Ferrari has allegedly short-listed three names as Sebastian Vettel's potential replacement if the German driver and the Scuderia fail to come to terms for 2021.
Vettel and the House of Maranello have reportedly engaged in talks regarding the four-time world champion's future with Ferrari beyond this season.
According to Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport, the two parties are at odds over the duration of Vettel's new deal, with the latter demanding a two-year contract while the Scuderia is offering one year and a salary equal to the retainer paid to Charles Leclerc.
As one of F1's top earner, Vettel's annual salary is reputed to be worth approximately $40M while Leclerc's rakes in an estimated $10M a year based on a new five-year contract inked by the Monegasque earlier this year.
Last week, Vettel said that negotiations were ongoing and would likely be finalized before the 2020 season finally gets underway.
"Whatever the deal will be like, I think it will be whatever I and the team will be comfortable with," he said.
"So in terms of duration, I don’t know. Normally the contracts I’ve had in the past were all, I think a three-year deal."
Ferrari's contingency plans, should talks with Vettel break down, include Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz and Scuderia protégé Antonio Giovinazzi, whose contracts with their respective teams - Renault, McLaren and Alfa Romeo - all expire at the end of 2020.
Negotiations are likely to be complicated by the season's current standstill as drivers are unable to assess the level of performance of their current teams.
In 2018, Ricciardo was often cited as a potential replacement for Kimi Raikkonen at Ferrari, but the Aussie departed Red Bull for Renault instead while the Scuderia promoted Leclerc to a race seat with the team, a well-inspired move given the 22-year-old's success last season.
Whoever ends up as Leclerc's teammate next year, they will have their work cut out for them against the mercurial Monegasque, including Vettel.
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