There are a number of reasons why Sebastian Vettel is struggling when compared to team-mate and two-time race winner Daniel Ricciardo according to Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
The four-time champion is 43 points behind his less experienced team-mate, a gap Horner says is down to a “combination of several things.”
“First, when you have fought for the title for five years, it does wear you out a little bit, but that is not the fundamental problem,” he told Auto Bild.
The German is reportedly struggling to get to grips with the new regulations and how they’ve changed the feeling of the car, not only the powertrain but the new brake-by-wire system.
“The way Vettel brought out those extra tenths from the car in recent years was quite unique,” explained Horner. “He is very sensitive to the behaviour of the car, especially when braking.”
Renault are also partly to blame with their new power unit, but Horner says they’re working to bring back “the feeling to the car again,” which he hopes will allow Vettel to drive “like a ballerina, dancing on the throttle and the brakes,” like he used to prior to 2014.
“We also can’t forget how many mechanical problems Sebastian has had, many of them just little things that have disrupted his flow,” added Horner. “So he has had less time to adapt his driving style.”
