Sebastian Vettel has played down talk of a rift with Maurizio Arrivabene, saying he and the Ferrari boss have "a very straightforward and honest relationship" despite the Italian's comments about his next contract.
Arrivabene caused a stir in Japan this weekend during a long interview with Italian TV, where he said the out-of-form German would have to "earn" a new contract when his current deal expires at the end of 2017. He also suggested Vettel was trying to get involved with various parts of Ferrari's operation, as Michael Schumacher was famed for during his dominant spell at the team, saying: "What worked with Michael might not necessarily work with Sebastian .... Sebastian just needs to focus on the car."
Asked if he had read the widely-reported comments after qualifying at Suzuka, Vettel replied: "I haven't but generally I enjoy a very, very straightforward and honest relationship. I think as much as the team wants to perform I want to perform. I had races this year where I didn't do so, I wasn't happy with myself because there was more on the table but it's been an up and down year."
Ferrari expected to challenge Mercedes for the title this year but is yet to win a race, with Vettel losing shots at victory in Australia, Spain and Canada through strategy blunders. However despite the disappointing campaign Vettel says there is no negativity between himself and Arrivabene.
"I enjoy a really good relationship with him and I think if there's something I don't like I'll tell him and equally the other way around. I know that there's nothing between us, nothing that we need to sort out, and both our focuses -- his and mine -- are trying to achieve the same thing. We're trying to win races, get stronger -- especially in the future -- and that's I think where the main focus goes. So I don't know what sort of context [he said it in]."
Vettel insists he and Arrivabene share the same goal of ensuring Ferrari is competitive in 2017.
"In the end I think the results we had were not always fair and rewarding given the pace that we showed on different weekends but sometimes it's like this. Obviously the main focus now I don't think is looking at that too much, I think the main focus is as a team to try and make progress to the end of this year.
"Obviously we carry everything we can learn this year still into next year, even though the rules are changing there's still a lot of things that we learn about this year's car in general which will also help us next year."