Once again a news outlet has claimed that Sebastian Vettel, the current double world champion, will in fact move on to Ferrari soon.
It has long been rumoured that the 24-year old double world champion, the youngest in history, is number one candidate on a very short list of potential drivers for the Italian marquee, and now Italian TV station Mediaset Italia claims that a deal has already been reached between Vettel and Ferrari, to bring him to Maranello for 2014.
It´s bcertainly not the first time we see rumours appear, that the deal is already done, but Mediaset Italia believes they also know how much the team will pay to have the German switch to them, and how.
First off, Vettel is under contract with Red Bull until the end of 2013, but team mate Mark Webber is supposedly a free agent from next year. Ferrari are interested in getting Sergio Perez from Sauber, a member of the Ferrari Academy, but they feel the Mexican needs one more year to mature, before he joins. Perez would then take the seat belonging to Felipe Massa for 2014, Massa would switch back to Sauber, and for 2013 Mark Webber would fill Massa´s seat, if and when the Brazilian should be cut from the team.
But now with Sebastian Vettel in the mix, all bets are off. Naturally there is a reason Vettel comes with a massive price tag. Two titles and a huge talent is mouth-watering for any high profile team, so what now? According to Mediaset Italia, Mark Webber will replace Massa for 2013, in exchange for a €5m, £4m, paycheck for that one year, and then he will move away or retire his career to make room for Vettel for 2014 Vettel has reportedly been offered €15m, or £12m, per season and will run until the end of the 2016 campaign, a time when Fernando Alonso´s current contract is also up.
