Vettel: No reason to expect early Ferrari exit

Sebastian Vettel says that there should no reason to believe that he will leave Ferrari after the 2019 season if he once again fails to win the world drivers' championship.

Vettel has gone head-to-head with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton over the last two seasons for the title, but has fallen short after a spell of poor form in the second half of both seasons. Vettel joined the Scuderia outfit in 2015 on a three-year contract, which was renewed for another three years in 2017.

This year, Vettel will have a new teammate in Charles Leclerc, who some have tipped to give the German a hard time throughout the 2019 campaign. But Vettel is adamant that he will still be with the Scuderia outfit in 2020.

"It's quite known that my contract goes until 2020 so don't expect anything else," said Vettel. "I'm very happy here. Obviously my goal is to win the championship.

"We were not getting as close as we want, so there's still a job to do, and I feel that's my mission and the reason why I'm here, for myself, for the team.

"Obviously, I like driving, I love driving, I've got a great passion for driving, but on top of that I've got a great passion for this team, for Ferrari, inspired throughout my whole childhood. For me, it's pretty clear what I'm here to do."

Speaking about his pairing with Leclerc, Vettel maintained his stance that he expects no friction between the two: "When you are team-mates you see exactly what the other driver is doing and with Kimi it worked very well the last couple of years," said Vettel.

"We had a similar feeling for the car. Obviously now Charles is there and he will be very quick, there is no doubt. I expect him to pick up very quickly.

"The main thing is to work together as a team. On-track I don't need to remind Charles he wants to be quicker than me and the same goes for me. That's normal. You find the 20 best drivers in the world in the 20 cars on the grid, nobody needs a reminder of that."