New Ferrari contract not a priority for Vettel

2016 United States Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel says extending his Ferrari contract beyond the end of next season is not a priority for him at the moment.

The four-times world champion says the team need to concentrate on their performance over the remaining races instead.

“I think we are all fairly busy at this time to focus on the four races that we have left and focus in particular to prepare [for] next year,” said Vettel during today’s FIA press confernece. “So I think that’s where the main focus lies.”

“I don’t think it’s that important to look into details such as my contract. Obviously it’s all fine for next year.”

“So as I said with a lot of things happening in the factory back in Maranello, I know they are very busy, and that is where I want the focus to be.”

Although Ferrari has only taken one podium finish in the last eight races, courtesy of Vettel at Monza, he continues to believe the team has a chance to win in the remaining races.

“I think there is always a chance,” he said. “Obviously in Japan we did some progress, so that was a positive, but as you said, it was probably was a good summary of our season so far.”

“Nevertheless, I think the most important thing is that we fight, we give everything we have, and it could have been a better in Japan, it wasn’t and so we’re ready for this race.”

2016 United States Grand Prix

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    25 comments on “New Ferrari contract not a priority for Vettel”

    1. Both Ferrari and Vettel need to cool it with the contract talks. More on the car and the strategy and less about their relationship/partnership or whatever the heck it is.

      Enough distractions inside the team already as is.

      1. I’m sorry what does Vettel need to do again?

        Should he secure their only wins in 2015?

        Win Driver of the year in 2015?

        Achieve ferrari’s only podium in 2016?

        Make the best strategies calls on the team in 2016?

        Seb can do whatever he pleases, he’s the most qualified person on the team including everyone above him to comment on or discuss F1…

        I hope he goes to Mclaren in 2018.

        1. If he wants to live on past glories, he might as well retire now. He hasn’t been at his best this season. Strategies, car trouble etc are there but he has had his share of mistakes this season.

          For starters, he has to take a look at Alonso’s starts and learn from it. Spa and Malaysia are two examples where the car was great but points couldn’t be maximized because some one was over ambitious at turn 1.

          1. Seb’s proven himself the team leader. Arrivabene can’t handle it.

            Seb could crash first corner for the rest of the season and he’d still be the team leader.

            Development team = crap
            PU team = average
            Aero team = worthless
            CEO = worthless
            Team Principal = Belongs on a soap opera

            If it werent for Kimi and Seb this team would be as pointless as sauber – in every sense of the word.

        2. I hope he goes to Mclaren in 2018

          Hahahaha

          From the frying pan in to the fire!

      2. So, stop asking them about contracts.

        They don´t talk about contracts, spanish press does the answers.

    2. Yeah. He has a valid contract to the end of 2017… What if the car sux… Should he continue with them?

      I think not. And if the car does appear to be good, who would Ferrari sign, that is more acomplished than Seb Vet? Only L.H. Has more wins and is hotter property.

      As person above me said… Ferrari should work on car performance. All other issues will magically resolve when their car is P1 in every quali session.

    3. No need to focus on my nicca Seb, Marchionne gave all the answers in June:

      “Vettel is a pilot with extraordinary abilities”

      “but he has to be given the right car to win. The problem is the machine.”

      “I repeat: it is necessary to give the machine so that Vettel can win – he is ready. The problem is that when he gets a winning car, the whole season is ruined.”

    4. *Comment not really relevant to this thread, but not sure where else to put it.*

      Jenson Button is arguing for shorter races on the grounds that F1 urgently needs new fans, and that means younger fans. Young people these days, he reckons, have a shorter attention span than they used to, and simply won’t watch a whole F1 race. I think this is nonsense. Young people have no problem watching 90 minutes of football several times a week. In the US millions of young people watch American football or baseball – sports that often go on for hours on end. And kids everywhere play computer games that can last indefinitely. Whatever is keeping kids away from F1, it isn’t the time issue. The alarming drop in viewers over the last few years isn’t down to oldies dying off.

      I would argue that people have left F1 because it has become too remote, too complicated in its rule structure, too predictable in outcome, and above all, too expensive to watch. It should be easy and cheap to watch a race: log on, pay a small fee (via Paypal, Bitcoin, Amazon or whatever) and go. Better still, get F1 back on free-to-air TV – if kids are the target audience, they don’t have deep pockets. Moreover, some F1 cars (the ones that never win) have almost no sponsor logos on them. That is a potentially disastrous state of affairs that should put a chill up the spine of F1’s new owners.

