Sebastian Vettel has suggested that the outcome of his 2022 season with Aston Martin could decide his future in F1 beyond this year's campaign.
Vettel endured a disappointing first season with Aston in 2021, scoring a single podium in Turkey and finishing 12th in the Drivers' standings.
Unfortunately, the German driver's 2022 campaign suffered a rocky start, with Vettel missing the first two races of the season due to Covid and then completely botching his return to the grid in Australia, where he crashed twice.
Furthermore, Aston's mediocre AMR22 has so far provided Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll with little comfort regarding their prospects for the remainder of the year.
A could of uncertainty now hovers over Vettel whose contract with his team expires at the end of 2022. Asked about his future beyond this year the four-time world champion had little to say.
"I don’t know," he said. "No secrets, it will depend on how this year goes and then [I’ll] take it from there.
"My contract ends at the end of this season. Obviously it’s not the year everyone in the team had hoped for, at least not the start of the season, but I think it would be bad to write it off already.
"One day there will be a day for all of us when this journey ends and some other journey will start, whatever that might be."
Reflecting on his career at the pinnacle of motorsport, Vettel values his achievements, and reckons that his passion for the sport remain intact.
But he also admitted that racing in F1 with little hope of winning require a "different motivation".
"In all honesty, I had an amazing 15 years or so, looking back, and I was in a position to win championships, win a lot of races, fight for pole positions, get a lot of podiums and obviously the taste was great," said the 34-year-old.
"It’s not a secret that if you are not in a position to be there that it’s a different taste.
"You need to find a different motivation, but I think ultimately I am willing to be tasting the same again. That’s the nature of the sport.
"That’s one of the big deciders but the team is growing – there are a lot of things that look very promising.
"The answer is time will tell, but those will be the key things I will be looking at to see how promising it’s looking at the future and how soon."
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