Sebastian Vettel will 'say bye-bye' to F1 as no top team will sign him, says former F1 driver

Sebastian Vettel will be moving on from Formula 1 after his contract runs out at the end of this season, at least in former F1 driver Marc Surer's opinion. The driver-turned-pundit thinks that Aston Martin does not look like it is capable of challenging for the title any time soon and that Vettel might see no point in trying to continue with the Silverstone-based team. He also mentioned that no top team would sign the 34-year-old champion.

Talking to Motorsport-total.com, Surer said:

“The team doesn’t look as if it can become World Champion. So what should he do? Remain there? [Vettel] will fulfil his contract and then he’ll say bye-bye. He’s gone from Ferrari, he had the chance at Aston Martin of all things, so it’s not working now either.”

Surer did mention, however, that Vettel leaving the sport will not be due to a drop in his performance since the German driver is still outperforming his younger teammate Lance Stroll. He said:

“When things are going normally, he beats Stroll, and we know that Perez, for example, always found it difficult to beat Stroll. So that’s a level he still has. It’s more a question of motivation, if you know I’m fighting for tenth place, is that really the motivation for a four-time World Champion to give everything? I don’t know.”

He further said:

“He’s trying to move the team forward and there are already a few signs that things are improving. So he is doing his job. He could have thrown in the towel and no one would have blamed him, except maybe the team.”

---

Sebastian Vettel does not know what the future holds for him

Sebastian Vettel himself does not induce much confidence when he talks about his future in the sport. In a recent interview, he said his future depended on the results produced by Aston Martin.

When asked about his future plans, the four-time world champion said:

“I don’t know. No secrets. It will depend on obviously how this year goes and then take it from there. Time will tell. At the minute, I think the focus is on the now and on the mountain ahead of us that we try to climb and we won’t climb it in a day, we won’t climb it in a month. But will choose the path that we climb, which will determine the next three-four years – so that’s why I feel it’s really important to focus on that and it takes all the attention.”

Sebastian Vettel has been an important member of the paddock for 15 years, hence, him leaving the sport at just 34 years of age will certainly be a huge loss for F1.