Vettel 'not afraid' to go head-to-head against Alonso

[vcs316]

Sebastian Vettel insists he is not afraid to go head-to-head with one of F1's very best drivers, hinting his next move could be to Ferrari. Red Bull's reigning world champion is under contract for the next couple of years, but some continue to question his talent compared to a driver like Fernando Alonso.

Kimi Raikkonen, after a two-year sabbatical and then two comeback years with Lotus, has joined Ferrari for 2014, demonstrating he is not put off by Spaniard Alonso's perceived position of dominance at the Italian marque.

But German Vettel insists he is not afraid to go head-to-head. "Maybe someday I will be on the same team with Kimi or Fernando," he told Sport Bild magazine. "You always want to beat the strongest opponents, so I'm not afraid," Vettel, who this year will be paired at Red Bull with Daniel Ricciardo, added.

Assessing Vettel's character, 1996 world champion Damon Hill said the German is nothing like his countryman, mentor and friend Michael Schumacher. "That's what makes F1 interesting," he is quoted by the Times of India. "Vettel is like a puppy, so much enthusiasm, it seems the track is his school playground."

But Hill thinks Vettel could be in for a much tougher fight this year, having utterly dominated the second part of the 2013 season, winning nine races on the trot. "The championship is likely to go down the wire this time," he said. "It's going to be unpredictable with double points proposed in the final race of the season."

Many believe it is Vettel's dominance that motivated Bernie Ecclestone to push so hard for the controversial double points concept. "It will make things exciting," said Hill. "I've heard a lot of people say it's stupid but why isn't it a good idea? Maybe it's a great idea."

Not surprisingly, Vettel has slammed double points as "absurd" because it unfairly penalises dominant drivers like himself. But F1 chief executive Ecclestone told Autoweek: "I said (to him) 'don't be too sure that you are going to have an easy year next year'. There is nothing wrong with it for anybody."

Particularly, Ecclestone added, for the fans and the media. "The press and television have got a story. (Double points means) the championship is not over. They (other drivers) still have a chance," he told F1 business journalist Christian Sylt.

Ecclestone also revealed that no one, not even powerful Ferrari, can veto the rule change now, as it has been approved by the World Motor Sport Council. "It is what it is," a relaxed Raikkonen said during his visit to Ferrari's Maranello headquarters last week. "It's the rule and, like it or not, it isn't going to change."

The Finn is also laid back about the radical 2014 rules, despite many drivers predicting a huge challenge with the extreme torque of the new V6 engines. "My feeling is that it's not going to be as different as people think," he said. "I might be wrong but hopefully we find out that it's pretty simple."

Meanwhile, Raikkonen showed that his recent back surgery appears to have been a complete success, leaping from the drivers' seat of a Ferrari road car over a puddle. (GMM)

[ManFromMilan]

I think Vettel pees just little bit every time he hears Alonso's name mentioned.

[shamim179]

Vettel is definitely wary of Alonso. Deep down he knows Alonso is the better driver at the moment. Vettel is still young so still some way to go before reaching his full potential so he shouldn't be underestimated.

[Muhammad Ansib]

hahahahahahahahahahahah...funny Mr.vettel..Only Big talk..he choose Daniel Riccardo the weakest of all available team-mates and opennly admitted it on BBC F1 post-race interview. I think its pretty obvious the advantage Sebastian enjoys of the fastest car just look at 2012 post Singapore both Mark and Seb were in top 3 in all qualifying sessions except Brazil.same goes for the most part of 2013..so Sebastian Knows that as long he has an inherent no.2 driver as his team-mate its all good..all remaining big talk is just Fiction and fantasy of his..

More importantly Only Lewis, Kimi, Fernando, Jenson have the ba**s to be up against a World Champion as team-mate..
FORZA FERRARI FORZA KIMI FORZA FERNANDO ALONSO!!!

[Tifoso]

He is absolutely "sportingly" afraid to go head to head in anything close to similarly performing cars. Because he'd lose nearly every time.

