Sebastian Vettel on Wednesday said he intends to enjoy the rest of the 2011 season in winning style.
The 24-year-old German is about to experience the rare joy of having concluded a successful campaign as the unassailable defending champion with plenty of races to spare.

“It’s different to Abu Dhabi 2010,” he told Germany’s Sport Bild, referring to last year’s season finale when he emerged as the surprise champion.

“This year there are four grands prix to go; basically, four long laps of honour ahead of me. I can enjoy my second title much, much more,” said Vettel.

And he intends to celebrate by winning; a feat he could not manage at the scene of his 2011 championship victory, Suzuka, on Sunday.

“We did not manage it in Japan so we will try to take advantage in the next race,” said Vettel, referring to F1′s imminent round in Korea.

In the wake of his title triumph last weekend, the F1 world has been busily hailing Vettel, including Stefano Domenicali who said he can imagine the 24-year-old driving alongside Ferrari’s number 1 Fernando Alonso.

The Italian recently said he does not consider Vettel a true team leader, “But I never said I didn’t think he was good,” Domenicali told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Vettel has also flirted with a potential future switch to Maranello, revealing his desire to race for a “myth” team like Ferrari or Mercedes.

But he said on Wednesday: “If we win a few races and championships, maybe Red Bull will become a legend as well. I will work hard next year.”

Sebastian Vettel has once again admitted his desire to race a Ferrari in formula one some day.
The likely 2011 champion has pledged his immediate future to Red Bull but has always admitted his affection for F1′s more famous marques, including Ferrari and also Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso said a few days ago that Vettel, 24, is welcome at Ferrari.

“At the moment we are both bound by contract and I think both of us (are) happy in our teams,” Vettel said in a joint interview with Spaniard Alonso for the German broadcaster RTL.

“But I have already said that I can imagine sitting in a red car at some point. So who knows?” he added.

Vettel is vying for victory on Ferrari’s home soil this weekend but he said doing it with a team “with so much history” would be a “great feeling”.

“In 2008 I had a little bit of that experience with the Italian team Toro Rosso and it was fantastic. I hope I have many years in formula one ahead of me so let’s see what happens,” he added.

Alonso, meanwhile, said he can imagine having Vettel as a teammate, even though both of them are regarded as the unofficial ‘number 1′ drivers at their respective teams.

“Why not?” he said. “At the top teams there is no one who does not want two good drivers.

“It seems as though Sebastian is the number one at Red Bull but I do not say that. For Felipe and me it’s the same; we race with the same conditions and during a season one or the other gets out an advantage.

“Viewed from the outside it’s as though there’s a team leader and a helper, but for the team it’s best to have two top drivers because it increases the chances of winning the world championship,” added Alonso.

Two drivers on the F1 grid stand out above and beyond the rest, according to Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali.
The Italian was asked by the German Sunday newspaper Bild am Sonntag if reigning world champion and runaway 2011 title leader Sebastian Vettel can lay claim to the mantle of a true team “leader”.

“Really, there are only two and they are Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher,” said Domenicali. “I see no others.

“Vettel is still not a leader. He is on the way there, but it’s not like Michael and Fernando. He is simply too young and lacking in experience,” he added.

Domenicali said he sees “many parallels” between Schumacher, the winner of 5 of Ferrari’s last 6 drivers’ titles, and the famous Maranello squad’s current undisputed team leader Alonso.

“Both are fighting like lions to bring their teams to the front,” he explained. “They take care of the details that others don’t even notice.

“Sebastian is getting close, but right now there are only two (leaders).”

24-year-old Vettel, who currently drives for the dominant Red Bull team, has expressed a desire in the future to switch to Ferrari.

Domenicali is non-commital: “It’s too early to tell,” he said when asked if the young German is a future Ferrari driver.

“It depends on many developments to occur in the next few years. Currently we do not need a leader. At some point we may and so then Sebastian is a candidate. As I said, there are not many.”

