The current contracts of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel are set to expire at the end of the 2020 Formula 1 season, so the question is whether they will stay with Mercedes and Scuderia Ferrari respectively. In any case, the teams want to know that from the drivers at the end of April.
According to reports from Motorsport Italy, Scuderia Ferrari and Mercedes have submitted new contract proposals to the drivers and that they would like to know how they are doing before the end of this month. Mercedes is of course happy to continue with the now six-time world champion, but the question is how much extra money can the team offer?
With six world titles in his pocket, the Brit has a nice negotiating position and the contract renewals of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen and the departure of Esteban Ocon to Renault doesn’t make the situation any easier for Mercedes. They actually have to extend the contract, because George Russell hasn’t really been tested to make the switch yet.
At Scuderia Ferrari it looks a bit different. Charles Leclerc has already signed a new multi-year contract and that puts Seabstian Vettel in a difficult position for the first time, because the German driver will no longer sign as the leader of Ferrari and reportedly has to surrender part of his salary and settle for an equal role to his teammate.
However, the Maranello team will be hoping that Sebastian Vettel decides to stay for at least one more season, but in the meantime the Italian side also has to look for potentially good replacements, in case Sebastian decides not to accept the new deal. For example, Daniel Ricciardo does not hide that he would love to drive for Ferrari and he will even sign for an equal role and less salary at the Maranello team, so he will no longer have to stay with Renault. Carlos Sainz is also mentioned as a possible successor, but he seems to be in place at McLaren and can play an important role there in the return to the top.
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