Why Vettel's next move can define his F1 legacy

When Sebastian Vettel received the unexpected phone call from Mattia Binotto informing him Ferrari would not be extending his contract beyond 2020, he found himself at an unexpected crossroads.

For Vettel, the path had seemed obvious. Despite the tension that had brewed through 2019 amid Charles Leclerc's emergence, and the five-year deal his young team-mate was rewarded with for his fine start to life at Maranello, Vettel still felt a new contract offer for himself seemed likely.

But Ferrari had other ideas. Talks were never opened, the Scuderia's focus instead shifting to signing Carlos Sainz Jr from McLaren, thus making Leclerc the new team leader and the man on whom it wanted to stake its future.

It was never a situation Vettel thought he would be in, nor one he has ever suffered previously. He had never needed to go out in search of an F1 seat before, always being coveted. Now he was weighing up not only his options to stay on the grid for 2021, but whether he wanted to remain in Formula 1 at all.

The soon-to-be-rebranded Racing Point team ultimately became Vettel's destination for 2021, the deal being announced in September - cynics might suggest deliberately - on the eve of Ferrari's big 1,000th race celebrations at Mugello. It left Sergio Perez in the cold after the existing Racing Point bosses elected to break his contract for next year, much to the Mexican's own surprise, but this cold-blooded move ensures four-time world champion Vettel's Formula 1 career will be prolonged.

It was a statement of intent not just from Racing Point's bosses ahead of the Aston Martin rebrand in 2021, but also from Vettel himself. Four world titles and 53 race wins isn't enough for him; he still has unfinished business in F1. He wants more, and Aston Martin is the perfect team with which to move forward.

From the moment Vettel got off the phone with Binotto, he knew his options to remain with one of F1's top-tier teams were slim. While Mercedes made positive noises about Vettel's availability in public, the idea of creating a 'superteam' alongside Lewis Hamilton was never seriously entertained. A return to Red Bull was also never a real option, given that team's commitment to promoting from within, and its current intense focus on making Max Verstappen world champion.

If Vettel wished to remain in F1, he would have to lower his sights and step down into the midfield. Talks with Renault came to nought as the French marque opted to rekindle its old flame with Fernando Alonso, leaving very few serious options remaining.

Aston Martin emerged as a realistic option over the summer as talks commenced with team owner Lawrence Stroll. Vettel was left dodging questions about his favourite James Bond car - cleverly picking the BMW Z8 from The World Is Not Enough - and a ride in Racing Point team principal Otmar Szafnauer's car following the British GP, allegedly to a nearby petrol station.

"I believe the team has huge potential. There's some really good people on board, clever people, and I'm looking forward to help and show that those qualities are there and demonstrate that as well with the results" Sebastian Vettel

But the deal was never a formality. It was only concluded shortly before the announcement on the Thursday of the Tuscan Grand Prix, as both sides wrestled over the decision. Racing Point terminated Perez's new three-year contract early with a heavy heart - given an exit for Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence, was never a realistic possibility - while Vettel was thinking about whether or not to continue in F1 at all.

"It wasn't an easy call," Vettel admitted. "The last weeks and months have been quite intense for me, a different and new situation for me to be in. As I have put out from day one, I felt like I wanted to remain in Formula 1 only if there is something that really attracts me.

"It was getting more and more clear the [Racing Point] team's performances this year have been very encouraging. Even more than that is where the regulations are going, into hopefully a more and more level playing field.

"It will be a lot of firsts, and the first time for the team to be in a position to have the same money as other teams and show what they are capable of."

Racing Point's form through 2020 has rightly given Vettel confidence. As controversial as the 'pink Mercedes' RP20 car has proved, it has catapulted Racing Point to the front of the midfield fight - even ahead of Ferrari. Given the enforced carryover of existing designs into 2021, it bodes well for next year at least for Vettel to be in a more competitive position than he currently finds himself.

But there is also the raised performance ceiling that gives the Aston Martin project room to grow into. As Vettel said, the incoming budget cap for 2021 means the advantage enjoyed by the big spenders at the front of the field should be significantly diminished.

Team owner Lawrence Stroll has been bold in his plans for the future, commencing construction on a new factory at Silverstone that will be ready to move in to come August 2022, following a year's delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The workforce has grown by 20% since Stroll's takeover, and the funding has been there to take bold risks - such as following Mercedes' 2019 car design - without fearing the consequences of one bad year had the move backfired.

And of course, signing Vettel is itself a bold statement of where Stroll wants to take Aston Martin. He wants this to be a team for a world champion to race for.

"I believe the team has huge potential," says Vettel, who has acquired shares in Aston Martin and is looking forward to the challenge of helping Racing Point grow into Stroll's ultimate vision. "There's some really good people on board, clever people, and I'm looking forward to help and show that those qualities are there and demonstrate that as well with the results."

This is uncharted territory for Vettel. He's never been part of a team trying to build and grow in this way before, mostly racing for a winning outfit. Yes, he was Red Bull's first race winner and world champion, but the growing pains were over by the time Vettel arrived in 2009, and the team had the funding and resources in place to fight the big guns. With Ferrari it was much the same - Vettel's focus was on putting the jigsaw pieces in the right place and building a once-successful team around him, not building one up.

