"It's a bit rich coming from him" - F1 pundit reminisces Sebastian Vettel criticizing F1 regulations in 2014 after winning 9 consecutive races in 2013

F1 pundits Ben Anderson and Edd Straw have recalled how Sebastian Vettel criticized the 2014 technical regulations after winning nine consecutive races in the second half of the 2013 season.

On the Bring Back V10s podcast by The Race, host Glenn Freeman spoke about the time Vettel thought no team would be able to close the gap to Mercedes in 2014 due to new regulations. The German driver also compared Mercedes' dominance to McLaren's in 1988 with Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost.

Vettel's comments came after the FIA introduced a new set of power unit regulations, along with rule changes in several other departments, in 2014. This completely turned the tables, with Mercedes dethroning Red Bull as the new dominant team.

Being the defending world champion, Vettel was not happy with the entire situation.

Further in the podcast, Edd Straw talked about Mercedes' prowess in 2014, but also mentioned how the Red Bull driver dominated the latter half of 2013. Ben Anderson, who was also on the podcast, lightly chimed in and said:

"Yeah, it's a bit rich coming from him [Vettel], isn't it?"

In 2013, Sebastian Vettel broke the record for most consecutive race wins by finishing P1 in nine races from the Belgian GP to the Brazilian GP. The four-time world champion's record was considered one of the most dominant moments in F1 history.

This record of most consecutive race wins was recently broken by Max Verstappen in 2023 when he won 10 Grands Prix in a row.

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Red Bull never dominated F1 like Mercedes did in 2014, felt Sebastian Vettel

In 2014, Sebastian Vettel explained how Red Bull never dominated the sport like Mercedes did right after the new regulations. In a piece on Autosport 10 years ago, Vettel said that his team was never in this position at the start of a season.

"It is a different situation but I think we have never really been in that kind of position. Obviously it is easy to look back and say that we have dominated everything, and it was easy. But the way I remember it was a bit different to that," Vettel said.

He admitted that he had a strong finish to the 2013 F1 season but felt that the gap and overall results from Mercedes in 2014 were different.

"And now we are five races into the season, I don't think we ever started the season with five wins as a team. Obviously, we had a very, very different and strong finish last year. But if you look at the races and the results and the gaps, I think it is a different story," Sebastian Vettel added.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton went on to win his second World Championship in 2014, with the team winning its first Constructors' title.