Vettel: Madness to move many things around at Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel says that it would be "madness" to make too many senior changes at Ferrari heading into a new season.

Over the winter break, Ferrari parted ways with its team principal Maurizio Arrivabene, and shifted technical director Mattia Binotto into the position. The change was made after another championship-less year for the Scuderia, who has put up a fight against Mercedes over the last two seasons.

Charles Leclerc has also come into the team, replacing Kimi Raikkonen. But as Ferrari's momentum of growth continues, Vettel believes that it would be wrong to make too many changes, as it would have a damaging effect on the Maranello squad.

"It is not a revolution,” Vettel said. “The team is the same, but now Mattia is team principal. The team and foundation is the same. It’s not rocket science - we have had a winning car the last couple of years, so it would be madness to change everybody and move too many things around. 

“We have had our difficult moments, we all move forward and it is a big challenge from Mattia. From my side, I’ll try to support him as much as I can, and I think he tries to support the team as much as he can. He’s been around a long time, he knows everybody. 

“In this regard, there’s no news. He used to being in that position and having the responsibility. It’s days like this, when we start like this, which is good.” 

Vettel hailed the atmosphere at the Italian team heading into the new season, in which it hopes will bring it its first world championship since 2008.

“The atmosphere in the team is tremendous,” he said “Everyone is so much pushing all the time. I think we’re heading into quite a year, because I think already the starting point is not bad. 

"From here on, there is just so much we can improve, and that’s an important thing. It’s a long season ahead of us, but everyone is working flat out, and the whole team and the spirit of the team is fantastic. I’m looking forward to a massive year.”