OCTOBER 3, 2014

Vettel's chief mechanic leaves Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel's chief mechanic has left Red Bull.

Sebastian Vettel's chief mechanic has left Red Bull.

Already this year, it was announced that the reigning quadruple world champion's well-known race engineer, Guillaume 'Rocky' Rocquelin, is being promoted for 2015.

Vettel's new engineer is scheduled to be Gianpiero Lambiase, currently at Force India.

Now, Germany's Bild newspaper reports that Kenny Handkammer, Vettel's chief mechanic, has left Red Bull.

"Kenny Handkammer has left the company with immediate effect," confirmed Dr Helmut Marko.

He is not at Suzuka, Marko revealed.

"We have found someone else for this position better suited in the course of the restructuring of the team," he announced.

Some might link the news about Handkammer with other rumours swirling around Vettel.

On Thursday, the German dodged rumours he might be a candidate to replace Fernando Alonso should a vacancy arise at Ferrari.

"Well, I think there has always been rumours over the last couple of years, especially around this time of the season," Vettel said.

On Thursday, Italy's Autosprint reported from Suzuka that a race engineer who once worked closely with Vettel at Toro Rosso - Riccardo Adami - is preparing to move from Faenza to Ferrari for 2015.

(GMM)