Because this would expose further the fact that, while definitely a very good driver, his dominance is absolutely car related.

[Giallo 550]

I used to hate the idea of Vettel being at Ferrari, but now I would love to see him and Fernando in identical red cars. That would make for some really interesting and exciting racing!

[diesel08]

hahahahahahahahahahahah...funny Mr.vettel..Only Big talk..he choose Daniel Riccardo the weakest of all available team-mates and opennly admitted it on BBC F1 post-race interview. I think its pretty obvious the advantage Sebastian enjoys of the fastest car just look at 2012 post Singapore both Mark and Seb were in top 3 in all qualifying sessions except Brazil.same goes for the most part of 2013..so Sebastian Knows that as long he has an inherent no.2 driver as his team-mate its all good..all remaining big talk is just Fiction and fantasy of his..

More importantly Only Lewis, Kimi, Fernando, Jenson have the ba**s to be up against a World Champion as team-mate..
FORZA FERRARI FORZA KIMI FORZA FERNANDO ALONSO!!!

good point!

[brembo man]

I spent the whole 2013 season just watching F1 to see who could beat that Red Bull car, and watch Alonso fight his way up front to 2nd place at least the first half of the season. With 2014 comming up with new engines, new rules, hopefully something new will happen each race. PS... I guess one could replace the term Red Bull car with Vettel's name but it sounds more honest the other way around, "the car!"

[abbottcostello]

Let's not forget Vettel beat a decent teammate on a consistent basis. I honestly don't think RB would intentionally make a weaker car for Mark? From all I have read about the RB car, it had to be driven a certain way through the corners to get maximum benefit of the blown diffuser for downforce. I remember reading somewhere that SV was able to master the technique & Mark just could not get the best effect from it.
It remains to be seen whether SV is able to adjust to a different technique that the new rules SHOULD bring & unless Horner comes up with another stroke of genius (loophole!), we should get a chance to evaluate his abilities in a car that doesn't have all the other teams scratching their heads where RB keeps coming up with a 0.3 sec or more advantage.

My biggest hope for the new season is that I don't have to see that vile "finger boy" pose AT ALL & unless Seb grows out of that revolting celebration of finger sticking & petting his car, I have a hard time imagining myself rooting for him in a red car. (So far though, I haven't had any problems cheering for any Ferrari driver, going back to Jacky Ickx & Clay Regazzoni, so my worry is probably all for naught!)
GO RED CARS

[scuderiafan]

Give it a rest Seb. Show me the proof. Alonso WILL face Kimi.
Not rumours and talking big in the press. The toughest teammate he has had is Mark, but the amount of problems he had with his car makes me think there was something dodgy going on there. Maybe not everyone's parts were up to date.

So let's see how Seb gets on with Ricciardo before this big talk. I for one am hoping for another 2007 with Vettel in the Alonso role.

[TheFatHippo]

Vettel actually preferred Kimi over Ricciardo as next year's team mate as the two of them are actually quite good friends, but Dr. Marko vetoed the idea for two reasons. First of all he runs the RB Junir program and wanted to have one of the drivers from the program in the seat and secondly, hiring Kimi would have meant to raise Vettel's salary. He's currently the one with the 'lowest' Salary of all top drivers (Kimi, Fernando, Lewis, Vettel), although 'low' is relative in that regard. It's said to be around 8M.

[Muhammad Ansib]

Let's not forget Vettel beat a decent teammate on a consistent basis. I honestly don't think RB would intentionally make a weaker car for Mark? From all I have read about the RB car, it had to be driven a certain way through the corners to get maximum benefit of the blown diffuser for downforce. I remember reading somewhere that SV was able to master the technique & Mark just could not get the best effect from it.
It remains to be seen whether SV is able to adjust to a different technique that the new rules SHOULD bring & unless Horner comes up with another stroke of genius (loophole!), we should get a chance to evaluate his abilities in a car that doesn't have all the other teams scratching their heads where RB keeps coming up with a 0.3 sec or more advantage.

