Former world champion Mario Andretti admits he wants to see Sebastian Vettel succeed with Ferrari.
The American, who himself raced 12 times for the Maranello outfit, believes the four-time world champion following in the footsteps of his hero Michael Schumacher would be a great story for Formula One.
“I would love to see Vettel win a championship with Ferrari because I think he really wants to be there,” Andretti was quoted by F1i.com. “He’s there because it has been his dream.”
Indeed even during his most successful Red Bull days, it was always a known fact that once his time at Milton Keynes was done, Ferrari was always likely to be his next destination.
Finally when that move happened at the end of 2014, many had aspirations of watching another German driver, who had already made his name elsewhere, take a struggling Prancing Horse and make it the finest team on the grid.
Expectations of the Vettel/ Ferrari partnership only grew stronger as they won in just their second race together in Malaysia and would go on to claim another two victories in 2015.
After the impressive first season, many hoped 2016 would be the year the Scuderia pushed on and even challenged Mercedes.
However, it didn’t happen as development of the SF16-H was underwhelming and instead Ferrari found themselves often on the losing end of a battle with Red Bull finishing 70 points behind them by season’s end and third in the Constructors’ championship.
The Vettel relationship couldn’t be much different to how it was 12 months ago either. Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene is holding back on extending the 29-year-old’s contract claiming he has to “earn” it and there is even speculation Mercedes could swoop in for Sebastian if Ferrari underperforms again in 2017.
Andretti acknowledged Vettel’s frustrations believing the German can see areas where things “could be better” at Maranello.
However, despite some already predicting a short-lived spell with Ferrari, he still believes the dream is on for Vettel.
“He belongs there and I think pretty much everyone would like to see him be successful with Ferrari,” he said. “I’m one of those, I’m a fan of his in every way.
“He expressed to me how he wants to win with Ferrari a long time ago when he was first coming into the ranks of Formula One. That’s what he’d like to be and I think he’s where he wants to be.”
