Vettel to go to Ferrari in 2014?

[King Damager]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18524133

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali believes Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel could drive as team-mates without problems.
His comments come after it was revealed that Vettel, the 2010 and 2011 world champion, has a pre-contract with Ferrari for 2014.
Domenicali said: "I think they are both intelligent guys and they could easily co-exist together."
F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone claims the arrangement "wouldn't be a problem".
Domenicali and Ecclestone were interviewed by German magazine Sport Bild, and Ferrari published extracts on their website.
Ecclestone said: "All drivers want to drive for Ferrari at least once in their career, don't they?"
Domenicali responded: "In life one should never say never!"
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Their remarks, as well as Ferrari's decision to highlight them, will add weight to claims that Vettel could join Alonso at Ferrari in 2014.
BBC Sport reported last month that Vettel had a pre-contract with Ferrari, believed to be two-way and performance-related.
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner denied the claims, saying they had Vettel under contract in 2014.
But Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko, the right-hand man of the company's owner Dietrich Mateschitz, admitted that the double world champion's contract contains performance clauses.
German Vettel, who has said he cannot imagine driving for team other than Red Bull.
Vettel, Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton are widely regarded as the three best drivers in the world.
The best drivers tend to avoid racing for the same team, but Ecclestone said of Alonso and Vettel: "Both are drivers who are always looking for a new challenge, and to be in the same team would be a new and big challenge.
"They would both think they can beat the other one, as they are sure of themselves and Stefano would do what was required to so that they were treated equally.
"It would be a case of doing what I did at Brabham in 1979 with Niki Lauda and Nelson Piquet. I told them, 'guys it's simple: whichever one of you is quickest is the team number one'."
A source close to Ferrari says Alonso has vetoed the idea of Hamilton joining him at the team but given his approval to Vettel.
Alonso is second in the championship heading into this weekend's European Grand Prix, despite starting the season with a car that was more than a second off the pace.
The Spaniard is two points behind Hamilton, and one ahead of Vettel.
Recent improvements have made the Ferrari more competitive, but it has still not been fast enough to set a pole position.
Domenicali said: "Alonso is the fastest driver of all - I'm sure of that - and it's been like that since testing at the start of the year, despite the fact our car was definitely not very quick.
"Now we have improved it, even if we are not yet at the level we want to be. The cars are very close and we are witnessing a really incredible championship which for the fans is a real spectacle."

Feel like if this is true it could be interesting.

I wonder why Vettel would ever want to move from Red Bull to Ferrari though.... Although it certainly seems like this isn't set in stone...
Also, if you did have Alonso and Vettel on the same team, I genuinely feel like it would be interesting to see how Vettel does. Despite not particularly liking him, I feel that Alonso (especially on the back of this years performance), is the better driver out of the two....

kd

 

[King Damager]

As what I see as an interesting extension of the top teams and top drivers in the next few years, this has also Been updated, about five hours ago.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/18542058

It seems to shed light on the original concept, that Vettel does have a contract with Ferrari, but it's very much performance related...

It's also interesting I feel that Alonso says he would team with Lewis... Although I'm surprised Ron Dennis is making him take a pay cut considering his performance so far this year.

The link I've just posted, also seems to create some interesting speculation around whether even Webber could be taking Massa's spot.....

Alonso himself admits it did take five years of speculation before he ended up at Ferrari mind... And also he does talk at the end about still having respect for Massa... Mind you, that may be him talking from professional conduct and as a team mate given Massa's performance this year...

kd

 

[King Damager]

Hamilton's current contract comes from 2006, a time when F1 was richer and filled with manufacturer teams, McLaren were heavily backed by Mercedes, and the global economy was buoyant and stable. I can understand why Ron might want to peg it back a bit.

There is quite a lot of half decent potential in whats being rumoured though:

Webber to Ferrari for 2013. Retires in 2014.
Vettel replaces Webber at Ferrari in 2014.
Hamilton takes Webbers spot at RBR in 2013.
One of the Toro Rosso graduates takes the second seat at RBR in 2014
Button remains at McLaren through 2014 at least.
Another McLaren/Merc driver takes the McLaren seat for 2013.
If Schumacher retires, Di Resta takes his seat.

It all seems fairly logical. I don't think there's anything wildly off the wall in it. The only thing is it would mean Perez is left out . Maybe he could take Hamiltons spot at McLaren?

Biggest question about this is why are we presuming that drivers would want to switch from RBR to Ferrari. Admittedly Ferrari have more of a long term pedigree, but in the last few years it certainly seems like RBR may be the better team. This applies mainly to Vettel moving, as I can see RBR possibly trying to make room for Hamilton, by giving Webber a slight shove (if they wanted to). The only real reason I could see would be that Ferrari have more experience with Turbo engines that we should see return in 2014...

P.s. As a note to mods, it might just be me, but surely, talking about the possible ramifications of a Vettel move, and how that mixes up the other teams transfers would mean we could talk about more than just the Vettel-> Ferrari thing, and talk about the general transfers landscape...

kd