Sebastian Vettel is moving on from Ferrari after the current season. After winning four straight driver's championships with Red Bull, the German Formula One driver has thus far come up empty with the Italian team.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Hanai
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Four-time Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel is set to leave Ferrari after the 2020 season after the Italian outfit confirmed on Tuesday that his contract will not be renewed for another season.
"The team and I have realized that there is no longer a common desire to stay together beyond the end of this season," Vettel said as part of a statement from Scuderia Ferrari.
"Financial matters have played no part in this joint decision. That’s not the way I think when it comes to making certain choices and it never will be."
German tabloid Bild and Auto Motor und Sport magazine both reported that the 32-year-old had rejected terms of a new deal offered by the Italian team. The German driver is out of contract at the end of 2020.
Ferrari had reportedly offered Vettel a one-year contract extension with a salary reduction, according to Italian newspaper Gazetta dello Sport.
Vettel joined Ferrari in 2015 after winning four straight driver's championships with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013. The German served as the Italian outfit's lead driver for four seasons but was outperformed last year by 22-year-old Frenchman Charles Leclerc.
Leclerc has a contract until 2024 and is seen as a likely candidate to give Ferrari their first driver's champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.
Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo of Renault and McLaren's Spanish driver Carlos Sainz have been linked with Ferrari. Both drivers are also out of contract at the end of 2020.
Ferrari has finished runner-up to Mercedes in the constructors standings each of the past three seasons. The Italian outfit also appeared to be behind their German competitors in preseason testing before the first 10 races of the 2020 season were either postponed or canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Sebastian Vettel to Aston Martin: A look at his F1 career
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will race for the newly rebranded Aston Martin works team in 2021 and beyond at the end of his sixth season with Ferrari. DW looks back at the German driver's F1 career.
Image: Reuters/K. Pfaffenbach
Teaming up with Aston Martin
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will remain in F1 beyond this season after signing with Racing Point, who will rebrand as Aston Martin F1 Team from 2021. "I am pleased to finally share this exciting news about my future," said the German, who will see out the last of his six seasons with Ferrari in 2020. "It’s a new adventure for me with a truly legendary car company."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Zuma/D. Oliveira
F1 breakthrough with Sauber
The German driver's F1 career began with BMW Sauber. After spending most of the 2006 season in Formula Three, he became a test driver for Sauber in 2007. At the United States Grand Prix, the 19-year-old became the youngest driver in F1 history to score a point after replacing the injured Robert Kubica — Daniil Kvyat broke his record in 2014.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/K. Okten
Toro Rosso triumph
Midway through the 2007 season, Vettel got his first permanent spot in F1 with Scuderia Toro Rosso, a feeder team for Red Bull Racing. The German gave the Italian outfit its first-ever race win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The victory also made the 19-year-old the youngest-ever F1 race winner — a record Red Bull's Max Verstappen broke in 2016 when he won the Spanish Grand Prix aged 18.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Ghement
Four straight championships
Vettel achieved even greater heights when he moved up the grid to Red Bull Racing in 2009. After becoming the youngest world champion in 2010, he went on to win three more with Red Bull in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He clinched his fourth title after winning six consecutive races, the final one at the Indian Grand Prix on the outskirts of New Delhi.
Image: Reuters
Comparisons to Schumacher
Vettel's four consecutive championships put him in the same bracket as another German great, Michael Schumacher (right). Vettel's rise inevitably drew comparisons with the F1 legend, who won seven world titles including five straight from 2000 to 2004 with Ferrari. "When I was a kid, Michael Schumacher in the red car was my greatest idol," Vettel said in 2014.
Image: Getty Images
Fall from the top
Vettel followed up his four-straight titles with an underwhelming 2014 season. He became the first defending champion in 1998 to not win a race as he struggled with the RB10 car. Rumors of a pre-arranged agreement with Ferrari began to swirl, and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner announced in October 2014 that he would join Italian outfit — a move Ferrari didn't confirm until a month later.
Image: BORIS HORVAT/AFP/Getty Images
Start with Ferarri
Vettel officially joined Ferrari in November 2014, taking the spot of Fernando Alonso, a two-time F1 champion. He said being part of the Italian outfit meant "a dream of a lifetime has come true." Paired with 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen, Vettel helped Ferrari rebound from a disappointing fourth-placed finish in 2014 with a runner-up performance in the 2015 constructors' championship.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Azubel
Chasing Mercedes
Though he has continued to win races, Vettel has been stuck behind Mercedes during his Ferrari career. The Silver Arrows have strung together a streak of five straight constructors' championships, with Nico Rosberg (left) and Lewis Hamilton (center) winning drivers' titles during that span. Vettel's best chance to add a fifth world title came in 2018, but he flamed out after a fast start.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/V. Xhemaj
Eclipsed by Leclerc
In an unusual move, Ferrari added up-and-coming 21-year-old Charles Leclerc in 2019, committing to the Monegasque driver until 2024. But the Italian outfit insisted Vettel was still their lead driver. The roles appeared to switch throughout the 2019 season, with Leclerc finishing ahead of Vettel in the drivers' standings.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/T. Hanai
Vettel leaving Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari announced before the start of the season that they would go separate ways once the 32-year-old's contract expires at the end of 2020. This season, delayed for months due to the coronavirus pandemic, will be Vettel's sixth with the Italian outfit, ending a turbulent time that looks set to fail to produce a driver's championship.
