Sebastian Vettel and the boo bus fallout

Vettel – Proving the ‘Boo Boys’ right?

It has not been a good year for Sebastian Vettel, popularity wise. Ever since the “Multi 21” incident, he has had to face the wrath of fans all over the world, and every time he has won a race the crowd has booed him, irrespective of the country.

And now, Vettel seems to have earned the wrath of his fellow drivers as well. On the podium of the Singapore GP, this is what he had to say regarding the crowd’s booing: “Whilst there’s a lot of people hanging their b***s in the pool on Fridays, we’re still working very hard and pushing very hard so that we have a strong race.”

In essence, he was saying that the rest of the paddock has an easy time even while his own team keeps working hard, without respite.

Not only is it arrogant for Vettel to say that about his colleagues, it is downright insulting. No one gets into the top level of any sport, let alone F1, by coasting. Every single person would be dedicated about improving on the previous results and driven towards achieving perfection.

And expectedly, the drivers did not appreciate the comments. Nico Rosberg was one of the drivers who took exception to Vettel’s comments, saying: “Sebastian brings the boos on himself. He talks about my b***s that I hang in the pool and then the boos come. My guys are working hard day and night. He couldn’t know if his boys work harder. We give it full throttle. His comments are aloof and were almost his undoing in qualifying.”

Nico does have a point here. How can Vettel assume that only his team works hard or harder than the others? Fingers will rightly be pointed towards his and his team’s success for the fourth year in a row as proof that they are indeed the hardest working of the lot. But F1 is not an environment where you get rewarded just because you are putting in your 120% day in and day out. Working hard is one thing and getting results is quite another. There are many elements involved, like luck, talent, budgets, etc.

Perhaps Vettel tends to forget that he is racing for a team that has perhaps the largest funding. After all, not everybody can field two teams in Formula One, using one as a feeder team. While money does not necessarily buy success, it can definitely buy talent that can ensure that success remains continuous. Perhaps the only other team that can compete with Red Bull in terms of resources is Ferrari, and to a certain extent, McLaren and Mercedes. So Vettel isn’t actually racing 21 other drivers, he’s competing with only 5-6 others who are in genuine contention to outpace him.

While not as scathing in his retort as Nico, Jenson Button still made it clear that he was unimpressed with Vettel’s comments. “It is incorrect and wrong of him to say that”, Button said. “We are obviously not doing a good enough job to beat Red Bull and no one is at the moment but that doesn’t mean we are not working hard. Every team is working as hard as Red Bull.”

Maybe Vettel was starting to get frustrated with all the negativity surrounding his wins. This is a driver, one must recall, who until last year was the darling of the media and the fans, and he revelled in that fact. But now, his every win is being booed, which must be rankling him no end. The fact that he has to continue to smile and talk as if it did not affect him would add to the irritation. And so, he inadvertently slips while talking, and his frustration comes out in the form of such quotes.

Rosberg wasn’t done with his response to Vettel’s comments. “I almost stole pole from him and if I had I would have laughed,” he went on. “Sebastian should think less about my b***s and more about himself. With comments like that he is running the risk of losing the respect of his fellow drivers.”

Does Vettel need to be apologetic for being successful? Not in the slightest. He’s winning because he’s got the talent and he’s got the car to match his talent. To claim that he’s winning only because he’s in a Red Bull is akin to saying that anyone in a Red Bull will win. Ask Mark Webber, and see if he’ll agree with that assessment!

But that does not give him the right to be dismissive of his colleagues and rivals. They have made the same efforts, if not more, in getting to where they are. They would be working as hard his team is; in fact, perhaps even more, for the simple reason that they have more work to do in order to catch up with him.

For once, I will be with the booing boys if he happens to win the Korean Grand Prix. Just this once.