Vettel: All in good time

Friday 4th April 2008

Although he missed out on racing for McLaren this season, Sebastian Vettel is nonetheless happy with the way his F1 career is progressing.

At the end of last season, after losing Fernando Alonso, Mercedes-Benz were keen to get a German driver in at McLaren. But while all the talk was of the team wanting fellow German Nico Rosberg, Vettel has revealed that they also approached him.

"They talked about me and I was involved," he told Autosport. "In the end, it didn't happen. So there are no complications."

Asked if the offer was a serious one from McLaren, he added: "I think it was serious. I was not in a Mercedes dealership and somebody asked me! People were serious."

McLaren in the end went with Finnish driver Heikki Kovalainen, leaving Vettel at Toro Rosso, the team he joined in the latter half of last year's Championship.

However, already he's being linked to F1's other big team, Ferrari, with rumours claiming he could replace Felipe Massa at the end of the season. Vettel, though, isn't at all fazed by the rumours.

"There are too many things going on," he said. "To be honest, I don't read that much and I don't worry.

"I'm here to race now and everything I did in the past and everything I do in the future, I've learned from my father basically, to do things step by step.

"Of course, at some point you think what should I do, what could I do? But now, it's far too early to think about it.

"One day, the target is to be in a big team in order to win the Championship. That is my target; otherwise I would stand up, go home and start learning something properly.

"I mean, in the end it's difficult. I feel ready to race, ready to do the job, and it doesn't really make a big difference if it's a small team or a big one. At the end of the day, the attitude and behaviour is the same."

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