Vettel believes Ferrari will be fine despite Kyvat-Giovinazzi exits

Giovinazzi was Ferrari's reserve driver in 2018, while Kvyat took up a simulator role behind the scenes. They both played a big part in developing the car during 2018 with their feedback and testing, as the team from Maranello seriously challenged Mercedes for both titles.

Now, Giovinazzi will try his luck at Sauber (while remaining under contract at Ferrari), teaming up with Kimi Raikkonen, another driver who has left Ferrari. The 25-year-old Italian drove two races for Sauber already back in 2017 when Pascal Wehrlein was unfit to drive, but that wasn't exactly a success, to put it lightly.

As for Kvyat, he got another chance at Toro Rosso. The Russian was axed from the team in 2017, which prompted his move to Ferrari. Now, though, Toro Rosso have accepted Kvyat back for another chance, making it his third stint at the Faenza-based team.

“Personally, I’m not a fan of the simulator because it’s just not fun," Vettel told Crash.net about the simulation work Kvyat and Giovinazzi did.

"But you get the point, it is very important, it is an important tool.

“Based on our findings, we change the car, it is better and we were happier.

“We’re extremely thankful for the guys, taking in the time because it’s not the nicest job on Friday night, especially when you’re young, but it’s important, it all adds up.

“Everybody plays his part and in the end we have the honour to have the steering wheel in our hands and drive the machine that we all try to create and reach out with performance.

“For next year, it’s true, we take a step but I think we will find people that fit in very well and very quickly so I’m confident we will have a strong team on that front as well next year.”