Breaking news

Formula 1

Vettel insists no problems with Ferrari boss Arrivabene

Sebastian Vettel insists that there is no problem between him and Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene, despite comments suggesting he needs to 'earn' his future at the team.

Jonathan Noble

Edited: Oct 8, 2016, 12:47 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

(L to R): Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal with Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari and Dr Helmut Marko, Red Bull Motorsport Consultant

(L to R): Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing Team Principal with Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari SF16-H

Arrivabene told Italian television over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend that there was no guarantee about Vettel earning a fresh contract for 2018, as he suggested the German also needed to not lose attention from his main job.

"Sebastian just needs to focus on the car," said Arrivabene. "He is a person who gives so much, and sometimes this means he is interested in a bit of everything - so sometimes you have to re-focus him, remind him to be focused on the main job."

Arrivabene's comments were interpreted by some as evidence of internal politics between the team boss and his driver, but Vettel made it clear that he felt things were totally fine.

"I don't know what he said so I don't want to interpret too much, but I enjoy a really good relationship with him," he said. "If there is something I don't like I tell him, and equally the other way around.

"I know there is nothing between us, nothing we need to sort out. Both our focus, his and mine, is we are trying to achieve the same thing. We are trying to win races, and get strong, especially in the future. And that is where the main focus goes."

Vettel admitted that the season had not delivered all that he and Arrivabene had hoped for, but reckoned that was not impacting on their relationship.

"Generally I enjoy a very, very straightforward relationship with him. As much as the team wants to perform, I want to perform," he said.

"I had races this year where I didn't do so and wasn't happy with myself because there was more on the table. But it has been an up and down year.

"In the end with the results we had they were not always fair and rewarding, considering the pace we showed on different weekends.

"Our main focus isn't looking too much at that. It is as a team to try to make progress until the end of this year.

"And we carry everything this year into next year, even though rules are changing. So a lot of things we learn about this year's car in general which will help us next year."

Progress

Vettel said he was encouraged that Ferrari had outqualified Red Bull around Suzuka, even though a three-place penalty he has got for a collision with Nico Rosberg in Malaysia will drop him behind them.

"It has been a track where people forecast we would be quite poor, but we had a very good day, the car felt good in qualifying and it has been very tight as well," he said.

"I think it is a combination of things. First of all the car feels a lot better than last year. I think it is a track where you need a stronger car to go faster.

"The gaps, also to the cars ahead, are a lot smaller compared to previous events. And the stuff we brought here seems to work so all in all pretty happy."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Mercedes still wary of Red Bull threat at Suzuka

Next article Haas critical of Mercedes after Hamilton hampers Gutierrez in Q3

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC

WEC

WEC WEC

Monza

10 min

Robert Kubica announces exit from AF Corse’s privateer Hypercar in WEC

Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

35 min

Charles Leclerc penalised for Liam Lawson clash; Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also punished after F1 Brazilian GP

Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

37 min

Max Verstappen "needs to understand what happened" after "night and day" F1 comeback in Brazilian GP

LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

1 h

LIVE: NASCAR Cup season finale at Homestead lap-by-lap updates

Feature

Discover prime content

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

Formula 1

By Pat Symonds

How F1’s rules got to be so complex

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Formula 1

By Ronald Vording

A water park, “not a rock star” and Toto Wolff’s words – Is Kimi Antonelli really a different F1 champion?

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts