Otmar Szafnauer discloses how Sebastian Vettel could have been a Honda driver in 2007
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Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel got a taste of winning the World Championship with Red Bull Racing and went on to accumulate a total of 4 world titles. It now seems that the German driver’s career could have been divergent had a now-defunct team been significantly faster in back in 2007.
Romanian engineer Otmar Szafnauer, the current Alpine team principal, previously led the Honda F1 team. The still-young Vettel revealed to Szafnauer at back then about his wish to join Honda.
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Honda had two weeks to sign Sebastian Vettel
Alpine team principal Otmar Szafnauer recently revealed that the 4-time Formula One World Champion had then approached him with the following proposition: “I will soon have two weeks without a contract with Red Bull or BMW. Are you interested in signing me? “
Szafnauer pressed to Honda’s sporting director, Gil de Ferran, and informed him that the Japanese had 2 weeks to guarantee Vettel. But, before Honda could eventually undertake to Vettel, the German driver opted to join Toro Rosso – and therefore Red Bull – after all. Everything else is history.
Szafnauer and Vettel did ultimately collaborate. In 2020, the American returned to Aston Martin, which he nevertheless managed. “I called him (after announcing his retirement) and wished him all the best for the future. When you get to know him as a person, he is a great person, with a big heart,” concluded the team principal.
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Rishika Saha
(445 Articles Published)