Ferrari reportedly have offered Sebastian Vettel a new one-year contract for the 2021 Formula 1 season.

The day after the trip to Melbourne, Ferrari began discussions with Sebastian Vettel to assess a possible continuation of their relationship, which began in 2015 and officially ends at the end of the 2020 season.

With Charles Leclerc confirmed until the end of the 2024 season, Maranello’s men have laid an important foundation for planning for the future, but it remains to be decided who will join the Monegasque starting next year.

However, according to Sky Sports Italia, Scuderia Ferrari has already offered Sebastian Vettel a one-year contract and a lower salary than he has received so far at Maranello.

TJ13 believes this rumour to be true. Back in February, we were given a heads up that Vettel and Binotto were to give a press conference during the last day of winter testing with this announcement, but it had been delayed to Melbourne. With Corona Virus striking, clearly it was put back again as an announcement during the confusion around the cancellation of the Grand Prix.

The ball would therefore be in Vettel’s court from now on, as the German will have to decide whether he wants to sign a one-year contract with Ferrari or whether he considers that it is time to seize this opportunity to bounce back in another team.

With the postponement of the start of the 2020 season, this scenario of seeing the four-time world champion one more year at Maranello finally seems very likely, as the new regulations that were due to be introduced in 2021 have been postponed until 2022, meaning that the transfer market is unlikely to move this year.

Indeed, Valtteri Bottas, Lewis Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo and therefore Sebastian Vettel should logically extend their contracts for another year until 2022 and the introduction of the new sporting and technical rules.

Quite how Vettel will go about the remainder of the 2020 season remains to be seen, particularly in view of the fact 2021 contract extension will be very likely. Certainly, the team/company line has been towed that both drivers will not get tangled in trouble on track again.

And according to team boss Mattia Binotto, both drivers have more “trust and confidence” with each other and in Ferrari.

“What happened last year was important for both of them,” Binotto told the official Formula 1 website.

“We discussed and had some clarity as to what I’m expecting. The team interest is the top priority, and the constructors’ championship is a key element.”

“They are free to race, but that doesn’t mean we can’t still apply team orders in the interests of the team,” he explained.

“But if the team is doing well, the drivers get the benefit of it. They are two smart and clever guys, they are getting to know each other better.

“What happened last year, not only in Brazil, but also in Russia when we tried to manage team orders. These situations gave us the opportunity to discuss and when you discuss in a transparent way, you get to know each other better.

“I think we have built more trust and confidence between us as a team, between the drivers, and that will be helpful in 2020.”