Felipe Massa’s seat at Ferrari is secure, for 2013 at the very least.

In an extremely brief press release, the Italian team announced that the Brazilian who has upped his game and scored 55 of his season tally of 81 points in the last six races will continue to partner Fernando Alonso who is contracted to the team till 2016.

The one-year extension further fuels the speculation that Massa will be replaced by Sebastian Vettel in 2014.

With Massa’s seat secured, it is expected that Nico Hulkenberg will soon be confirmed by Sauber as Sergio Perez’s replacement, bringing an end to the annual jockeying for seats amongst Formula 1’s leading teams.