Share

cover art for F1 Rewind: How Vettel's Ferrari dream was stolen from him

The Race F1 Podcast

F1 Rewind: How Vettel's Ferrari dream was stolen from him

In the very first episode of our new F1 history podcast, The Race F1 Rewind, hosts Edd Straw and Mark Hughes look back at Sebastian Vettel’s six-year stint with Ferrari and a partnership that promised much, but delivered nothing like what was hoped for.


Driven by the romantic dream of replicating the golden era of his hero Michael Schumacher, the four-time world champion arrived at Maranello in late 2014 ready to lead the team to new glories, only to find that his footing was already being undermined by internal wrangling and political upheaval at the Scuderia.


Edd and Mark explain the timeline of events and extraordinary behind-the-scenes details that meant Vettel never stepped into the supportive environment he thought he was joining.


They outline how Vettel came to leave Red Bull, how Ferrari's incumbent star Fernando Alonso was blindsided by his team's secret talks with Vettel, how the rapid turnover of senior leadership continually impacted the German's standing, and how the sudden promotion of young phenom Charles Leclerc served as an internal test of Vettel's worth.


Edd and Mark also hit the fast forward button to explain how the hangover of this period is still felt today, with Leclerc having faced many of the same issues as his former team-mate.


Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.

More episodes

View all episodes

  • Hamilton's apology, Monaco appeal latest, and Domenicali vs hardcore fans

    57:34|
    Lewis Hamilton has apologised for his in-race outbursts towards his Ferrari team at Zandvoort, but did he really need to? That's one of the topics up for discussion in the latest episode of The Race F1 Podcast, in which host Edd Straw is joined by Jon Noble and Glenn Freeman to round up the latest F1 news.Also on the agenda, we delve into what’s going on with the Red Bull and McLaren appeal against Pierre Gasly’s Monaco podium, update on the 2027 F1 calendar and how it might evolve, and reflect on the latest backlash-triggering comments from F1 boss Stefano Domenicali about F1's rules.There's also chat about Williams, with the Grove team's season of woe hitting a new low in Zandvoort after Carlos Sainz drove into team-mate Alex Albon. Jon recently sat down with James Vowles to try and understand exactly why things have gone so badly wrong, and he reveals what Williams's team boss had to say...Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
  • Dutch GP: Who hit a new driver rankings low in Zandvoort?

    35:46|
    Lando Norris made it back-to-back wins with a masterful victory at Zandvoort - so he’s a shoo-in as number 1 in our post-race driver rankings, isn't he? And how low will Max Verstappen rank after his messy exit from his home race? In our latest driver rankings podcast, Ben Anderson probes Edd Straw on how he ordered the drivers after Zandvoort, armed with questions sent in by The Race Members' Club.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
  • Dutch GP: Was this Norris's greatest victory in F1?

    50:13|
    Edd Straw is joined by Jon Noble and Samarth Kanal to review an entertaining Dutch Grand Prix. World champion Lando Norris made it back to back wins with a brilliantly-executed race drive at Zandvoort, but was it the Briton's best-ever win, and does this mean the McLaren driver is in the title hunt, or did the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers getting in each others way distort the picture? They also dissect the race's other big talking points, including Mercedes’ late team order swap between George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Lewis Hamilton's angst at Ferrari’s reluctance to issue team orders, Max Verstappen’s costly error in tricky conditions, and Nico Hulkenberg’s spectacular avoidance of a massive accident. Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
  • In-Car Insights: What we learned from F1's first day back

