Contracts, Shmontracts!
That’s what Paula Malai Ali had to say when she was asked
to give her views on Sebastian Vettel’s imminent move to Ferrari. Can’t blame
her anger, can we? Come to think about it contracts in any sport mean nothing
if the right ‘amount’ of money is involved. Contracts have become the allegory equivalent
of Novy Kapadia’s football commentary. We know that it is there, but does it
really make a difference?
Football sees players signing 5-year multi mega deals
every season only to leave 6 months later. Kind of a bummer, isn’t it? I mean
why go through all the trouble and spend all that money just to have someone
sign something that means nothing if, and when, someone else lures the said someone
away by means of showering something (moolah) at ease? The answer – things need
to be professional.
Okay! I guess it makes sense to an extent. I mean it’s
kind of like a binding obligation that people need to respect in order to
function in a civilized manner. It’s kind of like you washing your hands after
using the toilet. It’s not necessary, but it’s advisable. But then why leave
room for loopholes? Why have release clauses, buy-back clauses and all types of
god forsaken clauses that are firm to suck happiness?
The answer to that might lie in the egocentric need of
every individual to gain what’s best of a situation. All it took was a meticulously
inserted clause in a sheet of paper called a “contract” and Vettel had an out. For
Red Bull’s interest, I hope they too had some kind of a ridiculously repugnant
clause that would guarantee them some kind of solace as well. Wait a minute. Of
course they had. It was money! Right?
Now while Vettel’s move to Ferrari has still not been ‘officially’
confirmed, I guess because the “contract” must not have been signed, it’s just
a matter of time that it will be. But what needs to be emphasized and scrutinized
in the interim is the reason why the 4-time Formula 1 world champion decided to
call it quits with Red Bull and decide that he wanted to ruin my team Ferrari
for me.
Vettel seems to be at his diplomatic best when he said
that the reason behind his leaving was that he wanted to "do something
else, something new". Those are his exact words by the way. When loosely
translated into simple English it means, “Fuck you Red Bull you couldn’t help
me win those record-equaling 5 straight world titles you promised and therefore
I’m off to do the implausible elsewhere.”
Not that he’s going to have any luck with Ferrari either.
The Italian team are struggling themselves and run the risk of finishing
outside the top three in the constructors’ championship for the first time
since 1993. The last time Ferrari had a driver’s champion was in 2007 when Kimi
‘the iceman’ Raikkonen won. Mercedes on the other hand seem to have sorted their
car out well for 2015 and it does not look likely that Ferrari would be able to
match their ERS capabilities and present Vettel with a title-winning car.
Hmm! Okay! So if Vettel is smart enough he would
obviously know that he won’t be winning anything for at least one more season.
Unless of course if Ferrari pull off a Brawn. In that case Ferrari with
Raikkonen and Vettel would be the undisputed coequal of Liverpool fielding Lionel
Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo together. Possible? All right! I got carried away
there. But you get the gist of what I’m saying.
Coming back to the “something else, something new”
expression, Vettel, who in exemplary fashion, has rewarded the team that made
him what he is today ever since being spotted as a 12-year old nothing has
failed to comprehend that no one is naive enough to fall for his jinky antics
anymore. Especially not this late into the season.
What does “doing something else, something new” even
mean? He got bored of racing with Red Bull? Or was it the fact that the shade
of navy blue makes him look fat? Maybe red is the color for glory (ahem Liverpool).
Tell me Seb! I’m dying to know what the phrase means. Because what I feel is
that the one season that a rival teams literally blows the wind out of your
sails you decide that you’ve had enough.
“It’s not a
decision based on the current results, it’s more a voice inside me that kept
growing and it’s a step that I’m very much looking forward to,” Vettel
said.
Was that voice Daniel Ricciardo’s? Because to be
overshadowed, by a newbie nonetheless, in stunning manner after exhibiting an
aura of gnarly dominance would definitely be a hard bullet for Sebastian to
swallow. A guy jumping from Torro Rosso and eclipsing a champion who has won the
world title 4 times on the trot was an occurrence that none in the fraternity
would have dared to call. Another year of such “debasing” and Vettel would have
considered retirement.
So what was left to do? Move to a team that is synonymous
with and is an epitome of Formula 1 at a time when it wants you more than you
want it. Maybe that answers the “something else” part. I’m still having a hard
time coming to terms with the “something new” part especially because Sebastian
Vettel at 27 years of age seems to have done most of the things that any Formula
1 driver could dream of.
And as much as it hurts me to agree, he has been one
helluva driver. People might say that Red Bull gave him a great car and that he
was just a puppet in the cockpit following orders and being given the right
instructions to do the right things at the right time, but in all fairness his
records speak for themselves.
He was the youngest driver to drive at a Grand Prix, the youngest Grand
Prix pole position winner, the youngest Grand Prix winner, the youngest Formula
One world champion, the youngest driver to bag a podium position, the youngest
driver to score a grand slam (pole position, win, fastest lap, and led every
lap) – which sadly was at the 2011 Indian Grand Prix – and many many more
‘young’ records.
In addition, Vettel currently holds the records for most
championship points earned in a season, the most podium finishes in a season,
the most starts from front row in a season, the most wins in a season, the most
pole positions in a season, the most laps led in a season, the most consecutive
wins, the most wins from pole position in a season and numerous other
achievements.
Please note that I’ve left out most of his other records
because it was kind of getting depressing, distressing, discouraging and dispiriting
to write a note about his superiority and find out that he actually came quite
close to becoming the greatest of all time. If only Mercedes had not decided
that enough was enough and it’s time to “recover” some long-lost “energy”.
Hence, what I’ve understood from this is that the “something else, something new” a guy with Sebastian
Vettel’s “always-wanting-to-win-and-sulking-when-losing façade” can do, with a
team that has been struggling for the past seven years in a sport that it has
made itself tantamount with, is -------------------------- Kill another “Contract”! J
