Windsor, who was additionally a former F1 crew and sponsorship supervisor, believes four-time world champion Vettel turned an “peculiar racing driver” when he not had a automotive that suited his driving type.
The exhaust-blown diffuser idea was key to a lot of Purple Bull’s success following a regulation overhaul in 2009, main Vettel to say 4 successive world titles between 2010 and 2013. However when new hybrid laws got here into power in 2014, Vettel’s type nosedived, leading to him being crushed by teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel left for Ferrari in 2015 however was by no means capable of attain the heights of his Purple Bull glory days and was unable to win one other world championship. The German referred to as time on his illustrious profession on the finish of 2022, following two disappointing seasons with Aston Martin.
“I all the time thought Vettel was a really reflexy, very quick, very well-balanced driver who, even in his testing for Sauber days, was nothing apart from the last word exponent of turning the nook right into a V form,” Windsor mentioned on his Twitch channel.
“And when he couldn’t do this due to the geography of the nook, he was about the identical as the typical [driver], however when he might do it on a specific sort of nook, he was sensible and had that means to do it.
“And he had that at Purple Bull, when he had that tremendous grip on the rear, blown diffuser and every part else.
“When that went away within the laws in his final 12 months at Purple Bull, he turned simply an peculiar racing driver and really struggled towards Daniel Ricciardo. It was apparent then that that’s how he was uncovered.
“He didn’t say on the finish of that 12 months, or throughout that 12 months, ‘wow, I’m in bother right here. Once I don’t have a terrific again finish, I want to begin to have the ability to play with it a bit extra and do extra with the entrance, get the entrance to work.’
“[There were] all types of issues he might have performed however he didn’t do any of that.
“He simply signed off and went to Ferrari and arrived because the four-time World Champion who was greeted with some huge cash and loads of fan adulation.
“And he by no means acquired any higher, he was nonetheless the identical driver. That’s the Sebastian Vettel story.”
And Windsor reckons each seven-time world champion Hamilton – who beat Vettel in head-to-head title fights in 2017 and 2018 – and Fernando Alonso had been all the time away from Vettel by way of uncooked expertise.
“The one factor you solely can add is that he’s additionally the man, behind the Security Automotive, who drove into Lewis Hamilton at Baku [in 2017] as a result of he was irritated with Lewis for driving slowly,” he added.
“He acquired away with that. He acquired away with that with a really, very small advantageous whereas Dan Ticktum misplaced his licence for a 12 months for doing just about the identical factor. In order that was disproportionate. He was very fortunate, I feel, to get away with that.
“I by no means would have put him in the identical class as Lewis. Possibly, if he’s acquired a extremely good again finish on the automotive, I’d put him up there with Fernando [Alonso] – but when he’s acquired a wayward again finish and never loads of grip [he’s in trouble].
“General, throw a little bit of crosswind at Seb, throw a little bit of crosswind at Fernando, throw a little bit of oil on the observe, throw a little bit of tyres going off – Fernando’s all the time going to do a greater job [than Vettel] with all of the variables up within the air.
“Seb could be very locked into what he does nicely.”