Vettel signs three-year extension with Ferrari

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium: Sebastian Vettel ended speculation about his immediate Formula One future by signing a three-year contract extension with Ferrari on Saturday.

The Italian team, the sport’s most successful and glamorous, said the new deal covered the 2018, 2019 and 2020 seasons but gave no further details in a four-line statement of just 30 words.

There will be inevitable questions about possible release clauses.

But the news, at the Belgian Grand Prix and a week before his team’s home Italian race at Monza, will allow Ferrari to concentrate on fighting for the championship without distraction.

The four-time champion is 14 points clear of Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton in the current standings.

The German had been out of contract at the end of this season and there had been speculation about a possible switch to Mercedes.

Hamilton, a triple world champion who has one more year left on his Mercedes contract, laughed off that possibility earlier in the week when he told reporters that his rival did not want to be his teammate.

Niki Lauda, the Mercedes non-executive chairman, told Sky Sports that there had been talks with Vettel.

“We discussed it briefly once with him, but the more competitive Ferrari goes the less the reason he would want to leave,” said the retired triple world champion.—Reuters