Vettel better off at Ferrari - Webber

Mark Webber believes Sebastian Vettel will be better off at Ferrari after struggling through a tricky season at Red Bull last year.

Webber and Vettel were team-mates at Red Bull between 2009 and 2013 during a period of utter domination for the German. However, Vettel struggled to get to grips with last year's Red Bull and was comprehensively beaten by Webber's replacement Daniel Ricciardo.

"Seb's not a silly guy and he realised that he needed fresh motivation and a new change and I think the decision was made very early, probably before the season even started to be honest," Webber told the Herald Sun.

"The line is not 'they won't miss Vettel', the line is that when he wants to do something else and be in a different environment, then he is better off going somewhere he might feel he will get more out of himself.

"That's definitely a question for the team halfway through the season, whether they are missing some of that experience.

"They are lacking a little bit of continuity at Red Bull now -- there are a few people who have left the team. So that will be interesting to see how technically good the car is over the course of a full season, not just at the start.

"They will be a solid outfit and to match last year will be another good achievement for Daniel. He will want more -- he will want to fight for the championship and Lewis and Nico will be the hardest nuts to crack."

Speaking about Vettel's decision to join Ferrari last week, new team boss Maurizio Arrivabene said the deal was not finalised until after Vettel had announced his decision to leave Red Bull.

"In the case of Vettel we [Arrivabene and new Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne] were both aware when we were told officially that Fernando was leaving the team - I'm talking more or less about Sochi - the name of Vettel was going around and the situation was unclear," Arrivabene explained.

"I put a phone call in to a person I know and that he knows very well - it's Sabine Kehm, the manager of Michael [Schumacher]. Sabine called Sebastian. Sebastian had some doubt, he was asking 'what about Ferrari, I don't know the team'. Sabine described the atmosphere that she found at the time of Michael and said it's a great team, it's like a family and Seb was listening.

"The phone call which made the difference after this phone call was from Sergio Marchionne. Without that phone call Sebastian would probably not be here with us. This is the truth."