Are Mercedes Still Keeping Options Open To Recruit Sebastian Vettel?

The biggest piece of news all season, thus far, has been the announcement that the 2020 Formula 1 world championship will finally get underway. It helps to know that of all that’s happened this year, we are still going to have, at least, if not more, eight Grands Prix in the tumultuous season.

But if there’s a major impending issue that still demands clarity then it concerns the fate of one man, in particular, on the current F1 grid. And that is Sebastian Vettel. Where might Sebastian Vettel race for the next season- it’s still not clear.

In fact, whether he will find himself a Formula 1 seat, is in itself, a question trickier than who might win the current truncated championship.

But if you happen to have followed the news updates closely, especially the grapevine that’s hard to ignore on social media, then you may have come across suggestions that point to Sebastian Vettel moving to Mercedes.

Regardless of how surprising might this sound, it’s still a possible switch that might define the imminent future of one of the most successful drivers on the grid, someone who’s second only to Lewis Hamilton, in terms of wins and driver championships where the current drivers are concerned.

But how much truth is actually there to the Vettel-goes-to-Mercedes rumours? Turns out that the current team principal Toto Wolff has issued some answers that point to solving the puzzle.

Mercedes team boss said he was not simply showing respect to Vettel by keeping him as an option, but actually considers him a genuine candidate should options on Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas or Mercedes-contracted Williams driver George Russell fall through.

Furthermore, he was quoted as saying, “First of all, it is not lip service because we owe it to a four-time world champion not to come out and say straight away ‘no’ — you need to think about it.”

“On the other side, we have a fantastic line-up and I am happy with both our drivers and George, but you never know, one may decide he doesn’t want to go racing anymore and suddenly you have a vacant spot.”

That being said, it’s important to reflect on the big understanding that if he doesn’t find himself a seat for the next season, then we might be seeing the last of Sebastian Vettel in Formula 1, unless he makes a return at a later stage some time in his life.

That being said, the famous Austrian Team Principal also shared why he doesn’t want to ‘rule out’ a possibility of Sebastian Vettel driving for the Silver Arrows, explaining further-

“I don’t want to come out in June and say ‘No chance, Sebastian’ and that he is not racing for us. First of all, I wouldn’t do it to him as a driver — to be that blunt — and on the other side, I have seen black swans appearing when nobody expected. Remember Nico Rosberg?

“So in that perspective, we are just keeping our options open but of course, concentrating our discussions on our current drivers.”

That said, at this point, one can only resort to some guesswork on the matter concerning Sebastian Vettel’s future in the sport. Whether he does get himself a drive at Mercedes or not doesn’t matter as much as finding a contract for next year – does it?

Because all said and done, you don’t want to see a multiple world champion, who’s still 32 (and capable of contributing so much more) to run out of options.