No workout for Vettel’s contract pen at Spa

Sebastian Vettel’s future looks set to remain unclear for now.

There were reports that the German would bring a pen to Spa-Francorchamps this weekend to finally sign his 2021 Aston Martin deal.

But Sergio Perez is actually sounding increasingly confident about retaining the seat.

"We don’t see the reasoning why we should change anything so I don’t see any reason to change," the Mexican said.

Perez even said he is not having any back-up talks with other teams.

"No, I am not," he insisted. "The feedback I get from the team is that we all want to continue."

Even Perez’s teammate Lance Stroll - the son of team owner Lawrence Stroll - hinted that a story is preparing to break.

"I’m not going to give you the story that you want to sell," he told reporters.

And so when asked if he brought a pen to Belgium, departing Ferrari driver Vettel said: "I have a lot of pens with me, but nothing special to sign something.

"There are no updates on my future. You can just copy and paste the answers from last time."

What the quadruple world champion does next is unclear, but his former boss Dr Helmut Marko continued to play down the prospect of a return to Red Bull.

"We cannot follow Sebastian’s path," Marko is quoted by motorsport-total.com.

"We have had great successes with him, but right now we are well positioned and we have drivers.

"Just because Vettel no longer has a contract does not mean we throw everything away."

Alex Albon has been struggling alongside Max Verstappen in 2020, but Marko insisted: "Albon is doing much better than the numbers show.

"So far we have followed our principles," he added. "For example, we did not sign an Alonso when possible. Instead, we always go our own way with our young drivers.

"Vettel, Verstappen and Ricciardo have all won with us, so it is a path to success with our own really exceptional talent," Marko insisted.