Sebastian Vettel is not going to Ferrari. Rumours have been circulating for some time, dating back as far as July, but are wide of the mark.
There are simple reasons for this. The first is that the German has a contract with his current employer for 2014. He would have to break this contract to make a move anywhere, Ferrari, Marussia, anywhere.
The BBC has sent the susceptible media in to a frenzy by rehashing old stories. It has suggested Vettel has clauses in his contract which he could exercise in order to make the move, which has been approved by its current leader Fernando Alonso.
It is almost certainly true that Vettel’s contract will include performance clauses. The team will likely have to achieve a predetermined number of points by a predetermined point in time. Red Bull has won the last two constructors titles and leads it again this year. There is no reason to believe it would not meet performance objects it agreed with Vettel in 2013.
Contract clauses aside, put even more simply, Ferrari does not want two lead drivers. The team has successfully operated with a clear hierarchy among its driving corps for the last two decades. There is no reason to change. Indeed, according to Ferrari boss Luca Di Montezemolo there is no desire to change it.
The last time it tried that with a competitive car the team featured Pironi and Villeneive and that did not end well.
“I don’t want to have two roosters in the same henhouse,” Di Montezemolo has been quoted as saying.
“I don’t want problems and rivalries, which we didn’t have between Schumacher and Irvine, between Schumacher and Barrichello, between Alonso and Massa or Massa and Schumi or Massa and Raikkonen.”
There is also not the insignificant point that both Vettel and his team have denied the rumours since they first emerged some months ago.
Indeed, when approached by this writer for comment with regards to the BBC’s fairy-tale a Red Bull spokesperson described the article as ‘factually incorrect’. “Sebastian will for sure be with (Red Bull) in 2014,” they added.
Sebastian Vettel will not drive for Ferrari in 2014 and anyone who tells you otherwise is simply overexcited, naïve and gullible. After 2014 what Vettel’s future holds is open for speculation but let’s get through this year and next first, shall we?
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