Marchionne: Vettel more of a Ferrarista than Alonso was in five years

In assessing Sebastian Vettel's first year at Ferrari, president Sergio Marchionne aimed criticism at their former driver Fernando Alonso.

Vettel replaced the McLaren-Honda bound Alonso at the fabled Maranello team this year, and Marchionne sounds more than happy with the move.

"Vettel is fantastic. Last Saturday here in Maranello he made a speech in front of our 1200 people, completely in Italian. It was unbelievable. In only one year, I can say he became more of a Ferrarista than Alonso did in five years," Marchionne charged.

Alonso was with Ferrari from 2010 to 2014, first as teammate to Felipe Massa and later partnered with Kimi Raikkonen who returned to the team, ironically after being ousted from the Maranello squad to make way for the Spaniard at the end of 2009.

Initially Alonso was the darling of the Italian outfit and tifosi as he started his tenure with the team by winning the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, his first race as a red.

He won 11 races for Ferrari and three times was runner-up in the F1 world championship standings, but after a Marchionne led revolution at Maranello, Alonso departed for McLaren at the end of 2014.

As for Vettel's current teammate, Marchionne is happy with Kimi Raikkonen, even though the team considered not renewing his contract for 2016.

"I saw a huge change in Kimi during the season," Marchionne said. "Now and then he shows me photos of his baby - I think he is becoming a lot more settled, which I think will be helpful in 2016."

"I think he will be the most engaged we have seen him for the last little while. I am delighted he is part of the team," he added.