There has been a lot of speculation surrounding the future of Sebastian Vettel. It is becoming increasingly clear that Charles Leclerc is the numero uno at Scuderia Ferrari. In the wake of this, there were rumours that Vettel was eyeing a return to Red Bull.

Unfortunately, the team has shot down that notion almost immediately. The Austrian team admitted that they cannot afford to spend money on bringing the German driver back to the team.

The Sebastian Vettel-to-Red Bull rumours picked up steam after some recent photos. The Ferrari driver was spotted at the Kitzbuhel world cup ski event hanging out with Red Bull’s F1 quartet.

A return could have been poetic, since Vettel won his four titles with them, along with a title double. At Ferrari though, he struggled, and eventually lost his number 1 status to Charles Leclerc in 2019. To make matters worse, the 32-year-old’s contract runs out at the end of 2020.

When he spoke to Autobild, Red Bull’s Helmut Marko said, “Sebastian wanted to pretend that there could be a return to us in 2021.”

“But Sebastian is a four-time world champion with certain financial claims, and since we made a long-term contract with Max Verstappen that wasn’t exactly cheap, we cannot afford a second heavyweight.

Where can Sebastian Vettel go?

However, Marko made a surprising admission about where Sebastian Vettel could end up. He believes that Mercedes is a possible destination for Vettel in 2021.

He noted that Scuderia Ferrari have formally committed to Leclerc. Meanwhile, Red Bull themselves have cashed in their chips with Max Verstappen.

With Mercedes, dilly-dallying over Lewis Hamilton’s own contract, Sebastian Vettel could end up as a contender. Hamilton also insisted that he has not yet initiated negotiations with the German giants. The British driver is on the verge of equalling Michael Schumacher, and could also be on Ferrari’s radar in the future