Sebastian Vettel says he and Ferrari have not discussed the possibility of bringing forward his planned departure from the team.
The two parties confirmed in May that Vettel’s six-year tenure will not continue into the 2021 F1 season.Since then Vettel has endured a poor start to the year. After five races his only points-scoring finishes are one sixth place and two 10ths, while team mate Charles Leclerc has had a second, a third and a fourth.
But Vettel says an early departure from the team is not on the cards at the moment.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “We haven’t even considered or spoken about it. I guess it’s not just a question for myself.
“I know what I’m aware of, I know the job that I can do. At the moment, it’s not been the cleanest run. But I’m sure if things calm down and I get a decent chance then I will use it.”
In response to Vettel’s poor races at Silverstone, Ferrari has brought a new chassis for him to use this weekend. Vettel said he has no concerns he isn’t being given an equal chance to compete with his team mate.
“In all honesty I’m not trying to get into any of this and just trying to do my job now. Obviously at the moment it’s not plain sailing and all calm, it’s a rather rough sea.
“But it is what it is and I have to do the best I can, which is staying focussed and waking up in the morning trying to do the best that I can and being fairly open-minded and trying to tackle it.
“I didn’t have a great weekend in Silverstone, normally a track that I really like. I didn’t get into a great feeling with the car and wasn’t able to extract as much as Charles was for whatever reasons.
“There’s not that much I can do other than doing my job and working together with the guys around me and my car to make sure we get the best package together.”
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DAllein (@)
13th August 2020, 17:59
Just the be clear – there will be no talks, Seb.
Darryn Smith (@darryn)
13th August 2020, 18:33
Why would there be talks? Can’t wait to see this fool gone.
DAllein (@)
13th August 2020, 19:01
Seb is not a fool. Far from it.
He is just in a very uncomfortable situation, both in terms of team and career.
OOliver
13th August 2020, 19:13
Isn’t that a bit too harsh calling him a fool.
Mark (@blueruck)
14th August 2020, 20:09
+1
Rodber
13th August 2020, 18:47
Oh boy, the secrets Vettel could tell about Ferrari’s plans for 2021 and 2022.
Initially
14th August 2020, 5:47
Yeah because Ferrari is really on top of things and clearly the team to beat. For decades.
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
13th August 2020, 18:58
I don’t understand why he keeps getting asked that question. Sure he’s not enjoying his best moments, nor is Ferrari, but why would a professional, ultra responsable driver and person like Sebastian Vettel walk away midseason? Unless Ferrari dump him of course, but why would they do such a disgraceful thing?
I think the media is trying to rub salt in their wounds. Not unusual for people to punch someone when he’s down…
Archit
13th August 2020, 23:43
Perez with his mexican sponsors will do their best to stay at Aston Martin next year but really wish Sebastian Vettel can successfully move to Aston Martin f1 team next year as he has experience with both top teams: Redbull and Ferrari. I feel like Vettel has been treated unfairly after charle’s Ferrari entry. We should remember that even if Vettel did not win championships with Ferrari like he did with Redbull, he still was always on the podium at least once a season. After Leclerc, things have gone bad. But with his experience he can help Aston Martin next year more than Perez who doesn’t have as much as experience as Vettel in terms of top teams and winning races. Now Perez is trying to get rid of all the Vettel-racing point rumors
JohnH (@johnrkh)
14th August 2020, 2:30
Going on Ferraris recant treatment of Vettel it’s not beyond possibility that he could just get a phone call and be told he need not turn up for the next GP.
I think Ferrari have treated him very shabbily indeed.
Igor (@sterma)
14th August 2020, 10:48
I think it would be awesome to drop Vettel for maybe the last two or three races and give Giovinazzi one last chance to impress before dropping him for Mick next year. Not likely to happen but would be awesome.
Patrick (@paeschli)
14th August 2020, 12:43
Giovinazzi shouldn’t be in F1, and certainly not in a Ferrari
Esploratore (@esploratore)
14th August 2020, 14:49
Silverstone is one of the tracks he really likes, really? I seem to remember the last years at ferrari that raikkonen tended to perform better than him there…
Mark (@blueruck)
14th August 2020, 20:24
Seb is not my favorite driver, but at the end of the day all things being equal he would be in the top 10 drivers on the grid. For the above and 4 titles he deserves some respect.