Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will leave Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2014 Formula 1 season and his seat will be taken by Daniil Kvyat.
This big news announcement has certainly shake up the form order for next season. After so many years of success with the Milton Keynes-based team, scoring the outfit’s first win at China 2009 and winning the championship four times during 2010 to 2013, Sebastian Vettel is heading off.
Rumours are saying that Vettel will go to Ferrari to take Fernando Alonso’s place at the team. And yet, the first official move in the driver market has been taken by the reigning world champion.
“Sebastian Vettel has advised us that he will be leaving Infiniti Red Bull Racing at the end of the 2014 season,” said Red Bull in a statement.
“We’re pleased to announce that Daniel [Ricciardo] will be joined in the team for 2015 by another rising star from the Junior Programme, Daniil Kvyat.”
Red Bull guided Vettel’s progress towards Formula 1 which led to him joining the main team in 2009 from Toro Rosso. He won his first of four consecutive drivers’ championship titles with the outfit in 2010.
The decision marks a surprise promotion for Kvyat, who made his debut for Scuderia Toro Rosso at the beginning of the season.
Initially, Kvyat would remain with Toro Rosso for a second season, alongside newcomer Max Verstappen, but his impending switch to the main Red Bull team leaves a vacancy in their line-up.
So a big shock at Suzuka in the lead up to the big event. Which team will Sebastian drive for? Ferrari seems the most likely destination with Kimi Raikkonen as his new team-mate.
As for Fernando Alonso, the question is what’s next for the double world champion? Taking a sabbatical from the sport or a move to McLaren, which will use the Honda power unit next season. Interesting times in the world of Formula 1.
Four-time world champion Sebastain Vettel announced his Ferrari intentions on Friday night during the run up to the Japanese Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details.
Sebastian Vettel only told Red Bull that he wanted to leave for Ferrari on Friday night at the Japanese Grand Prix.
The four-time F1 world champion is set to replace Fernando Alonso at the Maranello team in 2015 as team-mate to Kimi Raikkonen.
His place at Red Bull will be taken by Daniil Kvyat.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner revealed on Saturday morning that it was only a matter of hours earlier that Vettel had dropped the bombshell that he wanted to leave.
“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,” explained Horner.
“Inevitably a decision like this you don’t take lightly but it was last night he sat down with us and informed us.
“So all I can do is wish him the very, very best for the future. He will still be close to our hearts at Red Bull, but on January 1 he will be a competitor.”
Although there has not yet been any official confirmation that Vettel is destined for Ferrari, Horner confirmed that this was the case.
“Obviously Ferrari have made him a very attractive offer,” he said.
Although Vettel still had a year on his contract remaining, Horner said Red Bull felt there was little point in holding him to the team if his desire was to move on.
“If somebody’s heart is not there, it doesn’t matter what you have on a piece of paper,” he said. “It has to be right for both sides.
“He has reached a stage in his career where he fancied a new challenge, that is his prerogative and, like in any relationship, if somebody’s heart is not in it then it is time to move on.”
Horner added that it was fully understandable that Vettel, having raced his entire career for Red Bull-backed teams, wanted fresh motivation elsewhere.
“I think the lure of Ferrari, a window has opened there with whatever is going on and he has decided the timing is right for him. That is his choice, and he has been around long enough to know his own mind.
“He doesn’t have a manager and doesn’t have people that surround him. He has made this decision and we respect that.”
Vettel has driven for Red Bull Racing since 2009, when he was brought into the senior team having served a season-and-a-half apprenticeship with Toro Rosso that included a shock victory in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
The 27-year-old German has won 38 grands prix and taken 44 poles as well as his four titles with Red Bull.
Four times Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel decided to leave Red Bull because he needed new motivation after a frustrating season, team consultant Helmut Marko said on Saturday.
The Austrian told Reuters at the Japanese Grand Prix that the split between the reigning champions and the 27-year-old German, who has won all his titles with them, was ‘amicable’.
Red Bull announced on Saturday that Vettel, who has been overshadowed by Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo this season, would be leaving at the end of the year with his seat taken by Toro Rosso’s Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat.
“Last couple of days the whole thing happened,” said Marko, a former racer and the head of Red Bull’s driver development programme who is close to the energy drink company’s billionaire owner Dietrich Mateschitz.