Domenicali rejected the criticism often directed at seven time world champion Schumacher, who is currently struggling to keep up with his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg.

“You will not hear anything bad from me,” he insisted. “He is driving on a very high level; it is the Mercedes that is not good enough. If Michael was in a Red Bull or a Ferrari, then he probably would have won races in the last two years.”

And finally, Domenicali commented on Red Bull’s current domination of formula one, and the lessons that Ferrari might learn from the maker of an energy drink.

“Well, with all due respect, they have a title and we have 16, so if Red Bull do half of what we have done then maybe we will have a rethink. The question is who has the better foundation.

“I don’t know if what has happened at Red Bull is because of one or two good people. For us, we are currently building a new Ferrari. And then we will start a great period,” he said.

Eric Boullier has answered “yes” when asked if Nick Heidfeld and Adrian Sutil are still in the running to drive for the Renault team in 2011.

The Enstone based squad is considering whether to re-sign Vitaly Petrov, the Russian rookie who brings substantial backing to the race seat but has scored more than 100 fewer points than team leader Robert Kubica this season.

The situation means Renault has missed out on the additional revenue of beating Mercedes to fourth in the constructors’ championship, moving Auto Motor und Sport to ask team boss Boullier “if a second Kubica” would have proved better value in 2010.

“A sentence beginning with ‘if’ is wrong,” answered the Frenchman.

“Vitaly is lacking experience at a high level. He started very late in motor sport and is needing to learn more than the other newcomers.”

But can Renault afford to wait for the 26-year-old to develop, given its plans to return to world championship contention?

“The title is at the end of our master plan,” answered Boullier. “We must take one step at a time.

“It would be stupid to get a second top driver if we are not ready for it. I want to establish ourselves as a top team, for the long term. Then the top sponsors will come again.”

But he insisted that Petrov’s place is not necessarily safe.

“We have said we are supporting Vitaly until the end of the season to give him a chance. Then we will make a decision.”

When asked if Germans Heidfeld and Sutil are still in the running, Boullier answered: “Yes. But first we have to give Petrov his chance.

“Only then can we enter serious talks with them. Nick is free for 2011, as we know, and he wants to be with us.”

What about Kimi Raikkonen, who was earlier linked with a return to F1 with Renault but then angrily slammed the speculation as a “marketing” ploy?

“We were interested; his management contacted me,” answered Boullier. “But the media reported about it and it annoyed Kimi. He then told me that he would prefer to keep rallying.”

Peter Sauber has admitted his ideal driver constellation would be a promising young rookie alongside a steadier hand.

Presently, the Swiss team’s lineup is fiery Japanese newcomer Kamui Kobayashi next to the dependable veteran of 169 grands prix Nick Heidfeld.

But the latter German is currently searching for a job for 2011, after Sauber signed the Telmex-sponsored Mexican GP2 driver Sergio Perez.

“We think he has great potential and is very fast,” Sauber said at his team’s Hinwil headquarters this week, where the 20-year-old Perez was having his first seat fitting.

“But of course there are no guarantees,” admitted the 67-year-old.

According to the Swiss daily Blick, Sauber was asked whether sitting two young newcomers in next year’s C30s is too great a risk for the team still recovering from the loss of BMW ownership.

“It would be better to have an experienced driver beside a younger one,” he admitted, “but Kobayashi has matured and next year can take over the role of team leader.”

Fernando Alonso has urged Felipe Massa to up his game in support of his three-race charge for the 2010 world championship.

Spaniard Alonso said in Japan last weekend that the full backing of his Ferrari teammate won’t make “a big difference” to his chances so long as he is on the pace and securing strong results.

“Having the teammate close, or not close, is not a big difference if you do well,” he had said.

But now equal on points with Sebastian Vettel and 14 behind the leader Mark Webber with three races to go, Alonso has revealed he thinks next weekend’s Korean grand prix could be “decisive for some” of the remaining challengers.