    26:31|
    As a special bonus, we're making the Thursday edition of our In-Car Insights podcast - usually only available to The Race Members' Club - free for everyone to listen to.In this episode - more accurately described as near-the-track insights - Edd Straw and Jon Noble recap the biggest storylines from a jam-packed as F1 2026 returned from its summer break at the Dutch Grand Prix. They discuss Max Verstappen's new contract - and why Carlos Sainz signed his - plus what F1's newest team boss, Marcin Budkowski, had to say, and how Liam Lawson's feeling ahead of his surprise Red Bull Racing return. If you like what you hear, simply head to Patreon.com/therace to sign up to The Race Members' Club and enjoy these bonus episodes (and much more besides) on every grand prix weekend.
  • Tech Show: The secrets of driver-in-the-loop simulators

    40:36|
    We have a special episode of The Race F1 Tech Show for you this week that includes a feature length interview with an F1 simulator pioneer. The driver-in-the-loop simulator, or DIL, as it’s called, has become a key tool for Formula 1 teams in the 21st century. They were once in-house projects, but as the technology has evolved companies have emerged to provide state-of-the-art driver in loop simulator hardware to supply not only F1 teams, but also other racing teams and even private individuals across their product range. Dynisma, based in Bristol in the UK, has emerged as the most significant supplier to Formula 1 teams, and in this episode Edd Straw talks to company founder Ash Warne, a key pioneer of driver-in-loop simulator technology with McLaren who later worked for Ferrari.In the interview, Warne explains the key technological demands that make such simulators as accurate as possible, how they are used and how their use has evolved over the years. He also talks about the importance of latency and bandwidth in ensuring that the simulator is responsive enough to minimise the lag in what the driver feels, the hexapod design with six-degrees of freedom that creates the motion, and the intricacies of how F1 teams use their driver-in-loop simulators.We hope you enjoy it!Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
  • Driver market moves, Cadillac's shock change & who Mercedes should fear - Our Dutch GP F1 predictions

    43:05|
    F1's summer break is nearly over! The Race F1 Podcast looks at all the big storylines heading into the Dutch Grand Prix, including whether George Russell still has any hope of a title shot, and whether it's Ferrari or McLaren that Mercedes should fear most going into the second half of the season.Nelson Valkenburg and Ben Anderson join Edd Straw to make their predictions on both form and the remaining 2027 driver market questions. Should we expect any bombshells?The big news of mid-summer was the shock sacking of Cadillac team boss Graeme Lowdon. We also delve into everything we've learned about the team's situation since the events of last week and look at the bigger picture questions about the power balance there.Get bonus F1 podcasts, extra content and ad-free listening, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.
  • Coming soon... The Race F1 Rewind

    01:17|
    Coming soon, a new sister show to The Race F1 Podcast focusing on F1 history: The Race F1 Rewind. In each episode, Edd Straw and Mark Hughes will hit the rewind button and dive into an exciting chapter in F1 history before hitting fast forward again and explaining the lasting impact of the story, topic or person today. Having attended over 800 grands prix between them, we can't think of two better hosts to guide listeners back in time and add colour to the moments that mattered and we look forward to bringing you episode 1 soon!
  • Driving Style Secrets: We answer your questions about five 21st century greats

    01:01:48|
    As a bonus in the feed, we're bringing you our Driving Style Secrets Q&A episode. Driving Style Secrets is a podcast series available exclusively in The Race Members' Club on Patreon. In Season 3, which finished recently, Edd Straw and Mark Hughes took a deep dive into the driving techniques of five of F1's 21st century greats: Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen, Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Nico Rosberg - and here they answer questions from the Race Members' Club about each of them!Edd and Mark start things off by discussing who, out of our five drivers covered, dealt with Lewis Hamilton the best. They then go on to discuss how Fernando Alonso's driving style saves tyres, how much of a driving style is deliberate versus instinctive, how each driver's technique evolved over time, why Raikkonen's career arc was linked to tyre philosophy changes, and what would have happened had Vettel gone up against Hamilton at Mercedes. There's also an explanation for why the fastest F1 drivers rarely exhibit flashy car control, and why Alonso is good but perhaps not great in wet conditions.To listen to all 3 seasons of Driving Style Secrets, sign-up to The Race Members' Club on Patreon today.