Ecclestone disappointed by Vettel and Alonso
The president of Formula 1, Bernie Ecclestone, reflected on the 2014 season and expressed disappointment with the attitude of Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso.
Fervent admirer of Sebastian Vettel, Bernie Ecclestone, the president of the Formula One Group, indicated that the 2014 campaign of the four-time world champion—his last with Red Bull—disappointed him, particularly in terms of attitude.
“I’m a big supporter of Sebastian,” he explains to Autosport, “but I’m a bit disappointed with his attitude which, I think, has changed. He acts like a loser, and he’s not that – it’s not his mentality. He’s a competitor. He doesn’t like to lose at backgammon. Unfortunately, when he plays against me, that’s the case.”
But the future Ferrari driver is not the only one being singled out. Fernando Alonso, his predecessor, is not free from blame according to Ecclestone: « Ferrari was very disappointing, they were lost. Fernando was a bit like Sebastian halfway through, so I am a bit disappointed with him too. »
Finally, the Briton acknowledges that Mercedes’ domination could have resulted in a less exciting season if the team had not allowed its drivers to battle it out: « If we hadn’t been lucky enough for Nico and Lewis to fight and one of them had broken away to dominate, the season could have been over by Silverstone. I thought maybe Ferrari or Red Bull or one of the other teams might catch up to them mid-season and recover points at the end. »
« We have been extremely lucky with what happened, these two guys fought it out and it’s a good thing Mercedes allowed them to do so. Otherwise, we would have a really bad championship. »
