Sebastian Vettel
 

Just read on Yahoo that he is ready to sign a 3 year contract with Ferrari for 80 million dollars PER YEAR ! That is salary only add to that endorsements and whatever else he will be the highest paid athlete in the world just based on salary............wow !

Sorry to disagree, but I find this extraordinarily hard to believe. His stock is not looking so good right now. Time will tell!

Wow is right.

He is a good driver but Alonzo is WAY better. Heck he current teammate is a better driver.

Per year? Thats some yipes amount of coin Ferrari's sponsors are spending.

If this article is accurate it's a done deal.


Sebastian Vettel is now the world's highest-paid sportsman

Won't do a damn thing for Ferrari unless they signed Adrian Newey too...

Thats not right. Nobody deserves that kind of silly Money. A tenth of it would be more than enough.

Now I am offended. :D

That's a lot of scratch...

Is anyone here old enough to remember when Senna signed with McLaren for 15million?

Same reactions!!! And I'm not criticizing the reactions, just realizing that I'm getting to where I'm watching the news repeat itself!

(Does Vettel have a manager yet? I know for years he made his own deals...)

I'd hate to think that Ferrari was that stupid. Sign the guy, if Alonso is leaving? Why not, he's the best of the drivers that could sign on. But...

Pay him $80 million a year? Can't see that, if they won't pay Alonso $35 million, as was rumoured.

JR

I'm all for everyone getting paid as much as they're worth. But what's the ROI on this kind of deal? Will he really return more than that amount to Ferrari's bottom line every year? Whatever Ferrari's profit margin per car is, divide $80mm by that number and that's how many MORE cars they need to sell, hopefully, directly attributable to him, just to break even. How is that gonna happen?

When I look at what happened to Lotus when they signed Kimi, a driver can bring incredible knowledge to a team. Alonso is polarizing, and stunts his teammates, so if Seb is replacing Alonso, and Seb is bringing RBR's knowledge, Ferrari could be a serious force next year.

I think Red Bull's success was all about Adrian Newey. I don't think Vettel will bring much at all, as I don't think he's a good development driver. If someone builds a car that suits his style, he's quick. If not, he's out of the top five.

I think Ferrari will produce another average car next year. Without a top designer, that seems to be all they are capable of.

The last thing they should do is let Alonso go. They risk not making it into the top 5 of the Constructor's championship, of they do.

They've been warned...:D

JR

At this point I think they want to win so bad $$ isnt a factor. They are embarrassed at their performance this year and need to improve. How bad could it be if the 2015 is another dog and Vettel cant make it work?

What javadog said.

The $80M/yr may be a bargain if Vettel brings at least that in sponsorship $ to Ferrari.
Vettel is reportedly very savvy with sponsors. More so than Alonso, I don't know.
From a business standpoint, I would think the ink had dried on the sponsorship deals at the same time as Vettel's contract.
New sponsors to Ferrari would be announced pretty quickly, current sponsors of RBR/Vettel that are moving with the driver, after seasons end.

Matt

I'm pretty sure Vettel's main personal sponsor is Infinity... I doubt the Ferrari is going to carry infinity logos on the side pods next year!

newy seems like he is burned out of car racing. i suspect his role at red bull has been and will continue to taper for the next few years.

taking newy out of the mix, levels the field quite a lot. there are many good tier 2 designers, never know ....

This.

I'm not surprised Vettel made the jump because with Newey gone his chances of winning at Ferrari are equal at worst to his chances at RBR. Plus, every F1 driver on the grid wants a stint at Ferrari. Vettel has done his time at RBR, has his championships and now its time to move on. Another year at RedBull and he becomes less valuable if he has a season like this one. Better to move now than wait any longer.

Money is no object for Ferrari next year after their dismal streak of late. The pressure is on to perform, and now that Lucca di Mont is gone, they are cleaning house and everything (and everyone) are up for re-evaluation - including Alonso. Its no secret that he is not happy and w/ the new regime not in his pocket, he is looking at other options. I would not be surprised to see him at McLaren next year.

Can't look at it as a strictly an ROI and how many more cars the prancing horse will need to sell or how many more he will sell for them. It is more of a matter of how much money Ferrari gets paid by (and by the way they get paid first before any other team in F1 by F1 for being in F1). If they can bring more fans out to the race weekend by having a front running car with 4 time world champ at the wheel its more money right out of the gate for them let alone if that car/driver combo brings them to a top 3 in the constructors championship by a seasons end.