Vettel at Mercedes: signed and sealed says insider!

Didn't Red Bull wrote his contract to make any "poaching" almost impossible?

That's what Marko said, when Verstappen entered into a long-term contract with RB early this year (or maybe late last year).

 

They are bound to claim that, doesn't make the contract any better than any other, if Mercedes want him and can afford it, he will go

 

Some contract are more bulletproof than other, believe me.

 

My experience is that agreements such as this are essentially letters-of-intent, and are not binding on any party. All they do is confirm general terms and conditions under which they would contract with one another if that were to happen. So if things go poorly at both Ferrari and Merc (including Elton having a meltdown), Vettel and the Germans have an agreed to starting point.

What I think is interesting is that, unless I'm wrong, Vettel represents himself in contract negotiations. He is a bright boy. Unless you subscribe to the old adage that anybody who represents himself, has a fool for a client.

 

A bunch of BS. Vettel is doing well at Ferrari and Hamilton will be at Mercedes as long as he desires.

 

+1

 

Which means he's quitting the end of this year.

 

Can't wait too long to start the rapper career.

 

From Autosport - Gary Anderson assessing Red Bull so far. His opinion on Max and his future:

--Max Verstappen is a future world champion. If Red Bull wants that to happen in one of its cars, it needs to show fairly quickly that it is capable of supplying tools to do the job.

With Kimi Raikkonen's contract expiring at the end of 2017, Ferrari might just be on the phone. I know he has a Red Bull contract, but that's just a piece of paper.--

 

Ferrari has historically not hired young drivers like max. It would be a change of policy for the Scuderia to hire him.

 

Ferrari hire talent, I don't think they'll care about age if it comes down to it, max has great potential. That's said, I don't see ferrari upsetting the apple cart for vettel by hiring someone who will be too hungry. He and Kimi are a perfect team at the moment, Kimis performances have been good and are building up, but he isn't the type of guy to try to beat vettel if the team don't want it

 

How old was Raikkonen? when he was hired?

 

Some "piece of paper" are very costly to overcome sometimes ...

They may inflict huge compensations and enforced sabbatical leaves as well.

 

There is not a team that wouldnt want Max. He is an exceptional talent. I can see Ferrari hiring him if he was open to a move with Red Bull not doing well. The old Scuderia is dead.

This new one does not play like the old one it appears. Vettel might not like it but they made it clear last year he does not run the team.

Kimi is not the solution to a strong driver pairing. He is not strong but merely capable. Far to inconsistent.

Personally I could see either Ricci or Max at Ferrari. Never say never in F1. Max is hardly a rookie now.

 

Most contracts have exit clauses. Sure the cost might be high. Jos might have some influence and if a Ferrari opportunity opened Im thinking he would aid Max's exit

 

Easy. They pay Hamilton $50 million a year.

They give 25 to Verstappen and 25 to RB to break the contract. Problem solved.

 

+1 the contract is not the problem

 

Highly doubtful.

 

Why are people surprised that Vettel talked to Mercedes prior to this season when Rosberg left?
Nobody knew how the Ferrari of 2017 would perform and so it should be normal that a 4xWDC who has ambitions for more titles is looking for every option available in the future!
I doubt that there is a contract signed for 2018 but most likely both parties sorted out the circumstances for such a contract becoming reality.
As Lauda said soon after Rosbergs retirement: all (but two?) drivers contacted Mercedes to throw their head in the ring. The fact that Bottas´contract is only for one year means that Mercedes kept more options (including Vettel) for next year!

PS: and Vettel is not stupid...he saw what it meant for Alonso to stay a little bit to long at Ferrari so he might not make the same mistake if the mission for the title with the Scuderia fails

 

Alonso did not jump ship from Ferrari. He requested to be in control of the resources working on his car, ie. wanted to bring in some resources that he rated (fair enough as the Ferrari's he had at his disposal were ****), and Ferrari did not want that, and they already had Vettel saying he would "jump ship" to Ferrari if asked.

Alonso stayed for 5 hard years and gave the Scuderia everything.
Pete

 

+1

Pete

 

Alonso has said it about every team he's gone to, when he signed for them. Vettel said it years before he went to Ferrari, on video. The difference here is that he spoke about it YEARS before, instead of when he signed for the team

http://youtu.be/UVpKbkGOon0?t=29

Ferrari poster on the wall even.

26

+1 he's proven his worth and that's all Ferrari cares about. Ferrari don't sign youngsters because of their age, but because they're unproven. Verstappen is well and truly proven, so they'll hire him if/when they can...they know that he'll be a tremendous asset to the team.

Alonso didn't see the team going anywhere and had an opportunity to go to a team that had a good chance at winning.

I don't blame him for leaving, I'd likely have done the same after 5 years of empty promises.

However, the point was that Alonso is an opportunist, he goes where he (thinks) he can win races, nothing wrong with that. He doesn't care whether there's Ferrari written on the car, Sauber or soggy biscuit...if the car wins that's all he cares about. Fair play to him. And Vettel does care what's written on the car, he's more emotionally attached to Ferrari as his hero Schumacher drove for them. That's what he wants.

 

+1 what more did FA need to do as a driver? He took cars not at all ready to win and won with them. No other driver is doing that. None of them. He gave Ferrari what they needed. They DID NOT provide him a car overall that was a consistent winner. He was not the problem at all.

 

I didn't know he was so "old" when he went to Ferrari.

 

Nothing wrong with that attitude in my book. A driver who's motivated and skilled should only have one goal: have the best car under him at the beginning of each season. Leave loyalty to the sentimental folks. Teams don't show loyalty to drivers, so drivers shouldn't have rose-tinted glasses about their employer.

Opportunistic maybe, but that's the true mark of a champion, IMO; knowing what's best, and get there!

I cannot give a better example than Juan Manuel Fangio who had the gift of guessing what would be the next best car; he went from team to team during his decade in F1, and won 5 WDCs with 4 different makes - Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferrari and Maserati.

I don't think anyone will equal that, in terms of adaptability and discernment.

To come back to Alonso, he is the opposite of Fangio: most of his moves didn't bear fruits.
Both periods at McLaren were bare, or almost, and the great hope of becoming a title winner with the Prancing Horse ended in a flop. What's next ?