Red Bull Racing announced that driver Sebastian Vettel will leave the team "at the end of the current season and join Ferrari," according to Giles Richard of the London GUARDIAN. The four-times world champion "is to be replaced by the Russian driver Daniil Kyvat, who currently races for Red Bull’s second team, Toro Rosso." Ferrari, in turn, is "expected to part company with Fernando Alonso, who is likely to head for McLaren, although no deal has been announced." Vettel is understood to have told the team his intentions late on Friday night." Australian Daniel Ricciardo "will move up to senior driver at Red Bull, with Kyvat slotting in as No. 2." Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner "confirmed on Saturday morning that Vettel would be joining Ferrari." Horner: "I obviously know him very well, we spend a lot of time together and you can see that he has had a bit on his mind recently." Rumors "had circulating the paddock on Friday that Vettel would be swapped for Alonso, but Horner denied that had been a realistic proposition" (GUARDIAN, 10/2). In London, David Tremayne reported Jenson Button's F1 career "could be in the balance" after Vettel's "shock decision to quit Red Bull." Vettel’s announcement "will inevitably now have a domino effect." The biggest loser "could be 34-year-old Button."
With Alonso "almost certainly leaving Ferrari, his only realistic home for 2015 will be at the new upcoming McLaren-Honda partnership."
That could mean "taking 2009 world champion Button’s seat" (INDEPENDENT, 10/4).
SWEET DEAL: Also in London, Daniel Johnson wrote Vettel "is thought to have been offered a three-year deal" worth £40M ($64M) a season, which "will make him the highest paid driver in the sport’s history." There is "a very slim possibility that Alonso may take a year’s sabbatical, plotting a future with Mercedes from 2016, by which time Lewis Hamilton’s contract will have expired." The Spaniard "is believed to have approached Niki Lauda, the Mercedes F1 chairman, but the runaway championship leaders do not seem receptive" (TELEGRAPH, 10/4). The BBC's Andrew Benson reported Vettel, whose expected move to Ferrari "is yet to be confirmed," said, "I'm not leaving because I don't like the team or individuals. I'm not running away from anything. The voice inside, the hunger to do something new, was bigger." Vettel's decision "to leave comes in the midst of a period of major change at Red Bull." Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey, "regarded as F1's pre-eminent designer, has stepped back from his full-time role on F1 into an advising and mentoring capacity while he concentrates on other projects, believed to be Britain's America's Cup bid." And Vettel's long-time race engineer Guillaume Roquelin "has been moved into a different, more senior role" (BBC, 10/4).
MAKES SENSE: SPEED's Will Dale reported Vettel's announcement "came as a shock but, in hindsight, makes total sense for all parties." There "will not be one clear reason for Vettel’s departure, but likely a combination of many factors." Sure, Ferrari has reportedly offered him A$92M ($80M) to come to Maranello, but he "was also allegedly in tears when he told Red Bull team principal that he would be leaving the team that made him a star."
Vettel said that he is not “running away” from Ricciardo. But "it would be wrong to suggest Ricciardo’s rise has nothing to do with his departure." More significantly, what has rankled at Vettel for many years "is the asterisk that some have sat next to his name in the record books." There "have been suggestions that he only won his four titles because he was in the best car available" -- the monkey in Rindt’s Lotus, for long-time F1 fans (SPEED, 10/5).
