David Coulthard expects Vettel to be preparing for a move away from Ferrari
F1 News
Sebastian Vettel will have something extra to deal with off-track during the early stages of the 2020 F1 season. The four-time world champion's F1 contract at Ferrari expires after the 2020 Formula 1 season and David Coulthard expects the German to be preparing for a move away from the Italian team in case they don't want to renew his contract.
Vettel, who joined Ferrari in 2015, has somewhat been overshadowed by his younger teammate Charles Leclerc after just one season together. Leclerc managed to finish ahead of the 32-year-old in his first year at the front of the F1 grid. With this teammate battle on his hands and other options for Ferrari, Coulthard believes Vettel must show the team he is worth his high wage.
“I think Seb has got a shorter duration to his career now than before. A lot depends on this year. If… Charles continues to be upfront, then it just doesn’t really make financial sense for Ferrari to apportion that amount of money to someone that could end up becoming a clear number two," the former Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver said in an interview with Reuters.
“Right now he (Vettel) is number one equal. But he went in as number one plus at the beginning of the year (2019), became number one equal as the year went on and he’s on the cusp of maybe dropping, as we’ve seen with Kimi (Raikkonen)."
Looking elsewhere
Just in case Ferrari decide to move on with Vettel, he believes Vettel should be preparing for a move before he gets caught out like his fellow-German driver Nico Hulkenberg in 2019.
“A lot again depends on this year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already talking to Ferrari and Mercedes and all the teams that didn’t want him last time round,” he explained.