Just reported by a Brazilian newspaper "A parceria entre o alemão Sebastian Vettel e a Ferrari vai terminar no fim da temporada 2020 da Fórmula 1. Foi o que afirmou, nesta segunda-feira, o site alemão "Auto Motor und Sport", que disse que o tetracampeão mundial não entrou em acordo com a escuderia italiana após uma longa negociação. O anúncio oficial da separação deve sair nesta terça-feira." Source is Auto motor und sport Official announcement this Tuesday
I think this is a remote possibility. I have never been a fan of Vettel and am very happy to see this news. In my mind, Ferrari should bring back Raikkonen for a year or two who is excellent at car development and will be great support to Leclerc as he challenges for the championship.
So 2 contracts at Mercedes expire this year, Bottas the Butler is beyond weak and Hamilton has mentioned that he once thought about sabbatical, if I were Seb I would offer to drive the Mercedes for free in 2021 and see what happens. If Mercedes actually stay in F1 which I think is 50/50 at best, then he either gets a shot at a seat or causes some discord in the Mercedes team, no downside for Seb. Hope Ferrari picks up Ricciardo for Seb’s seat if the rumors are true (BBC and Motorsport are not exactly the oracle of true Formula 1 news).
I'd like to see Kimi back as well...but the team really needs to know how to use a 1st and 2nd driver to their most potential. That's what screwed Kimi so often in the past: Vettel was the number 1 and in nearly every race, Kimi was found screaming on the radio begging for a pitstop....at which point he lost so much time he couldn't even be used as a road block for Mercedes. Ferrari happily sacrificed 10, 15 seconds of Kimi in the hope he'd hold up a Mercedes for 2 corners. I hope Ricciardo will come as well....but I suspect Sainz: Not as fast a Lerclerc so zero issues. Vettel would be a great fit at Mercedes but I still strongly suspect they'll be gone after 2021.
I mean if they can't use 1 and 2 drivers and if they can't use two number 1 drivers (as seen last year) then what the hell are they doing in F1???
You win the 2020 Ferrari F1 prize for strategy ... RIC makes sense: he's an easy teammate to get on with, likable and a good racer. He'll keep LEC honest and motivate the mechanics and team.
Nothing better than some "silly season" and speculation to wake me out my long slumber regarding F1... Rgds
I like Ricciardo (also liked Vettel...) - but after the last few seasons I'm not sure anymore whether he's really WDC material. And that's in the end all that counts.
The right decision, both Ferrari and Vettel needed some fresh air. Now I just hope that Vettel leaves with grace and doesn't spend the whole season being a PITA like last year.
And where is Vettel going? What is he going to do? Would seem sensible for Ferrari to bring in an experience set of hands to help develop the car. The follow on question is whoever they bring in; do they get somebody who will challenge leclerc for no. 1 spot in the team or somebody who will happily be his wing man and help him on his way whilst developing the car?
Shame. I think losing Vet is a bad idea but obviously done purely for financial reasons as Ferrari can’t afford 2 expensive drivers. I don’t think there are any good options available. Ham and Verstappen would be too expensive. Sainz would be a reasonable choice if he can be extracted from McLaren. Russel or Norris are too inexperienced to add anything to Leclerc in terms of guidance. Settling for any of the other older drivers is a waste of shareholder money - so that rules out Ricci (proven to be useless) and Kimi (utterly useless at coaching). Ferrari probably have their driver strategy well developed behind the scenes but I can’t see any obvious performance improvement - just some cash saving.
