Ferrari won't discuss Vettel contract renewal until 2017; Arrivabene says "Sebastian just needs to focus on the car"
Monday 10 October 2016 10:48, UK
Sebastian Vettel has been told he has to "earn" a contract renewal at Ferrari beyond 2017 by team boss Maurizio Arrivabene.
Vettel has been urged to "focus on the car" by Arrivabene following suggestions he is trying to replicate Michael Schumacher's dynamic with the team, with the seven-times world champion famed for involving himself in every part of the Scuderia's operation.
Amid a frustrating season for Ferrari, in which they have failed to win a race and have slipped behind Red Bull as Mercedes' nearest challengers, four-time champion Vettel's own form has come under scrutiny with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen posing a closer challenge than in 2015.
Vettel crashed out of last week's Malaysia GP at the first corner, earning a three-place grid penalty for this weekend's Japanese GP, and admitted at Suzuka his form had been "up and down" in 2016.
The 29-year-old's three-year contract runs to the end of next season, but Arrivabene has hinted they will not be focusing on any renewal until 2017.
"Sebastian today has a contract with us, we have work to do this year, and also the next. During the season we will see," Arrivabene told Italy's Sky F1 at the Japanese GP.
"Everybody has an objective. I have, the team has, Sebastian has, everybody has. So it's right everybody has to earn their position and salary."
The departure of technical chief James Allison in July, and the team's admission that their development programme had stalled over the summer, has cranked up the pressure on an outfit whose last Drivers' Championship success came nine years ago.
Asked if Ferrari would do what they did during Michael Schumacher's less successful early years at the team in the late 1990s and hand Vettel a new deal in times of trouble, Arrivabene replied: "Today, times are a little changed in the sense that what worked with Michael might not necessarily work with Sebastian.
"Sebastian just needs to focus on the car. He is a person who he gives so much and that sometimes means an interest a bit of everything. [Vettel] does not do it with polemical spirit, he does it because he's completely immersed in what people call family but I call the team."
Reacting to Arrivabene's eye-catching comments, Sky F1's Anthony Davidson said: "They are strong words. You don't know who Vettel is talking to behind the scenes, but then again it's the driver's job to help motivate the team and put the people in place you want around you, like Schumacher did."