      1. @rsp123

        too remote, too complicated in its rule structure, too predictable in outcome,

        No. Absolutely not.

        above all, too expensive to watch. It should be easy and cheap to watch a race: log on, pay a small fee (via Paypal, Bitcoin, Amazon or whatever) and go. Better still, get F1 back on free-to-air TV

        Yes, absolutely.

    5. Maybe Vettel is overrating himself. He lost to Riccardo a season and is being overcome by Raikonen, a driver that isn’t in his career peak anymore. Maybe in 2018 it’s Ferrari that will not want him anymore.

      1. Ferrari, the media whores, dropping a 4 time champion for…. who? I don’t see it.

      2. Saying that Vettel is being overcome by kimi is pure biggotry, looking at the DNF´s and mechanical issues both had.

        Vettel rated himself when he won 4 titles in a row, a Ricciardo mada a porr season last year too, and was beaten by Kvyat.

      3. vettel’s head dropped a bit over the course of this season. you can’t help thinking that if he’d got those wins in australia and canada he’d be having a stronger second half. raikkonen does look a bit better than he has done, but vettel ultimately has the speed.

    6. I think they could successfully market Verstappen, Ricciardo, Rosberg and obviously Hamilton. I doubt any would want to go there at the moment but if Ferrari start in the top two or three next year and the talent’s respective teammate is outperforming them…

    7. The lure of driving for SF (and winning the championship), that many F1 commentators speak of will fast fade if a trend develops of championship winning drivers finding themselves in a position where neither the car nor the strategy helps during crucial moments of the race weekend. The solution lies in fixing the car, consolidating the team balance and taking measured risks on strategy. Contracts (of drivers and team members) should be least of concerns for SF now.

      1. @pinakghosh i completely disagree with this. remember how awful they were in the 90s – drivers as good as alesi and schumacher (both desperately wanted by the title winning Williams team) were ‘lured’ to the prancing horse. it is a powerful thing, even when the team is doing badly.

        1. With all respect for SF, their legacy, their achievements, their contribution to F1, I intend to agree for the time being with a person that is perhaps not a very popular bloke among many F1 followers.
          Some excerpts from a Helmut Marko interview:

          Q: What is Sebastian expecting from his move? It is very plausible that his best chance to return to winning ways would have been with Red Bull…

          HM: Ferrari is still the name in F1. It’s a myth, so every driver yearns to go there in their racing career. Sure, much of it is about illusions.

          Q: But isn’t it always the paramount thing for a driver to win – not to be part of a myth?

          HM: Sebastian has already won [the title] four times. Now it’s time for the myth. I also believe that the moment to move was ideal: Ferrari is down, and in such a situation you can dictate your conditions.

          Q: Conditions that Red Bull probably would not have accepted?

          HM: For instance.

          1. LovelyLovelyLuffield
            21st October 2016, 13:24

            Truth bomb, right there.

    8. Roth Man (@rdotquestionmark)
      21st October 2016, 8:32

      Seb hasn’t seemed comfortable in the team this year. His sense of humour has been replaced by ranting and raving and also a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. A perfect example of the terrible high pressure man management that we’ve seen at Ferrari over recent years. Instead of nurturing the best out of their staff they all work under fear of the chop. It’s insanely out of date and counterproductive.

    9. Off course a contract is not the first thing to worry about now – although telling the team that he needs them to up their game and focus on building a good car AND making strategies that actually work out there on track, before he is willing to commit, might be needed!

    10. Multi 21, Seb?
      Newey was too good during Seb’s championships and now I greatly enjoy the decline of another overrated torpedo.
      Kimi always knew what he has been doing and that’s he’s ahead of Vettel in driver standings.
      Forza Iceman!

      1. Sergey, where were you in 2015? On Mars?

        Where is Newey now? How many titles did he win without Vettel driving his cars? Tell me thos stories.

        1. Michael Brown (@)
          21st October 2016, 14:42

          Probably claiming that Vettel’s wins were due to Allison.

        2. Bultaco – do you want to hear about Newey’s championships at Williams (1992: Drivers & Constructors; 1993: Drivers & Constructors; 1994: Constructors; 1996: Drivers & Constructors; 1997: Drivers & Constructors), McLaren (1998: Drivers & Constructors; 1999: Drivers)?

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