Sebastian Vettel to replace Fernando Alonso at Ferrari next season

Sebastian Vettel

In a huge turn of events in the Formula One world, Sebastian Vettel has advised Red Bull that he will leaving the team at the end of the season. The news broke out, a day after Fernando Alonso was reported to leave Ferrari for McLaren-Honda for the 2015 season.

Red Bull’s team boss Christian Horner confirmed that the German is set to join the Maranello in 2015. “Seb’s been with Red Bull for 15 years as a junior driver and as a Formula 1 driver, so he’s obviously been giving this a great deal of thought,” he said.

“He informed us last night and obviously had his reasoning behind that. I don’t think he’d taken the decision lightly and was obviously very emotional about it. But if it’s his desire to be somewhere else, then it’s not right for us to stand in his path. We’ve achieved a great deal together and we’ve enjoyed a lot of success. We’ve had some great times – on and off track – and we’ll look back on those with great fondness and affection,” he said

“As of January 1st he’ll be a competitor. He’ll be a Ferrari driver,” he said.

The 27-year-old won the drivers’ championship for four consecutive years from 2010 to 2013. However, he has failed to win a single race this season and has been outperformed by his teammate Daniel Ricciardo. With Vettel leaving the Reb Bull team, Torro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat is expected to take the vacant spot.

Vettel joining the Italian giants coincides perfectly with Alonso heading out. Alonso has not won a single race this season and is now convinced that the Prancing Horse can no longer deliver a title-winning car. The Spanish driver believes that the Honda powered engine of the McLaren will help him win his third championship title.

Both Vettel and Alonso had signed contract extensions to keep them with Red Bull and Ferrari respectively for at least another season. However, with recent incidents, it does not come as a surprise that the two drivers decided to move away from their teams.