Vettel gives clearest update on F1 future yet

Sebastian Vettel has reiterated that he has no plans to walk away from Formula 1 amid speculation he could retire at the end of the current season.

The Ferrari driver has cut a frustrated figure recently, particularly after a controversial time penalty stripped him of victory at the Canadian Grand Prix in what has proved to be a difficult campaign so far for the Italian squad.

Speaking in the build-up to this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Vettel insisted he is still enjoying driving and expects to still be on the grid next year.

Asked if he can provide a firm answer on his future, Vettel replied: “Well if I was to always give an answer to everybody’s speculation then I will be in the seat for a lot longer than I anyway want to be! I’m here. I love racing.

“I think the cars are great fun to drive, they’re very fast - the fastest we’ve ever had. Can we do better? I think yes. Is it up to me? Fortunately not.

“But, as I said before, we’ll see what the future brings. But I’m here now and as far as I know I’ll be here next year, so I’m not thinking about that.”

Vettel also moved to clarify his comments following the Canadian Grand Prix about the current state of the championship.

“I said it’s not the sport that I fell in love with,” Vettel said.

“Particularly to answer that, it’s as a child I think you fall in love with the cars and the drivers - not literally but… even though I had posters of Michael in my room! - but you had the admiration for what these drivers do, the cars and how fast they go and so on.

“As a child you’re very pure, you’re not thinking about rules. I was never interested if they were overweight or underweight or legal or illegal, it didn’t matter as a child I just loved to see them racing. I think that’s what I tried to express.”