Sebastian Vettel has said that he does not expect an announcement regarding his future - with or without Ferrari - before the team's home race in Italy next weekend.
A 2018 deal for Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen was confirmed earlier this week, but the German remains unclear about when his own future might be revealed to the world. When asked about the matter at Spa, he replied: "I don't know, we'll see. At some point I think there will be news. Now we are here obviously there is no news yet.
"The main focus now is not to focus on news, the main focus is to focus on the race. And that will be the same next week so I don't expect news within the next two weeks, to be honest."
Vettel has long been an advocate of Raikkonen's continued presence alongside him at Ferrari, and on the subject of the Iceman's contract extension he added: "There's no discussion about his talent or his speed so it's nice to see that the team appreciates the work he is doing, also behind the scenes.
"It's quite straightforward to work with him; I think everybody who knows him knows he's quite straightforward in this regard. I think it's a good match, obviously great to continue like that."
Mason Hawker
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He is staying. I don't know why there is even a hint of intrigue about this. I would love to eat my words, but Vettel is not retiring, or going to another team except Mercedes, and Mercedes don't want him. Rather, Vettel would never be ok with racing on equal terms.