Formula 1: Sebastian Vettel makes surprising Ferrari revelation

Four-time Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel revealed that Ferrari never offered him a contract for the 2021 season, which contradicts previous reports.

At long last, the 2020 Formula 1 season is scheduled to get underway with the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring this Sunday, July 5 — nearly four months after the scheduled start of the season with the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.

This Sunday’s 71-lap race around the 10-turn, 2.683-mile (4.318-kilometer) road course in Spielberg, Styria, Austria would have been the 11th of a record-breaking 22 races on the schedule, but the first 10 were either postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the vastly extended offseason, which began in early December, there were several notable driver changes to the 2021 lineup already. What got the dominoes falling was the confirmation that Ferrari and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel would be cutting ties after 2020.

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It was first reported that Vettel had been offered a contract by the Scuderia which he called a “joke”, due to the fact that it was reportedly only a one-year deal compared to his usual three-year deals and it would have required him to take a massive pay cut.

Additionally, after Charles Leclerc beat Vettel in numerous statistical categories last year in just his first season driving for the Italian team, he was given a massive extension through the 2024 season, so Vettel would have had to play the number two driver role to his much younger teammate.

However, Vettel has revealed that this is not true and that he was never even offered a new contract by Ferrari, which had previously stated that they would have liked to retain the 33-year-old German.

Instead, they went ahead and signed McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. to a two-year contract. McLaren then confirmed Renault’s Daniel Ricciardo as his replacement. Ricciardo has not yet been replaced by Renault for next year.

Here is what Vettel had to say about the matter.

“There was no sticking point. It was obviously a surprise to me when I got the call from [team principal] Mattia [Binotto] when he told me that there was no further intention for the team to continue,” Vettel said. “We never got into any discussions, there was never an offer on the table and therefore there was no sticking point.”

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The 2020 season is scheduled to get underway at 9:10 a.m. ET this Sunday, July 5. ESPN2 is set to broadcast the Austrian Grand Prix live from the Red Bull Ring.

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