“But we split it amicably, you know. There’s no bad feeling either on our side or on his side.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner told reporters at Suzuka that Vettel was moving to Ferrari, although there was no immediate confirmation from the Italian team.
Vettel is expected to replace Spain’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, who has been heavily linked with a return to McLaren, as team mate to Finland’s 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Marko refused to be drawn on Vettel’s movements but said he understood the German’s reasons for leaving.
“I’m not sad because we had a fantastic time, we had some fantastic success,” said Marko, who was instrumental in bringing Vettel up through the Red Bull programme from race winner at Toro Rosso to champion four years in a row from 2010-13.
“We discussed it. He’s looking for new motivation for new challenges so life goes on. And it was no problem, we decided immediately to take Kvyat and hope to repeat the story with another junior from us,” said Marko.
Kvyat, now 20, joined Toro Rosso this year and became the youngest ever points scorer on his debut in Australia in March at the age of 19.
That record was taken from Vettel, who made his Formula One debut with BMW Sauber — for whom he was a test driver — as a substitute for Poland’s Robert Kubica at the 2007 U.S. Grand Prix.
Vettel has been at Red Bull since 2009, becoming the youngest champion and setting a string of further records as the most successful German driver since Michael Schumacher, who won five of his seven titles with Ferrari.
The partnership has yielded 38 race wins, 13 of them last season alone, but Vettel has struggled to recapture that form this year with new technical regulations and reliability problems.
He has yet to win a race in 2014 while Ricciardo has chalked up three victories and remains the only driver apart from the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg to have triumphed this year.
“For sure, that was part of the reason but the thing is you know we had been together very, very long,” Marko said of Vettel’s frustrating year.
“So he’s still young, he’s 27, and it was mainly a new challenge what he was looking for.”
Source: Reuters
News stories on Sebastian Vettel leaving Red Bull Racing.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/29487911
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2014/10/16433.html
http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2014/10/16440.html
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/04/vettel-leaving-red-bull-2014-slump/
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/10/04/alonso-can-choose-want-go/
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2014/oct/04/sebastian-vettel-leave-red-bull-end-season
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/24182/9502110/red-bull-announce-that-sebastian-vettel-is-leaving-at-the-end-of-the-season
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/9502143/sebastian-vettel-had-red-bull-contract-get-out-clause-for-2015-says-helmut-marko
http://www1.skysports.com/f1/news/12433/9502209/sebastian-vettel-has-likened-leaving-red-bull-to-moving-out-of-his-parent8217s-house
Sebastian Vettel gives the reasons why he has quit Red Bull Racing. Autosport.com has the full story.
Sebastian Vettel insists his poor 2014 Formula 1 season was not a factor in his decision to leave Red Bull for a likely new home at Ferrari.
Red Bull announced on Saturday that its relationship with long-time protege and four-time F1 world champion Vettel would end after 2014, with Daniil Kvyat replacing him.
“A decision like that obviously doesn’t happen overnight,” said Vettel.
“It’s always a big step when a very, very good relationship comes to an end.
“I think you need to understand that there’s nothing negative in the air at all. It’s not like I’m leaving because I don’t like it here or don’t like the people anymore.
“Obviously you could look at it and say this year we are not successful so it feels like the right time [to go], but that’s not the case.
“It’s not like there’s a negative here.”
Vettel has been overshadowed by new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo this year, but said his overall record of success with Red Bull still outweighed that.
“I don’t think I have to prove anything here,” he said.
“Everything we have achieved, we have achieved together.
“Sure, this season didn’t go as we all wanted to. Especially the first half for me was quite messy. I think we’ve made progress but it’s a difficult one.
“It’s not a decision based on the current results, it’s more a voice inside me that kept growing and it’s a step that I’m very much looking forward to.”
Red Bull backed Vettel’s junior career and gave him his first full-time F1 seat with its junior team Toro Rosso, although he actually made his grand prix debut with fellow patron BMW when Robert Kubica had to sit out the 2007 Indianapolis race.
He has driven for Red Bull Racing since the start of 2009, taking 38 wins in that time.
Vettel said leaving Red Bull after such a long association felt like leaving the family home.
“You can compare it to at some point in your life you decide to grow up and move out of home. It is a big step like that – it feels like leaving home,” he said.
