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F1: Montezemolo Predicts Future Ferrari Seat For Vettel

Luca di Montezemolo is predicting a future Ferrari drive for F1's new reigning World Champion.

Earlier in 2010, en route to becoming the sport's youngest ever champion with Red Bull, 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel described Ferrari as “s


Luca di Montezemolo is predicting a future Ferrari drive for F1's new reigning World Champion.

Earlier in 2010, en route to becoming the sport's youngest ever champion with Red Bull, 23-year-old Sebastian Vettel described Ferrari as "special", adding: "Why not go there in a few years?"

The German is under contract with Red Bull for 2011, with an option to extend into 2012.

Cologne tabloid Express reports that Ferrari president di Montezemolo sees Vettel as a natural successor for the struggling Felipe Massa.

"Sebastian is fast, intelligent and young," said the 63-year-old Italian. "He will drive a red car sooner or later."

The team owner of Vettel's current team, Dietrich Mateschitz, said a month ago: "Seb wants to drive for Ferrari some day. We will make it as difficult a decision for him as possible."

Express also reports that di Montezemolo recently made an offer to entice Red Bull designer Adrian Newey to Ferrari. Newey reportedly turned the offer down.

(GMM)

Flammini Pushing Ahead With Rome GP For 2013

Despite the opposition of Monza, Ferrari and an apparent majority of local residents, promoter Maurizio Flammini has vowed to push ahead with his plans for a Rome street race.

"The first race?" he asked rhetorically during an interview with the Il Riformista newspaper. "I expect it to be in 2013."

However, Monza and Ferrari want F1 to limit itself to one annual race per country, and a survey published this week shows 80-90 per cent opposition to the Rome event from residents who live near the proposed layout in the capital's EUR district.

But Flammini said the final plans will be reviewed by authorities by the end of December. "According to the standard procedure this will take at least 60 days," he said.

"If the project would have been approved by the end of the year, we would have been ready for 2012," he said.

"In Italy everything is ready (for 2013)," continued Flammini, "and the Formula One circus is ready to welcome us. A few days ago I spoke with Bernie Ecclestone and he asked me to go ahead.

"When we are ready, we will close the final agreement."

It had been reported earlier in 2010 that a final agreement had already been signed.

"We signed a preliminary agreement for at least two years," Flammini clarified. "(F1 chief executive) Ecclestone is helping us but he is concerned about the delay.

"The competition is fierce, there are at least 30 other circuits that are pushing (to be in F1). If we don't hurry we may lose this opportunity," he insisted.

Flammini dismissed some of the criticisms of the Rome project, including fears of increased pollution in the city.

"You must be joking," he hit back. "We should be thanked that instead of thousands of cars, for a few days there will be only 24 on a five kilometre circuit.

"Traffic? A study has shown the increase to be 25 percent, but we are talking about August, when the presence of cars is well under 50 percent of the annual average."

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