Back in the autumn of 2014, Sebastian Vettel decided to quit Red Bull Racing and signed a three-year contract with Ferrari for the 2015, 2016 and 207 seasons. The rumours at the time suggested that the deal was worth as much as $50 million a year. In seems, however, that this was only true of the first year and that the deal was front-loaded and the annual salary dropped significantly in the second and third seasons. It is probable that there were performance bonuses as part of the deal. Last year he did not win a race, but this year he has thus far won three times, bringing his total of Ferrari wins to six. He is currently fourth in the list of all time F1 winners with 45 victories and he needs another seven to overhaul Alain Prost. A fifth World Championship would put him equal to Juan Manuel Fangio, but still two behind Michael Schumacher. In any case, Vettel's Ferrari deal was probably worth around $110 million, with a few extra million in bonuses.
The deal was negotiated with Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne. Vettel has no manager and negotiates his own deals, although in the past he has been advised by Bernie Ecclestone. It is believed that Vettel agreed some kind of option to join Mercedes in 2018, if he wants to go, and if Mercedes wants him. That option is reportedly due to expire on August 1 and if Mercedes decides it does not want him, he will then be free to negotiate a new deal with Ferrari. The offer on the table is said to be around $45 million a year for three years, giving a total of $135 million. This seems to be about right in the circumstances, although it should be added that no figures are ever admitted to publicly because there are always confidentiality clauses in these agreements that mean that neither side can comment publicly about the terms and conditions.
The rest of the F1 driver market currently depends on Vettel's decision, but it is highly unlikely that he will move to Mercedes, where Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas have a strong partnership, with both able to win races and the team well ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors' Championship. Ferrari might wish to chase this goal but to do so would require a better second driver than Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel is happy with the Finn, who rarely performs at the same level. In their three years together at Ferrari the points tallies of the two drivers have been 278-150 (in 2015), 212-186 (2016) and this year the current total is 177-98. Ferrari is keen to keep the status quo as Vettel has not always performed at his best under the pressure of a team-mate. It is believed that Raikkonen is being offered around $8 million a year and while he may think he is worth more than that, the second Ferrari would seem to be the only gig in town for the 37-year-old Finn.
There is no question that Ferrari is interested in securing the services of Max Verstappen in the future, but this is not going to happen until 2019 at the earliest. By then Vettel will be 32 and Verstappen will be 21 and one can perhaps foresee a year or two when the two could be in the same team before Verstappen becomes team leader in 2021. That might not be exactly what Vettel wants to see, but Ferrari needs to look to the future.
With the two Red Bull drivers locked into their contracts in 2018, there is little on offer for Fernando Alonso, unless the Spaniard wants to walk away from F1, which does not seem to be very likely. If he does the possible replacements include Carlos Sainz Jr, although he made a bit of a faux pas by not being entirely positive about Red Bull, which seems to have backfird quite dramatically. The latest thinking is that Sergio Perez will leave Force India and join Nico Hulkenberg at Renault, while Esteban Ocon will stay where he is and will be joined by new boy Lucas Auer - if he does a good enough job in the upcoming testing.
Source: JSNL
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