Sebastian Vettel has been with Ferrari since 2015
Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will join the renamed Aston Martin team in Formula 1 next year.
Aston Martin said Vettel’s signing was “a clear explanation of the team’s ambition” to establish themselves at the top.
“It’s a new adventure for me with a really legendary car company,” said Vettel, who replaces Sergio Perez.
In a statement from Aston Martin it was said that Vettel had signed for “2021 and beyond”, but did not confirm the contract duration.
As a rule, the German can be expected to have signed a three-year contract.
Vettel said: “I am very proud to say that I will become an Aston Martin driver in 2021.
“I’ve been impressed with the results the team has achieved this year and I think the future looks even better.
“The energy and dedication of Lawrence [Stroll, the owner] The sport is inspiring and I think we can build something very special together.
“I still have so much love for Formula 1 and my only motivation is to be at the top of the grid. Driving with Aston Martin will be a great privilege.”
Team boss Otmar Szafnauer said the team was “very excited” by the news.
“Sebastian is a proven champion and has a winning mentality that matches our own ambitions for the future as the Aston Martin F1 Team,” he said.
“Sebastian is one of the best in the world on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and I can’t think of a better driver to lead us into this new era. He will play an important role in bringing this team into the next.” Level.”
Establish and revive reputations
Racing Point took a huge leap forward in 2020 and appeared on the grid with the third fastest car – despite having been surrounded by controversy over copying the 2019 Mercedes.
Last month they were docked with 15 points and fined € 400,000 for illegally copying Mercedes 2019 brake lines and using them on their 2020 car. The case has led to the clarification of rules for the next season, which are intended to prevent such a large-scale copying of one team’s car from ever happening again.
Vettel is one of the most successful drivers in F1 history.
His 53 race wins are surpassed only by Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton, and only Schumacher, Hamilton and the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio have more titles than him.
The Aston Martin name enters Formula 1 next year after both Racing Point and the famous sports car company were acquired by Stroll, a Canadian billionaire businessman.
The 61-year-old rescued the F1 team from administration in 2018 and took over Aston Martin earlier this year, which has been stumbling from one financial crisis to the next for some time.
Stroll made his fortune in fashion but had a lifelong fascination with Formula 1 and has a large collection of classic cars.
The signing of Vettel required the separation of Perez’s contract. The Mexican, who brought money to the team from his backers, signed a deal with Racing Point last fall until the end of 2022.
But Ferrari’s decision to forego Vettel, made before the start of this season, changed the landscape of the driver market, and Stroll saw it as too good an opportunity to miss him.
After three difficult years at Ferrari, however, Vettel’s reputation is no longer what it was.
Vettel won four titles in a row with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013 and joined Ferrari in 2015 after being beaten by his new team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.
Vettel helped build Ferrari until they were title contenders against Hamilton and Mercedes in 2017 and 2018, but each year they lagged, in part due to a number of driver mistakes.
These continued until 2019 when he was added to the team by the highly rated Charles Leclerc.
Like Ricciardo, Leclerc beat Vettel in his first season with the team even though the senior started the year as the team’s official number one.
Leclerc achieved more pole positions, exceeded Vettel more often than vice versa, won more races and scored more points.
Additionally, there were a number of hot spots between the two riders as they battled for supremacy, which resulted in them falling out of the Brazilian Grand Prix together.
Ferrari chose Leclerc as team leader and viewed Vettel as a proud and successful champion as too much of a distraction. So they decided not to even start negotiations with him and instead signed the Spaniard Carlos Sainz.
While Vettel’s entry to Aston Martin is a huge coup for a team originally formed as Jordan in 1991, it’s also an opportunity for Vettel to rebuild his reputation in a new environment.
