Aston Martin is expected to confirm Sebastian Vettel will continue alongside Lance Stroll next season soon.
The four-time world champion has enjoyed a solid first year with the team since joining from Ferrari, with the highlight being two podiums in Baku and Hungary, although the latter one was later stripped from him after a fuel regulation breach.
However, last week, after Kimi Raikkonen announced his retirement, Vettel caused a small stir with a somewhat unconvincing answer of whether he’ll be in Formula 1 in 2022.
“Yes, I think so,” he said, before later upping that to “I know so” when asked if he had a contract.
Also Read:
- Ferrari, Norris bet on Hamilton to win 2021 F1 title, Vettel hopes not
- Aston Martin admit 2022 F1 title bid unlikely as Stroll offers timeline
“I’m not following the driver market that much now. As far as my position is concerned, everything is clear so far.”
Then it was reported by Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport that Aston Martin team owner Lawrence Stroll had approached Fernando Alonso over the summer before the Spaniard was confirmed at Alpine for next year in Belgium.
“Lawrence Stroll did not offer a drive to Fernando Alonso, as has been reported in some media,” an Aston Martin spokesperson was quoted by Crash.net.
“Lawrence had lunch with [Alonso’s manager] Flavio Briatore in Sardinia during the summer break. Lawrence and Flavio are friends.
“They have lunched together in Sardinia many times over many years. It was a social occasion, nothing more.”
The AMuS report added that because Stroll was unsuccessful in signing Alonso, Vettel was now expected to be confirmed at Aston for 2022, and that was backed up by team boss Otmar Szafnauer.
“We have a process that we go through in our contracts,” he said via GPFans.
“Although I don’t like to speak about the details, there are certain timing milestones and those are coming up within the next couple of weeks and once we pass those I’m sure we will make the requisite announcements.
“Without going into details that we don’t speak about, it’s nothing complicated and it’s not conditional upon anything,” he added of Vettel’s extension.
“It’s just timing in the contract as to when we have to have the negotiations signed and move on. It’s that simple.
“It’s just a time window when the two of us discuss the future. There is a window and a deadline and that is not far off.”