I´ve always wondered how the sponsors and the PR guys allowed this. They use to be very anal about being seen in another manufacturer´s car and things like that. Probably wouldn´t allow him to test the Ferrari in the Abu Dhabi tests this week.
This happened about a week before the Austrian GP. It was more a promo with Berger (an Austrian) driving Vettel's Red Bull (austrian team) doing a promo. The Ferrari is so old it was completely irrelevant. When Vettel drove for Toro Rosso he had a Scuderia, which IIRC he kept when he signed for Red Bull...Webber had a bunch of Porsche's instead which he drove constantly instead of his renault something or other company car. Some teams are just more open PR wise I guess.
+1 No issues driving a 20-30 year old car. However, i remember Alonso and even MS turned up in white plain overalls when they tested Mclaren and Ferrari respectively.
Vettel has 'passion for Ferrari' - Ricciardo | News | Motorsport.com Ricci says that Vettel has a real passion for Ferrari. Good to hear. Hope he stays a long time and a succesful relationship like Schumi had with them.
Passion or not, with Ferrari currently in free fall, Vettel may well be wondering if he's made the right move. BHW
Yes, but for Infiniti the old Ferrari is still wearing Ferrari and FIAT logos. Agree in that it´s irrelevant, even if it was a new Ferrari, but you know that the PR guys are often quite annoying.
Vettel has dreamed of suiting up in Ferrari red since he was a kid, so of course he has passion for this team. I only hope he's following in Michael's footsteps rather than Alonso's with this team. Ferrari seems to be in a period of rebirth with them hiring so much staff and changing management so it will be interesting to see where they are in a couple years.
I'd be wondering if the right move is to retain the current tech staff. Let Allison lead the new people Ferrari has obtained from red bull, etc. Arrivabene at least has F1 contacts, connections, etc., unlike MM. I think Ross was offered the job, said no, and Arrivabene was the second choice.
He's getting the feel of the F12: https://autos.yahoo.com/news/watch-sebastian-vettel-top-ferrari-f12-123051105.html
He's got 4 WDC titles, and he knows you can't start winning overnight. He'll be 100 times happier not winning in a Ferrari than in an RB, or any other car. Plus he has the talent and technical background to help develop a winning car. His best asset is he's motivated to win with Ferrari, so let's hope it happens. Ferrari is now taking all the right steps to make that happen IMO. I don't foresee any tensions for his first 3 years (the length of his contract). Kimi will be motivated too IMO. And if not, Bottas will be available in 2016.
I don't think Alonso was less motivated, he just didn't see it happening anytime soon and wants to win before his prime passes him, so he left for greener pastures. Ferrari is firing everyone, lets hope that makes way for the right talent replacements. If not, then it could be disastrously worse. I don't agree with all the firing, but I do agree change is needed because doing the same thing with the same ppl year after year and expecting different results is just pure insanity.
Yep. I guess that's what he believes. I don't think he lost motivation in the car either. Just got tired of Ferrari BS maybe? And although he hasn't said it, I suspect LdM being shown the door didn't help. Sure, they had some pissing contests towards the end, but overall I think they got along well. As for the pastures being greener, I'm not sure. As I've said before, I'll be amazed if Mclaren get a podium or two next season, let alone be a genuine contender. They had the undisputed best PU this year yet struggled to stay ahead of FI after all. It's been a while since they've been truly at the pointy end and can no longer blame Whitmarsh etc...... Cheers, Ian
At the end of the day, Vettel knows the score with Ferrari. He knows that they are going through some tough times right now and are probably in worse shape than Red Bull are. However, driving for Ferrari is something that he seems desperate to add to his F1 CV and he knows that if he doesn't do it now then it might never happen. It's as if there are four things in F1 that mark you out amongst all the other drivers in F1: 1) Winning WDC's. 2) Winning races. 3) Driving for Ferrari. And for the ultimate: 4) Winning a WDC/WDC's with Ferrari. I suspect he realises that wins might not be easy to come by, but I think just driving for the Scuderia means so much to him that he's prepared to accept it (having 4 WDC's already makes that much easier to accept). Obviously winning a WDC with Ferrari would be his ultimate goal, but I don't think it's the be-all and end-all for him (I suspect he will wake up everyday and pinch himself whilst thinking: "Wow! - I really am a Ferrari driver! I'm a part of their racing history!" ). His biggest problem at Ferrari may come in a couple of years when Lewis Hamilton decides: "Mmmmm.... I've done the whole WDC thing with a couple of teams already! - I'd quite like to try racing for Ferrari now!"
I just hope the ink is dry on his contract, and they don't give him any correction fluid, based on our current Performance and the way we seem headed, he might otherwise try to get in on some McLaren action!
Maybe Ron Dennis is waiting for vettel to se the error of his way, and then pass on Alonso? Hence the delayed announcement? I'd rather have Alonso over vettel myself, but Ron Dennis is a sneaky old sod
Why do you think this? His whole career has been in the no testing, no development days ... he's just gets in the car and steers. Pete
RTL (the TV station doing the F1 in Germany) has an article about Vettel online where he mentioned that he does not expect to be competitive in the next year and that he is fully aware of that. Furthermore he does not expect that the Ferraristi will love him from the beginning but that he has to earn that and that is what he wants to achieve in the first year: showing that the move to Ferrari was right both for him and Ferrari. Sounds reasonable to me Vettel hakt Titel 2015 mit Ferrari schon ab - RTL.de PS: he was in the garage at Ferrari during the test: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/sebastiano-vetteli-gets-up-to-speed-with-life-at-ferrari
Seriously doubt that. IMO it's just a delay because of sponsors and other contractual obligations that keeps this open secret locked up for now. Poaching Vettel from Ferrari now is going to cost them double than Alonso will cost them IMO. I'm a dear Vettel fan but he's not worth double Alonso moneys.