My biggest hope for the new season is that I don't have to see that vile "finger boy" pose AT ALL & unless Seb grows out of that revolting celebration of finger sticking & petting his car, I have a hard time imagining myself rooting for him in a red car. (So far though, I haven't had any problems cheering for any Ferrari driver, going back to Jacky Ickx & Clay Regazzoni, so my worry is probably all for naught!)
GO RED CARS

Absolutely right mate.. All I can think is the race of australia 2012 when Redbull RB8 didnt have the coando exhaust blown Diffuser and Vettel while following Schumacher in the openning laps went carrying a lot of speed (like he had been used to in 2010 and 2011) But the car having very little rear blown effect just didnt have the grip and Martin Brundle explicitly said "the rear of the car just said you gotta be kiddin me!, withou the exhaust Blown Diffusers the car is very unstable at the rear".Vettel really struggled in the early parts of 2012 But when Adrain Newey introduced the new revised sidepods and probably the best Coanda exhaust in Valencia 2012 Redbull just took off! and carried it through singapore where Double DRS was introduced and from then on 4 straight wins from pole and 2013 when they had the exhausts from the start and optimised it even further so that they can carry the least amout of Drag from rear wings after Hunagry ...damn them so all in all Redbull's strength has been the optimising their car to the exhausts better than anyone !

[Jas]

All I am saying is that if vettel wants to go head to head with Alonso then I would like him to do it rather than later when Alonso is in his prime....not years down the line when Alonso is getting ready for retirement...and then beating him and going down in history etc etc!

[TheFatHippo]

Ferrari didn't offer to buy out Vettels contract with RB and RB didn't offer to buy out Alonso's contract, so it's not really in Vettel's hand. The problem I see is that most teams would never go for a driver pairing like that. Two alpha dogs in one team has rarely worked. Pironi/Villeneuve, Mansell/Piquet, Prost/Senna, Prost/Mansell and Hamilton/Alonso are all driver combos that went horribly wrong. Back in 2007 Fernando threatened to leak spygate info to FIA if they didn't give him outright #1 status (Sunday morning at Hungary '07, one day after the qualifying dust-up with Hamilton). Hamilton was a rookie back then, do you really think Vettel as a 4 times WDC would put up with something like that?
Ferrari was strongest, when they had a clear hierarchy. Fernando wouldn't have stayed in contention as long as he did in 2012 if it wasn't for Massa clearly being shown his place (Monza, Austin, Brazil). I think they are taking a big risk this year. Kimi is Ferrari's last champion. He certainly won't accept an obedient #2 role from the start and Fernando doesn't accept any gods beside himself, so if he doesn't manage to outscore Kimi decisively in the first half of the season, things could get ugly again. Kimi has shown in '08 that he serves the team's interests when he's out of contention for the title, but until that is the case, I doubt he'll hold anything back. The Alonso/Räikkönen combo is a mouthwatering prospect, but also a risky one IMHO.

[wisepie]

FatHippo makes some very valid observations here and has done it without actually criticising anyone....bravo!

[DIEK]

Vettel 'not afraid' to go head-to-head against Alonso

He should.

[Petronius]

