Furious Ferrari slams door on Verstappen
Ferrari has slammed the door shut to Max Verstappen.
At the Maranello team's end of season dinner, bosses Mattia Binotto and Louis Camilleri confirmed that Sebastian Vettel's 2021 seat may be up for grabs.
But the talk was mainly about Lewis Hamilton, as Binotto swept away any lingering speculation that Fernando Alonso might return to a red cockpit.
"We have talked about him, but he no longer sits with our plans," the team boss said.
As for Verstappen, Camilleri is still furious with the Dutchman after he accused Ferrari of "cheating" with its 2019 engine.
"These declarations generally don't take you very far," he said of the Red Bull-Honda driver who is not ruling out a change of teams for 2021.
"Max is 22 years old, so why give him credibility when we are Ferrari?" Camilleri added. "Sometimes silence is more powerful."
Elsewhere, Italian publications quoted Camilleri as having said: "A driver who accuses Ferrari of cheating cannot think of being with us.
"Mattia said we had FIA inspectors everywhere. His (Verstappen's) words created all sorts of problems within the team."
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Bravo Messrs Binotto and Camiller!!!. I hope you will stick to your guns! Verstappen's (swollen) head became too big for his helmet (Africa expression). Hopefully Mercedes will also not consider him in the future, they have enough driver talent (racing & personality).
I agree entirely of your comments. I thought Max was a great guy, now, not so much. He has to learn to shut is mouth and wash it with soap before speaking again about something he doesn't know at all. He really has a swollen head.
mmm a tad arrogant from Ferrari's fags salesman.....
What's Max' age to do with it?
I think he means that at 22 he has very little world experience whereas Ferrari have been around for many decades and have their formidable history to speak for them, a 22 year old who rightly or wrongly slanders that history is not significant to them as they will be remembered long after Max has gone.
Ah yes, arrogance meets belligerence. Not a recipe for success.
Ferrari should stop putting fuel into the rumor mill and focus on winning a few more races for everyone’s sake. Here is a team with world class drivers but can’t win a race if their collective lives depended on it. Obviously talk is cheap...and actions and results put you up there amongst the greats... So far Ferrari is far from being great for at least the past 7-10 years. So, my advice to Ferrari is to worry about winning consistently and enforce your dominance like Redbull and Mercedes then worry about who would be driving your cars in 2021 and onward. The way they are going now, if I were a driver I would stay clear of a top team that can’t have a decent pit stop and all sorts of management issues
the Dutchman is a big accident waiting to happen he is ever so cocky and arrogant hope the great red team never talk to him I remember only to well his dirty clashes with ex team mate Daniel Riccardo who is a far better human than the Dutchman Daniel should have punched hell out of him
Well said Johann Crafford !!!!
Max does open his mouth before he engages his brain. But you can't get away from the fact that Ferrari found significant performance improvement overnight, and after the FIA whispered in their ear, it disappeared overnight . So something didn't add up.
More than likely none of us who post here know how many allegations about Ferrari cheating can be demonstrably shown to be based in facts.
It does appear that Ferrari as a team do act haphazardly extracting far too little from their drivers in most races. I thought that the departure of Arrivabene would improve the situation, but, I guess, I was wrong.
With respect to Verstappen think of what Camilleri said about him - 22 years old.
Until this year everybody felt entitled to dump on him, which made him an underdog, in my mind at least, which is why he was on my "short list" of five favourite drivers. Once he was declared "great" I took him of the list.
I still think he is an excellent driver. Adulation and shameless pandering by Marko and Horner will probably ruin him - precisely because he is only 22 years old. Posters here - mistaking themselves for someone that matters - berate him left and right and offer gratuitous advice. That makes me to sympathy with him.
Currently, Verstappen is in a bad situation. A lot is expected from him and several obstacles are thrown his way: a car and engine that are not necessarily the best, manager and principal who brutally abuse him (particularly so by making him greater than he can deliver), and his young age that he is not allowed to live. (I fully suspect that Marko and Horner are behind the statements about Ferrari.) The two have shown that any driver is dispensable. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if one day they dumped him like they did Kvyat, Hartley, and Gasly.
Finally, if it's true that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Max's father's driving and personal history do not bode well for the young driver whose talent is undoubted.
A driver should drive and stay out of politics. It was disappointing that Max's mouth took a jump on his brain. Still a fan but that's a mark against him. Common sense should tell him to retract and apologize.