There was an air of inevitability about the news that four-times world champion Sebastian Vettel would be parting company from Ferrari at the end of the season. Indeed, if 2020 was not running to the current abridged schedule, there would surely have been a strong possibility that he would be gone even sooner.
During his championship-winning purple patch, Vettel was the toughest team-mate on the grid. Mark Webber was left a broken man after the Multi 21 incident and Daniel Ricciardo’s career might have panned out very differently if he had not started out as Vettel’s wing man. Yet now, it seems that Vettel has been hoisted with his own petard, as Charles LeClerc has blown in and made the seasoned pro look like the rookie.
Yet Vettel has only just turned 33. He’s two years younger than arch-rival Lewis Hamilton and six years the junior of Fernando Alonso, who returns to F1 next year. At his age and with his racing pedigree, he should be in his prime and a bookmaker favorite for the title. Instead, all the wagers on sites such as Mobilebet concern his probable retirement from the sport. With the 2021 grid already taking shape, what options are still open to Vettel?
Getting to the Point
In Austria, Racing Point proved that their pre-season pace was no trickery. Sergio Perez has brought the car home in sixth place in each of the first two races, and would have finished fourth in the Styrian Grand Prix but for his last-lap dramas with Alex Albon. Next year, the car will be rebranded Aston Martin and will have had even more development dollars thrown at it. No less an authority that Gerhard Berger believes Vettel will be part of the set up. In fact, in an interview with German media, he suggested it was already a done deal.
He Haas one other option
Of the remaining teams that have not yet confirmed their 2021 drivers, AlphaTauri, Alfa Romeo and Williams are surely out of the question for Sebastian Vettel. That leaves one other possible seat for next year. Haas is now in its fifth season. The team has big money, big aspirations, a Ferrari power plant and two of the most unpredictable drivers on the grid in Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen. If Vettel wants to rise to the challenge of building a fledgling team around him, the door is certainly open. Team Principal Gunter Steiner told Autoweek “if he wants to do something with us, we are happy to have a good relationship with him.”
A sabbatical could make sense
The pundits always say the F1 world moves on quickly, and if you walk out of it you are soon forgotten. Yet other former champions including Kimi Raikkonen and now Fernando Alonso have taken a year or more out and returned to top teams. Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren and Renault have all confirmed their driver lineups for next year, but in 2022, there will be numerous possibilities. Some time out will also give Vettel the opportunity that he clearly needs to rediscover his racing mojo.