“And for me it will be important also to be able to count on my teammate Felipe,” said Alonso in Tokyo, according to Ferrari’s official website.

Massa has had a string of disappointing results recently, amid rising pressure from his team leadership to perform strongly in support of Alonso’s title bid.

Added Alonso: “I know that he will be really hoping to make up for two negative results and he has all the capacities required to return to the podium.

“What’s more, it will be very useful to work together to discover all the secrets of the new track so we can prepare our cars in the best way.  In a moment like this every detail matters to achieve our goals,” he said.

Meanwhile, a Brazilian journalist close to Massa has scolded sections of the media for speculating that the 29-year-old will be ousted by Ferrari at the end of the season.

“It takes a lot to shock me, but when you hear in the media that Ferrari are replacing him with Robert Kubica, Kamui Kobayashi and Adrian Sutil, it makes me angry,” wrote Livio Oricchio in O Estado de S.Paulo.

Red Bull must follow Ferrari’s lead and appoint a clear number 1 for the remaining races of 2010.

That is the advice of Flavio Briatore, the former boss at Renault, where Fernando Alonso won his two world championships in 2005 and 2006.

Although currently banned from formula one, the Italian was on the Monza grid last Sunday, where he defended Ferrari’s decision to favour Alonso over his teammate Felipe Massa.

Briatore, who is also Mark Webber’s manager, was then dismayed to see Sebastian Vettel finish ahead of the Australian driver in the grand prix.

“Red Bull haven’t realised yet that if they continue like this, with Webber and Vettel racing against each other, they could lose the championship.

“At Ferrari there is a clear situation with Alonso the team leader and Massa lending his hand. It’s not the same with Red Bull, not even with their strategy in the race,” Briatore is quoted by Italy’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“They have thrown away a hundred points, Vettel’s made all sorts of mistakes. If they don’t want to win the championship, this is how to do it,” he added.

Rubens Barrichello feels with his friend and countryman Felipe Massa set the tiresome topic stable government finally over
The Sorrows of Felipe Massa Rubens Barrichello can understand very well. The Williams driver had in his Ferrari-times do often enough behind team leader Michael Schumacher. The same experiences his Landsann now in the shadow of the superstar Fernando Alonso. “That such things happen, is the reason why I have often changed the team,” said Barrichello, who was sick role as number two.

Under the real joy of the journalists present, the Brazilian said on Thursday at the press conference: “If I were a ‘Bad Guy’ has to be to be world champion, then I’d rather the world title. Such a world champion I do not want to be. Permit me has brought up my father, so I raise my boys. So I’m happy. ”
“The drivers have to each other go, all, this is the sense of racing. And if I end up with a point for the world title is missing, then so be it,” Barrichello said after the Ferrari team orders last Sunday in Hockenheim. “I’m very sorry for him. Felipe is a friend and I would have liked him that he must not do this experience. He feels the same now as I have felt many times.”

While the views of many team leaders and partly also the drivers for the abolition of the prohibition order-stable, Barrichello has a different view. “We must do something to make the stop. Otherwise it will end at some point in a great drama. It is in the hands of the top people to change that. You should clean may go against each other. What did you do it when you win the World Cup only because someone gave you points? “

Mercedes has played down an apparent incident between its F1 drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg.

During Friday practice at Silverstone, Italian media colleagues spotted Schumacher waving his fist from his cockpit at his younger countryman Rosberg.

Blick newspaper said the 41-year-old had been held up on a fast lap, but quoted a Mercedes official as describing the incident as a “misunderstanding”.

And a British media colleague said Mercedes insists the relationship between the pair is still in good shape.

Also in the Silverstone paddock, Rosberg played down his recently misreported comments about the development pace of the W01 car.

“It is true that Valencia was a disaster for us,” he is quoted by Finland’s Turun Sanomat. “Who wants to be in positions 12 or 15?

“But I never criticised Ross, who I respect as a great personality and a skilful team leader.”