Formula 1

VETTEL, WOLFF, HAMILTON, STROLL AND ASTON MARTIN? SAISON 1

Published

3 years ago

17/07/2020

VETTEL, WOLFF, HAMILTON, STROLL AND ASTON MARTIN? SAISON 1

“Lawrence Stroll,” speculates Coulthard, “has big plans for Aston Martin’s future success. Vettel, on the other hand, could be a great asset to such a team at this point in their career, with all of the knowledge and experience they have acquired within Red Bull and Ferrari. “

Speculation over Sebastian Vettel’s future has intensified in the past week as the soon-to-be ex-Ferrari driver was photographed talking to Red Bull co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz. If there is a route back into his former team for the four-times world champion, the multi-billionaire is the gatekeeper, but team principal Christian Horner continues to insist no changes are planned in their line-up.

The other rumoured destination for Vettel is Racing Point, which will become Aston Martin next year. Recent German media reports indicated this would be as a replacement for Perez, the team’s top points-scorer of the past five seasons, rather than Lance Stroll, whose father is team owner Lawrence.

This would seem to fit Stroll’s modus operandi in cultivating his son’s Formula 1 career. The younger Stroll has regularly been paired with experienced racers whose knowledge he can learn from. Vettel would succeed the likes of Perez and Felipe Massa, and before them Felix Rosenqvist in F3 and Brandon Maisano in F4.

But there may be another reason why the connection to Racing Point, which will become Aston Martin next year, has arisen.

Mercedes is widely expected to extend the contracts of both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas for next year. Recent comments from Daimler board chairman Ola Kallenius indicated as much.

Intriguingly, reports have already surfaced that Bottas’s deal is nearly done. It would be a break with convention if Mercedes were to firm up his deal before the six-times champion’s.

Hamilton has been very quick on the trigger in response to any speculation regarding the size of his next pay day, shooting down “made up” reports on social media. He has also insisted his salary matters less to him than the freedoms his contract permits him away from race weekends.

Nonetheless, it’s not hard to see why his price for next season will be a keenly debated subject. At 35, Hamilton only has a certain number of seasons – and the big-money deals they bring – left in him.

With that in mind, what Wolff needs is a lever with which he can potentially lower Hamilton’s price. That means having a credible candidate for his seat.

Wolff spoke warmly about Vettel following the announcement of his split from Ferrari. However he made it clear Vettel would only be in line for a Mercedes seat if one of the current drivers were to leave.

Hamilton’s plans beyond the end of this season remain unclear. Perhaps he wants a one-year deal, perhaps longer. But Wolff knows from the experience of Nico Rosberg’s abrupt departure at the end of 2016 the value of having a back-up plan.

With Esteban Ocon now at Renault and George Russell yesterday confirming he will remain at Williams for the foreseeable future, is Wolff eyeing Vettel as a potential back-up option if Hamilton should decide to call it a day sometime soon? If so, parking him at the team of his friend Lawrence Stroll would be a sensible move.

This prompted to ask Vettel yesterday whether Wolff had helped make an introduction to Racing Point. This would have been an easy suggestion to deny if it wasn’t the case, so it may be significant that Vettel neither confirmed nor denied this was what happened.

“I think in some way you can say that everyone is close to each other in the paddock,” he answered. “So I think given the fact that I’ve been around for such a long time, I came across most people, not all probably, but most people.

“So I think it doesn’t need anybody’s initiative to get to know somebody or to get in touch. So in that regard it’s probably helpful that I’ve been around for a while and know most of the faces and people.”
As far as finding a vacancy at Racing Point goes, Perez’s long-term deal and Stroll’s obviously firm ties to the team appear to rule it out on paper. But again, Vettel has been around the F1 paddock long enough not to take anything for granted.

“I think there’s two ways to look at it,” he said. “One is on paper, obviously, which seats there are and which they’re not. I think for that I probably have too little information in terms of contracts and what are people’s contracts and so on.

“But the other one is I think I’ve been around for a long time and you never know. Obviously things can always change. And I think irrespective of that I need to make the decision myself and then obviously see whether there’s something suitable in in that direction.”

Hanging over all this, of course, is the as-yet unresolved question of the legality of Racing Point’s car. If Vettel can’t get his hands on an actual Mercedes, perhaps Racing Point can supply the closest thing.