a guy to do nothing, I don’t know."
In addition, Irvine returns to the clash that took place during the Styrian Grand Prix. Both drivers did not go great during qualifying and started 10th and 14th. At Turn Three Charles Leclerc ended the race for both by closing the passage to his teammate.
According to Irvine, it is not only Leclerc that should be blamed because the German could also have his share of the blame.
"The problem is with Vettel and I’ve said it many, many times, he makes way too many mistakes," he said.
"At the weekend, even though it was Leclerc’s fault, he left the door so wide open.
"He waved Leclerc down and then when Leclerc got in there Vettel had to turn right because the car was to his left, but he really did leave a massive gap that sucked Leclerc in.
"It was Leclerc’s fault, but I’d put five per cent of the blame on Vettel."
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