That new challenge is motivating Vettel, enough to keep his F1 career going. While he may only be 33, Vettel has a young family and has achieved much over the past 13 years. He admitted himself that he came "close" to calling it quits and walking away, something few would have begrudged him doing.

But there remains a burning desire to race and to add to his accolades, as well as building something new at Aston Martin. He will be required to get involved at every level of the operation, which in turn will tap into the experience that only a four-time world champion can offer.

Former team-mate Daniel Ricciardo has been in a similar situation with Renault over the past two years, trying to bring a midfield team forward. Ricciardo thinks the need to be hands-on in all areas will suit Vettel down to the ground.

"He's very driven - stating the obvious - but he's always been very interested in the team itself," Ricciardo says. "He's always willing to put the work in. Racing is in all of our DNA, but he really lives and breathes it. We might go to sleep at night with maybe other thoughts, and I feel like most of the time, he's going to sleep with racing thoughts!

"It will probably be very successful for him. The team looks like they're in a good place. I think he'll contribute to that quite tremendously."

The chance to work with a driver of Vettel's experience and work ethic was something Racing Point's bosses felt they could not pass up ahead of the Aston Martin rebrand. But his profile is also important. From a marketing standpoint, to say one of the greatest drivers in F1 history - statistically, at the very least - is racing for your team offers some big clout for Aston Martin to leverage commercially.

That legacy is one thing Perez could not compete with and was perhaps the decisive factor that swung the decision in Vettel's favour. Perez played a critical role in saving the Silverstone operation back in 2018, when Force India collapsed and the Racing Point consortium bought the ailing team. He has scored all but two of the team's podium finishes - Giancarlo Fisichella in Belgium in 2009 and Lance Stroll at Monza this year are the exceptions - and proven himself to be one of the best pound-for-pound drivers in F1's midfield.

"The final decision, it wasn't easy," confirms Racing Point team principal Szafnauer. "Sergio has served us well, he's a great racer. He's a quick driver. He's a safe pair of hands on a Sunday, especially doesn't make many mistakes and brings points in. It's a compliment to Sergio - for us to deliberate so long whether to take a four-time world champion with all the experience that Sebastian brings, or stay with Sergio.

"Ultimately, with Aston Martin coming in, I think it's the right decision to get the experience that Sebastian brings with him, the experience of a top team - and that's where Aston Martin aspires to be."

For Vettel, there is also the opportunity to try and regain some lost confidence after recent trying times with Ferrari. Through the title defeats of 2017 and 2018, the loss of status to Leclerc last year and the disastrous campaign Ferrari has embarked on in 2020, Vettel's ability has been called into question.

Mistakes, especially in high-pressure race situations, have led to a degree of revisionism about Vettel's standing - and even questions over whether Perez might have been the better out-and-out driver to go with after all.

But there are no concerns at all for Racing Point in that regard. "He's 33 years old, he's still in the prime of his career," Szafnauer says of Vettel. "He's got a vast amount of experience. He's still highly motivated to do well. He works really hard, and we believe with our team, and where we want to take it to and the level that we want to get to, Seb's a perfect fit for that. I'm confident that he'll race well."

This is likely to be the defining chapter of Vettel's F1 career, cementing his legacy and how he is remembered. It also gives him the opportunity to define Aston Martin's story upon the brand's return to F1 as a so-called works operation

There is also the hope that away from the high-pressure and political environment at Maranello, Vettel can rekindle some of the form that allowed him to reach dizzying heights with Red Bull in the early 2010s. Vettel himself recognises that since confirmation of his Aston Martin switch, he's felt clearer in his mind, giving him a better chance to relax and savour his final races with Ferrari.

Turning to next season, competing with the likes of Mercedes and Red Bull in 2021 may not be realistic for Vettel and Aston Martin, but as both look further into the future, there seems to be real hope on both sides that they can build something special.

Vettel arrived at Ferrari in 2015 hoping to be at the heart of the team, much as his hero Michael Schumacher was during his time at Maranello. But those plans evaporated as titles were lost, frustration set in, and Leclerc emerged as the new favourite son of Italy's greatest car brand.

Now, Vettel gets another shot at finding that kind of status. It's perhaps a safer bet for him this time around. Ferrari being Ferrari, it can afford to show the door to a four-time world champion. But the Aston Martin project needs a driver of Vettel's experience and standing to drive it forward and help fulfil its aspirations of breaking up the status quo at F1's top table.

This is likely to be the defining chapter of Vettel's F1 career, cementing his legacy and how he is remembered. It also gives him the opportunity to define Aston Martin's story upon the brand's return to F1 as a so-called works operation, donning a blend of British racing green alongside Racing Point's familiar BWT pink.

He's a sucker for motorsport history, making this a project that also appeals to the romantic in Vettel. Even when asked by GP Racing about his hopes for next year, Vettel's attention turned to the motorsport print hung in the office that was visible in the background of our Zoom call.

"What track is that?" Vettel asked.

"Le Mans from 1958. Tony Brooks is leading the start - in an Aston Martin."

Should Aston Martin maximise the potential its burgeoning F1 project has, that could well be a position Vettel again finds himself in at some point in the future.