“But there is the desire and hunger to create something new, and in the end that’s what made me decide to open another door.”
Although Vettel refused to comment on his 2015 destination, Red Bull boss Christian Horner confirmed he would be heading to Ferrari, which is set to split with Fernando Alonso.
As for Daniil Kvyat, who will replace the four-time world champion at Red Bull Racing next year, he was not surprised by the news that Jean-Eric Vergne was snubbed. Autosport.com has the details.
Sebastian Vettel’s replacement, Daniil Kvyat, says he was not surprised that Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne was overlooked again for a promotion to the Red Bull Formula 1 team.
Kvyat was announced as a Red Bull driver for 2015 on Saturday morning, when the team revealed that Vettel will leave at the end of this season.
While the Russian was shocked to get the news just before final practice for the Japanese Grand Prix, he said he was not taken aback by the fact that Vergne missed out for the second year running – after Daniel Ricciardo was chosen to partner Vettel for 2014.
When asked by AUTOSPORT if it was a surprise that Vergne was not chosen by Red Bull, Kvyat said: “No, I’m not surprised. It’s clear that last year they picked Daniel.
“Jean-Eric is a great driver, he is very quick, experienced as well.
“But I have been racing for a long time even if I have not been in F1 for very long.
“There are some things you can learn only by doing it, and I believe that is what is going to happen to me.”
Kvyat also played down suggestions that Vergne would have been the obvious choice because he has nearly three years of F1 racing under his belt.
“Already this year we can see that experience itself is not playing a big role for Jean-Eric,” he added.
“But he has been a fantastic benchmark for me. We have been pushing each other, and he has helped me develop.
“Since the beginning I had a really high benchmark, because we know that ‘JEV’ and Daniel were really close last year.”
When asked if he felt ready to step up to a top team, Kvyat said: “Yes. I’m confident I am.
“Obviously Red Bull rely on me. They show certain trust by making this decision, which I really appreciate.
“This kind of decision is taken because they know what kind of driver I am, and I will do my best to prove them right.”
Fernando Alonso says Formula 1 rival Sebastian Vettel’s decision to leave Red Bull for a likely move to Ferrari will not have any impact on his own future.
Red Bull announced that four-time F1 world champion Vettel will leave the team at the end of this season after the German told the squad he is set to join Ferrari for 2015.
Relations between Alonso and Ferrari have reached a breaking point recently and it is widely expected that the Spaniard will leave the team and make way for Vettel.
Although a formal split between Alonso and Ferrari has yet to be officially confirmed, Alonso is understood to be in an advanced stage of negotiation to join McLaren for next season.
Thus the double world champion said Vettel’s surprise announcement does not affect his own situation.
“I heard today the news of Sebastian – he needs to find a new motivation, a new chapter in life, and I wish him the best,” Alonso said.
“For me it doesn’t change anything.
“I have a very unique position – thanks to so many years and the respected work I’ve done on the track I decide where to go, what I do, and when I do it.
“Probably some of the things that are happening [now] are the consequence of my thinking.
“I have my mind set. I’ve had a plan, very clear; for the last two or three months I’ve known what I wanted to do.
“I have the opportunity to do whatever I want and I will do what is the best thing for me in my career right now.
“It’s a combination of being hungry for success – I want to win and become champion – and to be happy, I want to have a good life.
“Everything is moving in the right direction, but at the moment it’s still not 100 per cent complete.”
There is also a possibility that Alonso could sit out next season and re-appraise potential opportunities for 2016, if negotiations with McLaren break down.
But when asked about the chances of him not racing in 2015, Alonso remained cryptic.
“I repeat: whatever I want to do, I will do it, at the moment I want to do it,” he said.
“I will race in whatever place I want. After that, the others will move their positions.
“I know what I want to do and I will tell you when it’s time.”
Alonso is also understood to have sounded out Mercedes about a possible drive, but the team’s motorsport boss Toto Wolff said it had no reason to alter its current line-up.
“I’m quite happy we’re not participating in musical chairs,” Wolff said.
“We want to have the best drivers in our team, who work together in a respectful way, who help to develop the team and eventually win races and championships.
“We are very excited and very happy with our current line-up, and the way we work with each other doesn’t justify to mess it up.”
