Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says talks with Sebastian Vettel regarding the latter's future with the team will need to become "more concrete" after Formula 1's summer break.
The two parties have initiated basic talks over 2023, but the discussions are taking place against a backdrop of poor results achieved by the Silverstone-based outfit this season.
Aston Martin only scored 18 points in the first half of its campaign, 15 of which were put on the board by Vettel.
However, considering the team's disappointing performance, Vettel is mulling adding a third year to his contract with Aston or calling it a day and retiring from F1.
But the message in the Aston camp is that Team Silverstone is keen n extending its collaboration with the four-time F1 World Champion.
"We have a very good relationship with Sebastian so we don’t want to set a deadline," said team boss Krack during an interview with SPORT1.
"He knows our opinion. He knows we definitely want to continue with him.
"There are talks in which we basically exchange ideas about how we can imagine a future together. We take our time with it.
"Of course, at some point you have to make a decision. I don’t have the feeling he’s playing for time, but says it immediately when he’s clear about his future.
"I think after the summer break is the time when you can and have to be more concrete. Until then, we don’t have a plan B either."
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Krack suggested the reason his team is currently not pondering any alternatives is because its focus is on retaining Vettel, with an emphasis on providing the German and teammate Lance Stroll with a competitive machine.
"We don’t talk about potential successors," added Krack. "Neither with him, nor with others – because we want Sebastian to stay with us.
"I’m not a fan of calling him every day and going on and on about what we’ve just done.
©AstonMartin
"We have to convince him with the progress and results on the racetrack. Unfortunately, they are lacking, in reality at the moment.
"We just have to keep working very hard to make him feel things are going in the right direction.
"We also have new people in the team who can make a difference in the future. For example, Dan Fallows (technical director). Sebastian knows him and knows his abilities.
"As I said, we have to let actions speak, not words!"
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