Sebastian Vettel goes to Ferrari for more than cash and a quick car | Giles Richards
Four-times world champion was lured away from Red Bull by the lure of racing for the most famous marque of them all Sebastian Vettel shocks paddock with Ferrari move Rosberg beats Hamilton to pole for Japan GP
Barely hours after Sebastian Vettel declared he was to leave Red Bull at the end of the season, the big-money numbers were being bandied around the Suzuka paddock with abandon. A figure of £50m has already been reported as the price Ferrari will have paid to lure the four-times world champion. But Formula One enjoys playing the numbers game and Vettels unexpected decision weighs heavy with forethought and the impression given is that it was not taken lightly and the lure of a bigger pay cheque played little part.
Yet the price tag for his services, as yet unconfirmed by either Vettel or Ferrari, has been brought up so quickly simply because the decision needs rationalising. Vettel won all his championships with Red Bull, a team that has monitored, cared for and provided him with the tools for such extraordinary success since he was spotted by the their adviser Helmut Marko when he was 12 years old. Their relationship has been especially close under team principal Christian Horner, who always took obvious pleasure in his drivers achievements and despite a difficult season this year, where he has struggled to come to terms with the new car and has been out-raced by his team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, there was nothing to suggest that the German would leave.
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