Vettel to leave Ferrari at end of F1 season

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will leave Ferrari at the end of the season, the Italian team announced on Tuesday.

"The team and I have realized that there is no longer a common desire to stay together beyond the end of this season," Vettel said in a statement released by Ferrari.

"Financial matters have played no part in this joint decision."

Where the 32-year-old German will go now, and indeed whether he will remain in a sport whose season has yet to start due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are the big questions.

Italy's Gazetta dello Sport newspaper recently reported that Vettel, who won 14 races with the team but all his titles with Red Bull, had been offered a one-year extension with a salary reduction.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo, at Renault, and McLaren's Spaniard Carlos Sainz have been installed as the leading candidates to take one of the most coveted seats on the grid.

Six-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has also been linked to Ferrari but has repeatedly indicated he intends to stay with Mercedes.

Xinhua - Agencies