26/02/2020
NEWS STORY
With Ferrari scheduling a press conference this afternoon, coupled with the fact that members of his family were seen in the Italian team's garage, some sections of the media immediately began linking the two and consequently speculated that Sebastian Vettel was going to announce his retirement at season end.
As it turned out, the four-time world champion not only confirmed that he is planning to remain in F1 but that he hasn't given up hope of emulating his hero, Michael Schumacher and winning the title with the Maranello legends.
"I've been around now for a while but I still love what I do, I love driving," said the German. "I got really excited when I got in the car last week and very quickly got back into a rhythm and that feels great. The satisfaction you get from driving the car, I would still say feels the same.
"I'm here to win," he smiled, "and in that regard we had recent years, some were good, better than others, but none of them had been to our liking at the very end.
"I joined Ferrari to win the championship, we haven't done that so far, it's been a couple of years now, but the hunger, will and determination is still there inside the team. We are here to fight."
"Seb is our first option," added team boss, Mattia Binotto, "as I always mentioned it's a great line-up, probably the best in F1, of which I am very happy and proud.
"We started the early discussion with Seb and we are very aware that the contract is extinguishing," he added, "but it will come very soon to close the discussion and see what is in the best interest in both of us.
"What's more important is the project which we're sharing, even our longer-term view. I'm sure very soon we'll come to an agreement."
A runner-up with Ferrari in 2017 and again in 2018, it was in 2018 that doubt about Vettel's future began emerge.
An unforced error while leading in Germany marked the start of a string of high profile mistakes that continued into 2019, as the German found himself under the added pressure of Charles Leclerc's arrival.
While some believe that Vettel could yet be the dark horse this year, others feel that an emboldened Leclerc applying further pressure could once again cause the German to buckle.