SHARE
COPY LINK

FORMULA ONE

‘Dream come true’ as Vettel joins Ferrari

Ferrari confirmed on Thursday that four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel will drive for the Italian team next season.

'Dream come true' as Vettel joins Ferrari
Photo: DPA

"This is the fulfilment of a long-held childhood dream for me," Vettel said.

He will drive his final race for Red Bull on Sunday at the final Grand Prix of the season in Abu Dhabi.

"Schumacher in his red car was my greatest idol when I was a little boy," Vettel said.

"That I would have the chance one day to be allowed to drive a Ferrari is an unbelievably great honour."

The announcement ends weeks of speculation over the future of the 27-year-old driver from Hesse after he announced his departure from Red Bull at the start of October.

Vettel takes over from Spaniard Fernando Alonso, who leaves Ferrari after four frustrating years trying to restore the team to its former glory.

Schumacher himself switched to Ferrari in 1996 after bringing home two world championships for the Benetton team.

He went on to win five further titles between 2000 and 2004, a so far unequalled streak.

Vettel has been denied the chance to match Schumacher's record with a fifth win in a row faced by strong performances from the Mercedes team this year.

The German carmaker's drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg will duke it out for this year's championship title in Sunday's race.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

SPORT

IN PHOTOS: Ferrari unveils its new car for the 2020 season

Ferrari unveiled its new SF1000 car on Tuesday at a ceremony in Italy's motor racing heartland of Emilia-Romagna, ahead of the coming Formula One season.

IN PHOTOS: Ferrari unveils its new car for the 2020 season
The new Ferrari SF1000. All photos: AFP/Ferrari press office

Ferrari unveiled its new SF1000 car for the 2020 Formula One season, which they hope will deliver a first world drivers title since 2007, during a glitzy ceremony on Tuesday.

The single-seater's name acknowledges the fact that the Italian team will start its 1,000th world championship race during the coming campaign, which begins with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15.

Narrower than last season's SF90, with a deeper red colouring the body, Ferrari is pinning its hopes on the SF1000 car earning them drivers and constructors titles that have eluded them for 12 and 11 years respectively.

“I like it very much,” said German driver Sebastian Vettel.”It's much narrower at the back than last year and it is also redder, it's even better. I'm impatient to drive it, that will be even more fascinating than looking at it.”

The Scuderia broke with tradition and presented its new racing car outside of its stronghold of Maranello, unveiling it instead amid of sea of red on stage at the Teatro Romolo-Valli in the nearby city of Reggio Emilia.

“This is a very important place for our country,” chairman of the Ferrari group John Elkann explained.
“It was in this city that the tricolour flag, which became that of Italy, was created. And Ferrari is proud of Italy and of representing Italy.”

“This is a very special year,” continued Ferrari Team Manager Mattia Binotto.

“It's 70 years of Formula One, we have been there from the start and we are going to reach the figure of 1,000 Grands Prix, which is something incredible.”

Barring a forced change in the calendar because of the deadly coronavirus in Asia, the milestone should be reached in June during the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

“Maybe it looks a lot like the SF90, but I can assure you it is very different,” continued Binotto.

“We still have to make progress, especially on reliability,” he added, recalling that Ferrari, like the other teams, had to face “the double challenge” of preparing the next season in parallel with the following one, when new rules will come into force.

Binotto stressed that this season veteran Vettel and 22-year-old Charles Leclerc, who impressed on his debut last season, would be starting on an equal footing.

“We have seen that they can both fight for the best results. They are both on the same level. It is up to them to race,” he added.

Last season, the association between the experienced Vettel and Leclerc often turned into a duel, coming to a head when the two drivers collided during the Brazilian GP.

But 22-year-old Leclerc, who won two races and finished fourth place in the world championship, said lessons had been learned.

“We have learned the lesson from Brazil. We are free to race, but we are teammates,” he said.

“A lot of people are working behind us, as a team, and things like Brazil should not happen.”

Both drivers said they were impatient to try out the new car, which will be on track next week for the pre-season testing in Barcelona.

“I felt emotional when I saw it,” said Monaco's Leclerc.

“Now I can't wait to be out on track and try it and to show all the work that has been done on this car. It's going to be a great challenge,” he added. “I'm ready to learn from my mistakes to become an even better driver.”

SHOW COMMENTS