It’s time for Ferrari to break the bank and sign a new driver.
No, not Fernando Alonso, however stunning and team-motivating his front row qualifying lap was in Shanghai last Saturday.
And not Lewis Hamilton either, despite the obvious talents of the world champion and the inspired if somewhat error prone drive he produced in Sunday’s rain.
No, Ferrari last won consistently with a German driver and it’s a German that will help them out of the mire that they find themselves in now.
Sebastian Vettel’s driving so far this year merely confirms what we saw in Monza last year: that he is the standout driver of his generation and has already, at the tender age of 21, got the calm maturity to add to the sensational pace that has been evident from the very start.
Already he has comprehensively put away Mark Webber, a fine benchmark for any aspiring world champion, and has done so with a smile and a cheery wave rather than the smug aloofness that has characterised certain other would be superstars in recent years.
He has it all, and he has it now. Alonso would be a massive asset to Ferrari but he comes with baggage and question marks remain about his absolute pace after the extraordinary ’07 season against Hamilton at McLaren.
Likewise Hamilton is prone to moments of frailty and ‘lie-gate’ shows that he is also prone to questionable judgement. Could he handle Italian politics and gather a team around him?
In Vettel the team would get what they hoped they were getting with Raikkonen: the fastest driver in F1. And one who goes about his business as if he believes the F1 paddock is his home village forever, not somewhere to escape from.
Could Ferrari afford him? Well, Dietrich Mateschitz has been showing signs recently that his love affair with F1 is waning somewhat. Toro Rosso is for sale and much of his PR activity has been toned down such as the demise of the popular Red Bulletin paddock freesheet.
Regardless of how well the Red Bull car is going and the adrenaline injection that has given him, cashing in on Vettel might just make economic sense to a man who been running a cash pipeline direct to F1 for a long time now and may just think it’s about time he reversed the flow a little.
Related blog: Have Ferrari reverted to the bad old days?