Sebastian Vettel believes Ferrari has "the right people" to succeed in F1 after tech upheaval

Sebastian Vettel may have signed for a Ferrari team led by Luca di Montezemolo and Marco Mattiacci with James Allison in charge of the technical department and all have now departed. But four time world champion believes that the team has the right people to succeed in F1.

Admitting during the FIA press conference in Germany that 47 year old Mattia Binotto coming in to replace Allison as "a big change", Vettel said "We have the right people on board. Things are heading in the right direction."

But Vettel did want not go into details about his thoughts and would not be drawn to say more about the personalitries involved. He did reaiterate his belief that Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has the team's best interests at heart with the pressure he puts on them and that Maurizio Arrivabene is the right man to lead the team as principal.

"There has been a lot in the press, especially about our president and what he expects from us," Vettel said.

"It is good to see he is involved and is pushing the team very hard. He spends a lot of time in Maranello and knows what he is taking about.

"Maurizio has been in the business a long time. He is our leader and we are happy he is with us."

As more details emerge in the Hockenheim paddock around Allison's departure, it is odd that Binotto is not here this weekend and therefore will not be facing the media in Friday's press conference. The Friday conference this week features technical chiefs and instead operations chief Jock Clear will speak on Ferrari's behalf about his new boss and the departure of Allison.

As we posted yesterday Allison's family situation had a big influence on the developments at Ferrari; after his wife's tragic death in March he needed to dedicate time to his family and that was not compatible with the efforts needed to improve Ferrari's pace. He was not present in Silverstone when the team struggled, despite being at home in Oxfordshire a few miles away, according to Gazzetta dello Sport and there was unhappineness when he would not permit any decisions to be made on the chassis during his absence on compassionate leave in the UK.

There was clearly a difference of opinions bewteen Marchionne and Allison and only one outcome on the cards for the last few weeks, despite denials by Arrivabene.

Paddock opinoon is divided on whether Binotto is the long term solution as techncial director. Paddy Lowe is a target and rumours always swirl around Ross Brawn being reunited with the team he led technically during the unbeatable Schumacher years.

But Brawn, who will be 62 in November, has moved on in many ways since then and so has F1, since he stepped down as team principal at Mercedes three years ago. Interestingly and no doubt co-incidentally, he was on a flight from London to Frankfurt this morning, spotted by some members of the F1 media, who were heading to Hockenheim.