The 2020 Formula 1 season is set to be a contract year for Sebastian Vettel. Will this season be his final season driving for Scuderia Ferrari?
Before the 2017 Formula 1 season, which was Sebastian Vettel’s third season driving for Scuderia Ferrari, came to a close, the 31-year-old German signed a three-year contract extension to continue driving for the Italian team through the 2020 season.
The second of three seasons of Vettel’s three-year contract extension has only just begun, but given the fact that he has thrown away a massive amount of points over the last few seasons and effectively ruined his chances of increasing his career Formula 1 championship total from four to six, there are questions surrounding his future.
These questions have been magnified by the fact that Charles Leclerc, who replaced 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen as Vettel’s teammate ahead of the 2019 season, has outperformed Vettel through the season’s first two races despite the fact that Ferrari have still clearly prioritized Vettel like they did during his four seasons driving for the team as the teammate to the 39-year-old Finn.
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The big question is this: will the 2020 season, a contract season for Vettel, be his final season driving for the Prancing Horse, or will the team sign him to another contract extension to continue driving for them beyond what would be his sixth season behind the wheel of one of the red cars?
Leclerc’s contract with Ferrari is for at least four seasons, so expect him to be one of their drivers through at least the 2022 season. But who will his teammate be for the 2021 season and beyond?
With the contract of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton set to expire at the end of the 2020 season and Mercedes junior driver George Russell having been rumored as his replacement at the Silver Arrows beginning in the 2021 season, there have been rumors that Hamilton will make the switch to Ferrari.
After all, five drivers have won at least four Formula 1 championships, and he is the only one of these five drivers who has never driven for the Scuderia.
Then there is Mick Schumacher, the 2018 European Formula 3 champion who recently became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy and made his Formula 1 testing debut for Ferrari, the team for which his seven-time champion father Michael won five championships.
The 20-year-old German is a highly touted prospect who currently drives for Prema Racing in Formula 2. He has already been rumored as a possible Alfa Romeo Racing driver for the 2020 Formula 1 season, and that could certainly lead to him signing with Ferrari for the 2021 season, which would mirror the journey of Leclerc.
In addition, Ferrari could be a potential landing spot for Max Verstappen, the young and rising superstar whose current contract with Aston Martin Red Bull Racing is set to expire at the end of the 2020 season.
Assuming Vettel doesn’t make marked improvements and assert himself as a true championship contender throughout the course of the next two seasons, it is hard to see Ferrari signing him over any of these three drivers and probably a few others who I haven’t discussed in this article.
However, there is one more thing to consider.
While it may seem strange given the role that Vettel has played as Ferrari’s top driver since he began driving for the team in the 2015 season, don’t be surprised if they re-sign him to be Leclerc’s wingman. Ferrari have not shied away from having a clear top driver in the past, and given how things look right now, that top driver is poised to be Leclerc if he isn’t already.
Will Sebastian Vettel return to Ferrari for the 2021 Formula 1 season? Will the 2020 season be the final season during which he drives for the team? The answers to these questions may not be known for quite some time given the fact that the 2019 season has only just begun, but given how the 2019 season has started out, this kind of speculation only makes sense right now.