Sebastian Vettel has hinted he may retire from Formula 1 after next season.
The German is in the spotlight once again after a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix saw him out-performed by new teammate Charles Leclerc and spin once again while battling Lewis Hamilton.
Italian media responded by scathing Vettel and claiming Leclerc was already taking his place as the leader at the Scuderia, with one, La Repubblica, even suggesting Mick Schumacher could soon replace him.
The four-time world champion does still have support though, with one man being his main rival for the past two years.
“Just because you’re a multiple world champion doesn’t mean you’re not going to have off weekends,” Hamilton was quoted by Crash.net.
“It’s more cumulative. You look at Vettel’s career, and he’s had stunning performances that more than outweigh the weaker races or when he’s spun for example.
“They’re minuscule on the status that he’s accumulated and created. There are always times you happen to just not get the right car setup – which you guys don’t get to see – and it just doesn’t happen to work that weekend and the differences are so small yet they look so big.
“I don’t know why that happens, but today was one of those for him. He’s a world champion, a great athlete. He will recover and keep pushing.”
Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto agreed, adding to Sky Sports: “Obviously, it has not been a good race for Seb as well but he was second when he did the mistake. He can still deliver very well so we are [happy with] both drivers.
“[These are] things that may happen in a race. They are fighting, it’s never easy, so I think it’s understandable, no blame at all.”
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Before all of this, however, Vettel had admitted he can’t commit to racing in F1 beyond his current contract, which expires after 2020.
“I’m certain I really want to drive this year and next year, then I don’t know what happens to the regulations,” he recently told The Times newspaper.
“Nobody knows so far and I certainly can’t sit here and say, ‘No [I won’t leave]’ just for the sake of being in Formula 1.”
The 31-year-old also admitted some unhappiness at the current state of the sport.
“A lot of the values that used to be around, they are only partly around,” Vettel continued.
“Formula 1 is now more a show and a business than a sport. You can say the same probably for other sports, but maybe it doesn’t filter down as much to the actual athlete as much as it does here.
“There just needs to be [a decision about] what we want. If we say we are a show, then bring on the show. I feel we are wasting so much time and energy with regulations that are just expensive really for nothing.”