Vettel wants one-year Ferrari extension

Sebastian Vettel’s future might not be as clear as recent media reports suggest.

Italian sources report that Ferrari is preparing to confirm Vettel alongside Kimi Raikkonen for 2018 at Monza next month, with president Sergio Marchionne admitting a deal "may be close".

But Finland’s Ilta Sanomat newspaper now cites sources in saying Ferrari and Vettel are in fact not in agreement over the duration of a new deal, with the German pushing for a mere one-year contract in order to leave his options open for 2019.

"It’s true that I haven’t got a contract yet," Vettel admitted, "but I think the primary objective at the moment is not worrying about papers but making sure we get good results."

Another rumour is that Vettel signed a pre-agreement with Mercedes prior to the 2018 season, whereby the 30-year-old would not agree a post-2017 deal until after July.

Vettel said: "As I’ve said, I’m not in a rush, I don’t think the team (Ferrari) is in a rush, and as far as I understand I think I have a good contact with the team and they would tell me otherwise.

"So as I’ve said there’s no problem — nothing wrong."