Vettel, the future of Ferrari

I would like to gather opinion as to whether or not Ferrari should be making the maximum effort to retain Vettel? The Scuderia seems to be growing stale rather quickly, and one is left with the feeling that the old (new!) guard is just not capable of reinvigorating the team. Vettel is quite quickly becoming a mighty force in F1, and his youth, personality, integrity and undoubted talent would provide a new excitement in the team. Although I admire both Kimi and Massa, I can't help but feel that there is the sense of opportunity having passed them by. Kimi seems to be stangely uneffective, and Massa seems to be 'almost but not quite'. Ferrari needs Vettel, before another big team locks him up for the next 5 years or so. Thoughts?

 

I agree on all points...

I can't understand paying Kimi 40 million + a year to do the job he's doing. Ferrari needs to lock down a fresh face and breathe some life into the team, in my humble opinion.

 

rest assured, some behind closed doors chit chat and manoeuvering is happening...some 'big' team is trying something...

 

2 wins?

Every young guy who has a moment of glory immediately gets labeled the "future hope" of various teams, etc. Wasn't Rosberg the hot story a bit ago?

 

Rosberg.....has not had one win, never mind two...

 

In a Torro Rosso and a Red Bull... While I agree that everyone seems to jump on the bandwagon of any driver that ends up getting an unexpected win, I think Vettel deserves a bit of credit considering the machines he's been driving.

 

I know this year doesn't seem to be going very well, and I understand that not many here like Kimi, but everyone raises the point of how he gets paid $x dollars to do whatever job he's not doing, but the fact of the matter is the whole team is in shambles. There's only so much that a driver can do with a sub-par car. Look at Button. A year ago everyone and their brother was commenting on how much of a waste he was. Now, he's incredible. What changed? The car. Is he overpaid? Maybe, but he's doing the best he can with what he has. The same goes for Massa, although he isn't making quite as much.

 

Vettel has had Schumachers cell# for a few years now and I believe he will be in a red car very soon, been saying this for the past two seasons.

 

The problem Ferrari is going to have is that if they continue a downhill slide, then they are going to be less attractive as a team to drive for. I don't think it is the case that any driver wants to drive for Ferrari... I am sure many do, but it would be foolish for Luca to think that he has a choice of drivers because they all want to be with him.

I also think Ferrari needs to be careful with someone like Alonso.... since Ferdo has already stated he wants Ferrari to be his last and most sought after team, if the whole thing turns into a poop sandwich, Ferdo would be first to throw his toys out of the pram and have a hissy fit. Taking on Alonso means taking on a defined #2 driver. Massa would be a good #2 but he has to accept that, or any other driver that takes the #2 role needs to accept it.

I can't think of too many good #2 drivers who would be happy being defined #2's.

 

...especially during a period of decline. It's a rare driver willing and able to step into that type of pressure cooker and succeed.

 

I'd love to see Vettel in red. How much longer does he have on his RBR contract?

 

Schumacher did it when he moved to Ferrari so if or when Vettel moves to Ferrari he will continue to have Schumi as a mentor on and off the track. Being a Ferrari guy and if I was an F1 driver I would not care about the teams current situation if they wanted me, I would go. Yes I would care about being successful with the team but to be apart of such a great team would increase my motivation as a driver to help us reach our goals.

 

I heard that Vettel is one of the few drivers that doesn't have a manager and makes all his own deals. If true, I wonder how that is going to impact his future since it appears there are a few power brokers out there that can arrange these deals in advance and none of them do their own driving. I wonder if he has the business maturity and skill to pull that off?

More importantly, he clearly has talent but it takes the team and equipment to showcase it. One could ponder how Schumi would have done had Todt and Braun been working for another team? I think the magic they had at Ferrari was a combination of superior talents at the right time and not a single thing. Given that, I think the big question is can Vettel align himself for such an alignment of talents to compliment his driving. Who's to say that it isn't falling in place at Red Bull? It sure looks like Newey hasn't lost his touch on designing a car. Imagine what that car is going to be like once they have a trick diffuser? Given the momentum at Red Bull, the power of the Renault engine and the talent they are putting in place combined with the poor performance of the big teams (McLaren & Ferrari), he might just want to stay put.

 

Gotta love this, Vettel suddenly replaces Hamilton as the next F1 saviour. Are all F1 fans so fickle? Me thinks another year or two will truly define the next F1 God.

 

+1,

Not before 2011!

 

I'm willing to wait.

 

I don't think Rosberg is in the same league as Vettel. Vettel won in a former Minardi in the wet, and also for RedBull, makes you wonder what the heck DC was doing all this while..

Edit : i forgot..he was crashing his cars into other

 

+1 for Vettel in Ferrari

True...but getting him (or the next "F1 God") in 1 or 2 years might be significantly harder/more expensive.

Getting him now might be a risk, but a reasonable one IMO.

 

If there exists something like a dream team for the future, Vettel would be in it.
My second choice would be Alonso, but I know many will argue about that.

 

I would prefer to see Ferrari do the same as McLaren with Hamilton, start him/her young in other series, and then bring him/her into F1 when the time is right. I do not doubt Vettel, along with Hamilton, Rosberg, etc, have skill, but it is way too early to tell if their present performance will continue over the next 10 years. Or will they be another Jacque Villenueve.

The Vettel/Schumacher relationship is probably telling, yet I wonder is it for Ferarri, or a future Schumacher GP team? There is one rumor that Schumacher provided some of Brawn's funds to acquire Team Honda, but so far, no way to verify.

 

+1. There's no point in considering this without the right infrastructure in place.

 

This Vettel hype is typical of the panic among Ferrari fans when the team doesn't win both titles at least three years in a row.

 

Before the 2009 season began, Marko admitted that Australian Webber's average lap time deficit to 21-year-old Vettel, at half a second, was "too much".

Now the gap is smaller, he agrees.

"In the beginning Mark resisted using Vettel's setup. He would not accept it. Now he uses it because it is just faster," Marko said.

Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher said: "I can see him fighting now for the world championship."


So, who has anymore doubts about Vettel? He's a real deal.

 

So who would you sack for Vettel then?

 

You've been saying he'll be in a red car very soon for two seasons? 'Very soon' must mean something different to you than it does to the rest of us, or have you just been wrong for two seasons?

I don't think he'll be going anywhere very soon. Like Hamilton he was nurtured for many years by his current team, in his case Red Bull, and he appears to be the kind of person who's likely to feel loyalty to that team to the extent he wouldn't easily break his contract with them. In addition, he's in one of the quickest cars around at the moment, one in which he has a good chance of winning races and, who knows, a car that might even give him a shot at the championship; why would he considered giving that up to drive a mid-field car, no matter whose car it is?