Source: Autosport.com
Ron Dennis has admitted that the team has yet to sign Fernando Alonso following the news that Sebastian Vettel is leaving Red Bull Racing. Autosport.com has the story.
McLaren chief Ron Dennis has rejected suggestions that his Formula 1 team has already signed Fernando Alonso, even though talks with the Spaniard are at an advanced stage.
Alonso is set to be replaced at Ferrari by Sebastian Vettel, and he is expected to conclude a deal with McLaren to lead it during its new Honda era.
But no contract is yet in place, and McLaren Group CEO Dennis made it clear at the Japanese Grand Prix that the team was not yet in a position to confirm its bid to lure Alonso has been successful.
“We do not have a contract with any driver at this moment in time. It isn’t our priority,” he said.
“Of course, we talk – of course we do all the things you expect us to do. But at this moment in time we have not got contracts that we have activated.
“It is not a great position to be in if you are either Jenson [Button] or Kevin [Magnussen], but the reality is they understand.
“The key thing for them is that our priority is to produce a winning car with which they can win.”
McLaren is understood to have an option on Magnussen for next year, while Button is totally out of contract.
But until McLaren is clear on what Alonso will do in 2015, it is keeping its options open – which means both its current drivers face an anxious wait.
Button has made clear that he would like to remain at McLaren next year, with his F1 career hanging in the balance if the Woking outfit chooses Alonso and Magnussen.
“My aim is to be racing here next year,” Button said. “I’ve spent five years with this team.
“I’ve been through some very good times and the last couple of years have been difficult, but we have worked hard and I would really like to see all that hard work come to something in the future.”
Red Bull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo has admitted he is is ready to take on the mantle of experience as he will become the number one driver at the team next season. Autosport.com has the full story.
Daniel Ricciardo contemplated a new future as Red Bull’s most experienced driver on Saturday after the Formula One team announced four times world champion Sebastian Vettel was leaving to join Ferrari.
The 25-year-old Australian smiled, however, at the notion that he had played his part in the German’s exit by proving more than a match for the 27-year-old.
“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask him. I got asked that before but he’ll have to answer it,” he told reporters at the Japanese Grand Prix.
“But I definitely am happy with my season here and am happy I got a chance to go alongside him and I’m happy with my performances alongside Seb so that’s been encouraging.”
Ricciardo has taken only 14 races to go from new boy, drafted in to replace retiring compatriot Mark Webber, to prospective leader and Red Bull veteran.
In the same space of time, the Perth-born ‘Honey Badger’ has won three races to Vettel’s none and scored 181 points to the champion’s 124.
Vettel said separately that he was leaving because he had wanted a new challenge after spending all his career to date with Red Bull. Ferrari have yet to confirm his arrival from their side.
Third in a championship dominated by Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, Ricciardo said he had only heard the news of his team mate’s decision on Saturday morning.
“A bit surprised. I didn’t rule anything out so I wasn’t convinced he’ll go,” he said. “I thought if he was to go, Daniil will be the one replace him so I got that part right.”
Russian Daniil Kvyat, the 20-year-old rookie who made his debut with sister team Toro Rosso this year, will be Ricciardo’s new team mate next year and the Australian recognised he would have different responsibilities.
“Obviously I’ve tried to do as much as I can for the team this year in terms of steering them in the right direction…I guess that will increase next year,” he said.
“Daniil will probably take a little while to form his relationships with them so I guess there’s a bit more responsibility on me to at least steer them in the best direction to start off as possible.
“And Daniil coming in should be fun. I’ve enjoyed this year with Seb. I’ll enjoy the last few races and then see how we get on with Daniil but it should be good.”
He recognised that Kvyat, who as a 19-year-old debutant took Vettel’s record this year as the youngest driver ever to score a point, could be quite a handful as team mate.
“Even though he’s young and a less experienced driver, I won’t take any of that for granted. I expect him to be quick,” said Ricciardo.
Kvyat has moved up from Red Bull sister team Toro Rosso, who have already signed 17-year-old Dutch rookie Max Verstappen as the sport’s youngest driver.
The son of former racer Jos, Verstappen is still not old enough to drive unaccompanied on the roads of his home country and had his first experience of a 2014 F1 car in Friday practice at Suzuka.