Ferrari didn't offer to buy out Vettels contract with RB and RB didn't offer to buy out Alonso's contract, so it's not really in Vettel's hand. The problem I see is that most teams would never go for a driver pairing like that. Two alpha dogs in one team has rarely worked. Pironi/Villeneuve, Mansell/Piquet, Prost/Senna, Prost/Mansell and Hamilton/Alonso are all driver combos that went horribly wrong. Back in 2007 Fernando threatened to leak spygate info to FIA if they didn't give him outright #1 status (Sunday morning at Hungary '07, one day after the qualifying dust-up with Hamilton). Hamilton was a rookie back then, do you really think Vettel as a 4 times WDC would put up with something like that?
Ferrari was strongest, when they had a clear hierarchy. Fernando wouldn't have stayed in contention as long as he did in 2012 if it wasn't for Massa clearly being shown his place (Monza, Austin, Brazil). I think they are taking a big risk this year. Kimi is Ferrari's last champion. He certainly won't accept an obedient #2 role from the start and Fernando doesn't accept any gods beside himself, so if he doesn't manage to outscore Kimi decisively in the first half of the season, things could get ugly again. Kimi has shown in '08 that he serves the team's interests when he's out of contention for the title, but until that is the case, I doubt he'll hold anything back. The Alonso/Räikkönen combo is a mouthwatering prospect, but also a risky one IMHO.

Mouthwatering prospect...that are the words I have been searching for...well said indeed. And the risk part. F1 is all about taking it. That is the salt. Sweet dessert is to win it all.Only one can win, rest will lose. Tough but fair.

Back on topic. Vettel is still on his improvement path, even though he has 4 wdc:s under his belt. Fernando and Kimi are the present F1 veterans with experience and knowledge about all the tricks in the formula book you can ask for. For heavens sake, they are both wdc:s. If Ferrari provides them with competitive equipment this season, it could have ingredients to be one off most memorable and historical duels in modern F1 to remember. After all, both are fighting for the legacy they leave behind...not the money and not the fame but the honour. Only the other one off them can win, the other one will lose. Mouthwatering it is.

[M.K]

So let's see how Seb gets on with Ricciardo before this big talk. I for one am hoping for another 2007 with Vettel in the Alonso role.

Not gonna happen unless Webber becomes the man in charge and hires half of Aussies to replace old staff

I hope it happens though.

[Rishu]

I am waiting for Webber's autobiography, it will tell us how Vettel beat him

[Aussie]

I hope Daniel smashed vettel

[erikejw]

Vettel almost acknowledges that he will share team with Kimi of Alonso.
If that is so, what does it mean?

Maybe last year gave us the answers. Montezemolo behaved like Alonso almost comitted treason avsinat Ferrari.
Alonso wants to win more titles.
There was McLaren talk.
There was RB talk but nothing materialised, of did it.
He wants a winning car.
RB is winning, not McLaren.
He has a contract with Ferrari for next year.

Maybe he signed a contract but for 2015-.
That would explain Montezemolos reactions.

RB junior programme gets one year and then Alonso is in.
Alonso did the same when he went to McLaren, one year in advance.

Then it all makes sense. Why Kimi is back, he is the only available top driver left on the market for 2015.
Ferrari needed to secure Jim even though the pairing is tough.

Ferrari is the team that always had a nr1 and à nr2.
Why deviate now? It is only for one year.

So no Vettel to Ferrari(now) but Alonso to RB.
Alonso would do anything to win, even a "nightmare" pairing.

Montezemolo talked about Kimis last contract, he needed à good long one.
Not à one year with RB.

Horner favoured Kimi, not Alonso.
It will explain Horner disgust after the Riccardo signing.
His demeanor was the worst I ever seen from him. Out of control.
Clearly outmaneavured.

So no Alonso, Vettel at Ferrari.
No Vettel, Kimi at Ferrari but
Alonso-Vettel at RB for 2015.

My 2 cents of backtracking.

[fratelliferrari]

I am waiting for Webber's autobiography, it will tell us how Vettel beat him

I know this is very off-topic but it's about Webber. I am watching the Australian Open Final right now and just saw Mark Webber in the audience

[Kingdom Hearts]

I am waiting for Webber's autobiography, it will tell us how Vettel beat him

He is on RB payroll for life.

[wisepie]

@ Muhammad Ansib post no 4.....I beg to differ about your last paragraph, Muhammad, what was Felipe doing whilst at Ferrari other than trying to do his best for himself against those champions you mention. OK, he didn't succeed on results, but he still took the fight to them when he could.