Triple Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel would be Ferrari’s first choice should they ever need to replace Fernando Alonso, president Luca di Montezemolo has said.
The Red Bull driver has been repeatedly linked to Ferrari this season, with talk of a pre-contract for 2014, although the 25-year-old German and his team have tried to put the speculation to rest.
Speaking at Ferrari’s Maranello factory, Montezemolo left no doubt about the Italian team’s admiration for Vettel.
“If for whatever reason Fernando Alonso were to leave one day, maybe because he wants to retire in Hawaii with his girlfriend, then I want Vettel,” he was quoted as telling saying.
“Sebastian is a potential Ferrari driver for the future.”
Whether Vettel and Alonso ever pair up at Ferrari remains to be seen, however, with Montezemolo previously saying he did not want to have “two roosters in the same hen house” but rather two drivers “who race for Ferrari and not for themselves.”
Montezemolo said Alonso, Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were clearly a cut above the rest in Formula One and he preferred the Red Bull driver to the Briton “because he’s younger and hasn’t been around so many teams”.
Vettel was also strongly recommended by seven times world champion Michael Schumacher, who won five titles in a row with Ferrari.
Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, will be racing for Mercedes next year after six years with McLaren. He will be 28 in January.
Double world champion Alonso, 31, has a contract with Ferrari until at least the end of 2016.
“I’m immensely pleased with Alonso. He’s more than a driver, he’s a key figure. He fits into the way the team work perfectly,” said Montezemolo of the Spaniard who finished runner-up to Vettel this year.
Meanwhile, Ferrari announced they will run separate design teams to simultaneously develop next year’s Formula One car and the one for 2014, when the technical rules are due to change substantially.
Team principal Stefano Dome-nicali told the Ferrari website that they had been working on a re-organisation programme for several months.
He said Ferrari would be using the Toyota wind tunnel in Cologne until August as their own one – which was blamed for the failure of aerodynamic updates this year – was closed for rebuilding.
“We have also adopted a better method of splitting up the work between those who run the wind tunnel and those who should concentrate more on the creative side of the job during the season,” added Domenicali.
“This year, we saw that when we do too many things at the same time, maybe we are not efficient enough.”
Ferrari started the 2012 championship slowly with a car that was off the pace despite the best efforts of Alonso.
The Italian team have not won a drivers’ title since 2007.
Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo.