Christian Horner: “I don’t think we’re seeing the real Sebastian Vettel at the moment.”

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner backs his golden boy Sebastian Vettel amid German’s recent struggles with Ferrari team. Sebastian Vettel won his all four World Champions under Christian Horner between 2010 and 2013. They both still maintain very good relationship.

During Friday press conference , Horner was questioned by Christian Nimmervoll from motorsport.com about impact of formula change from pre-hybrid era to hybrid era on Vettel’s struggles.Horner thinks current work environment and too much pressure on Seb’s shoulders are main reason for his struggles with Ferrari.And he feels, the seb we are seeing at the moment is not the real sebastian vettel.

Sebastian Vettel in your team between 2010 and 2013 when he was winning all those championships with blown diffuser cars, pre-hybrid. Do you think part of his struggle at the moment is the formula has changed, and that was a particular formula, those blown diffuser cars, that suited him?

“Not really. I mean, Sebastian drove with refuelling, no refuelling, blown diffusers, no diffusers, F-Ducts, no F-Ducts, DRS, no DRS so, he drove a whole variance of different cars over the years and obviously what he achieved in the period during those years with Red Bull was quite special.

I think he’s the third most successful driver in the history of the sport and he’s achieved some incredible things – many records which will stand for some time. For whatever reason, things aren’t working for him at the moment.

I think any driver has to be happy in their environment and you can see that he’s carrying quite a lot of weight on his shoulders and that has a bearing on any sportsman, on any athlete.

I don’t think we’re seeing the real Sebastian Vettel at the moment. He’s obviously having a difficult time with the product that he has at the moment – but yeah, you can’t take away anything that he’s achieved, obviously, in his career to date.”