Vettel plays down Ferrari rumours

Formula One world champion Sebastian Vettel has rubbished claims he is set to leave Red Bull for Ferrari.

Reports from the Monaco Grand Prix suggested Vettel had agreed to switch teams in 2014, but the German insists his future lies with Red Bull.

"I've been wearing a Red Bull helmet for almost my entire career. It is difficult to imagine another kind of life if you are so used to it," Vettel told Autosport.

"It would be like when you turn 18, 19 and move out of your family's home. I am very happy where I am right now and I don't want to move on to anywhere else."

While Vettel is contracted at Red Bull until the end of 2014, the team's advisor Helmut Marko has conceded there is an escape clause should results slide.

"2013 is fixed for us," Marko told German newspaper Bild.

"For 2014 there is a performance-related clause in his contract for him and for the team.

"It depends on the rankings in next year's world championships.

"If Vettel and Red Bull slip in the drivers' or constructors' championship, he could go."

Vettel, who joined Red Bull in 2009, recorded 15 poles and 11 victories from 19 races on his way to a second consecutive drivers' world championship title last year.

With six different winners from the first six races of the 2012 season, Vettel believes consistency will prove vital in his quest for a third straight F1 crown.

"This year there are much more candidates to win races than before," he said.

"Therefore it gets more essential to collect as many points as possible in every race.

"From the first day of winter testing I had confidence in our car.

"We have not got out the most of the potential though we make steady progress."

Vettel is currently equal second in the drivers' standings alongside Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, three points behind Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.

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