Vettel must control 'psychological problems'

(GMM) Sebastian Vettel needs to watch out for “psychological problems” as he settles into life at Aston Martin.

That is the view of former F1 driver Christian Klien, who said that although the quadruple world champion has moved teams after his struggles at Ferrari, he now has another serious challenge to grapple with.

“At Aston Martin, he has the chance to do a complete reset,” Klien, who raced for Red Bull, told Servus TV.

“But he has to have Lance Stroll under control. Seb always had psychological problems when his teammate was very strong, like with Daniel Ricciardo or Charles Leclerc.

“If he doesn’t get Stroll under control, his career could be over quite quickly,” the Austrian added.

According to 38-year-old Klien, another “very interesting” driver pairing for 2021 is Max Verstappen alongside the highly experienced Red Bull newcomer Sergio Perez.

“It will be important for him to settle in as quickly as possible,” he said.

“Perez may have a hard time in qualifying at the beginning, but he has often shown excellent form in the races and he is one of the best tire whisperers in Formula 1.”

Klien also thinks Red Bull will benefit from Perez’s experience at other teams.

“Even if Red Bull has its own car philosophy, Checo’s information will be interesting to them,” he said.

Vettel made clear following the launch of Aston Martin’s new AMR21 car for 2021 that he was not interested in how he was viewed or what his legacy would be, instead preferring to focus on his own performances with his new team.

“I’m not interested in what people think,” Vettel said.

“It’s more about making a point to the team, to myself, rather than the people. Our world is moving very fast, and the world has to move on fast and quickly, which is healthy and good.

“Otherwise you will always be stuck in the past and you will still say Juan Manuel Fangio is the lord and savior of all racing drivers. No doubt he was very, very special. But if you ask a 15-year-old now who is Juan Manuel Fangio, I don’t think they know.

“That’s good. Time will move on. And especially nowadays, probably Fangio had a longer legacy than any one of us will ever have, independent of the number of wins and so on. And that’s good.

“It’s good to move forward and to move on. So, I’m pretty certain that when I say goodbye to Formula 1, I will be forgotten very quickly, and that’s OK. I think that’s healthy.

“So that’s why I’m also not too bothered about proving a point to people, and really just focusing on my own bit, which is right in front of me is myself.”