Formula 1: 5 possible landing spots for Sebastian Vettel in 2021
By Asher Fair
Sebastian Vettel possible landing spots: Renault
Before it was confirmed that the 2020 Formula 1 season would be Sebastian Vettel’s final season at Ferrari, Renault managing director Cyril Abiteboul refused to rule out the possibility of signing him for the 2021 season.
Daniel Ricciardo, who left Red Bull Racing to sign with the French marque after the 2018 season, is in a contract year in 2020, and there had already been growing speculation that he would not be back with the team after this season before he signed with McLaren to replace the Ferrari-bound Carlos Sainz Jr.
In fact, Ricciardo himself had been linked to Vettel’s seat even before that seat was confirmed as being open for next year.
Here is what Abiteboul had to say about the possibility of the four-time world champion coming to the team next year, according to Autosport.
"“I don’t want to say no, as he is a great driver, and a great champion. We worked together on the engine side and we won together."
However, Renault have already signed youngster Esteban Ocon through the 2021 season, and in discussing the possibility of retaining Ricciardo for at least another year last September, Abiteboul stated that he would like to move forward with a younger driver lineup.
That would effectively eliminate the possibility of Vettel joining the team, and he also made sure to make note of that when discussing this scenario.
"“[But] I rather aspire to work with tomorrow’s drivers than yesterday’s. It really is very difficult to sum it up like that, so please don’t sum it up like that about Sebastian. Still, we also have a driver academy, with drivers who might come out of it in 2021 or 2022. “We need to keep this in mind, as we created this academy in 2016 with the goal of having a driver graduate to F1 in 2021. Now 2021 is coming, we have to acknowledge it. Typically, there’s Christian Lundgaard. He’s an option among others: he’s got his F2 season to do, we’ve got our own season to do with Daniel.”"
Of course, things can change; perhaps Christian Lundgaard and Guanyu Zhou won’t be ready for a Formula 1 ride by next year, especially with the Formula 2 season having already been, at the very least, shortened by a great amoung due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But if they don’t, where else could Vettel end up?