Vettel responds to renewed retirement rumours

Sebastian Vettel maintains that retirement is not in his thoughts, despite reiterating his frustrations with modern Formula 1. Amid the Ferrari drivers' underwhelming 2019 season, some reports have suggested it could be his last, but Vettel is sure he will see out his Scuderia deal at the very least.

Vettel was a hot tip for title success this year after Ferrari's impressive pre-season performances, but driver and team have flattered to deceive, as Mercedes have won all eight races, six times through Lewis Hamilton.

Set to lose out to the Brit for a third year on the spin, amid growing frustration at F1's increased regulations, Vettel has made little attempt to mask his frustrations, but he insists he remains happy in his role.

Speaking ahead of the Austrian GP, Vettel told reporters: "I'm here. I love racing.

"I think the cars are great fun to drive, they're very fast - the fastest we've ever had. Can we do better? I think yes. Is it up to me? Fortunately not.

"But, as I said before, we'll see what the future brings. But I'm here now and as far as I know I'll be here next year, so I'm not thinking about that."

Losing a victory in Canada due to a time penalty incensed Vettel and prompted him to deliver an impassioned sermon on his frustrations with the sport in its current era, something he returned to in Spielberg.

"I said it's not the sport that I fell in love with," Vettel explained.

"As a child I think you fall in love with the cars and the drivers - not literally but… I did have posters of Michael [Schumacher] in my room!

"But you had the admiration for what these drivers do, the cars and how fast they go and so on.

"As a child you're very pure, you're not thinking about rules. I was never interested if they were overweight or underweight or legal or illegal, it didn't matter as a child I just loved to see them racing. I think that's what I tried to express."

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