McLaren’s Formula 1 team director Andreas Seidl acknowledged that it will be difficult to have a real transfer market this season, which was shaping up to be one of the biggest in Formula One history, with many drivers without contracts.

The ever-delayed start to the 2020 season and the freezing of cars in 2021 as the main response to the current health crisis should lead to a sort of status quo, probably in all the large and medium-sized teams.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s quite easy: our position hasn’t really changed despite the current context. We’re not changing our approach and we said that several months ago, we’re clearly looking to the future with Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris still at McLaren,” explains Seidl.

“Of course, by this time we would have already had to do a few errands under normal circumstances, confirmed a lot of things, in order to start discussions and make decisions. But I don’t think that’s a big problem for us.”

Seidl admits to paying “very little attention” to the rumours linking Sainz to Ferrari. A story that broke a few days ago when TJ13 explained how Vettel’s negotiations with Ferrari are currently experiencing big difficulties. You can read more on that story here.

Nor does Seidl admit to keeping an eye on what Norris is doing on the eSport side.

“I’m more of an old school racer and I’m not normally like that. I just read about what he’s doing on the Internet and see that he’s lost his hair for a good cause. It’s nice to see Lando getting involved in good deeds, to see that he’s attracting new audiences that way. It’s nice in this time of no real racing to keep Formula One fans waiting.”

Bored waiting for F1 to start, treat yourself today

What about the continual rumour that Vettel could end up at McLaren? Certainly, Vettel might well decide to move before being pushed and with fewer races available to prove worth, team’s decisions about 2021 driver lineups will be significantly compressed toward the end of the year.

“Seidl knows Vettel well, they knew each other back in the days of BMW Sauber. If Sebastian owes it to someone, he will certainly think of Andreas. And that would be a fantastic PR opportunity for McLaren-Mercedes,” reveals a source close to the British team.

A major boost for Sebastian Vettel, who would, therefore, be reunited with Andreas Seidl which makes sense since the contracts of Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris, the two current McLaren drivers, come to an end at the end of the season – that is the current fact, despite what Seidl attempts to tell us at the beginning of this article.

Vettel rejects Ferrari deal, Scuderia contact Ricciardo & Sainz

Vettel has not accepted Ferrari’s first offer to renew with them, which would be a one-year contract with a significantly lower salary than he has received with the Scuderia so far.

Sebastian Vettel has rejected Ferrari’s first offer, which consisted of a new one-year….. READ MORE ON THIS STORY