Sebastian Vettel believes there is a “high chance” he’ll sign a new deal at Ferrari before Formula 1 starts racing again.
An error-strewn few years and the arrival of Charles Leclerc in 2019 has thrown the German’s future with the Scuderia into doubt, as his contract expires at the end of the season.
Previously, team boss Mattia Binotto also claimed the four-time world champion’s early-season performance would be a contributing factor.
Obviously those races have yet to happen, but with stability now important to teams as the financial impact of the coronavirus worsens, it appears Vettel will be staying put.
“We still have some time in the next weeks and, by the looks of it, the first Grand Prix is not due for a while, unfortunately,” he told Formula1.com “For sure it will give us some time to cover some more ground in this regard.
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“It obviously depends when we will have the first race, but there is a high chance we will have to make a decision before there will be the first race because at the moment it looks like there will be no race before June or even July.
“We are all waiting but I think the main priority at first is to ensure that we’re all dealing with the situation in the right way,” Vettel added. “Therefore, everything was put on hold and I can imagine that’s the same everywhere else and it was the same for us.
“It’s not like a couple of days after Australia we said ‘right now [we’ll talk] … I think we will make progress but I don’t think there’s a real timeline. Whether it will be before the first race or not depends on when we will have the first race.”
Last month, it was rumoured in Italy that Ferrari had offered the 32-year-old a one-year extension but with a hefty pay cut and asked about the terms, Vettel was coy.
“I think whatever the deal will be like, it will be whatever I and the team will be comfortable with,” he said. “So in terms of duration, I don’t know. Normally the contracts I’ve had in the past were all three-year deals.
“I know I’m one of the more experienced drivers in Formula 1 but I’m not the oldest and I don’t think there’s an age limit in this regard. So it will be depending on what we feel comfortable with.”
