Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has dismissed reports that double Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel was set to join the Italian outfit.
He told RAI Italian state radio: “I've always said that I don't want two roosters in the hen-house. I don't like that and it creates instability in the team.”
Red Bull driver Vettel is the reigning Formula One champion and on Sunday drove to victory in the South Korean Grand Prix, leapfrogging Ferrari's Fernando Alonso at the top of the Drivers' standings.
Montezemolo was speaking amid reports that Vettel was set to join Ferrari in 2014, with any move dependent on the team's results next season.
Alonso - who won the world title in 2005 and 2006 with Renault but has not finished above second with the Italian team - had reportedly sanctioned the move after previously ruling out pairing up with Lewis Hamilton, who will move from McLaren to Mercedes in 2013.
DECISION ON MASSA SOON
Meanwhile, Felipe Massa is about to learn whether he will continue driving for Ferrari beyond the end of this season. A day after he added a solid fourth in the Korean Grand Prix to a recent string of improved results, Montezemolo told RAI state radio that he would talk with Massa at length on Tuesday “and then we'll make a decision.”
Massa also finished fourth in the Italian GP in September, then took second in the Japanese GP eight days ago for his first podium result in nearly two years.
Massa hasn't won a race since a life-threatening accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix in 2009 and he's ninth in the Drivers' standings. His contract will expire at the end of this year. AFP, Sapa-AP