Brown: Vettel was never in the running for the McLaren seat

Sebastian Vettel was never considered as a replacement for Carlos Sainz says McLaren CEO Zak Brown.

Sainz may have moved in the opposite direction, joining Ferrari in place of Vettel, but Brown has told the Sky Sports F1 Vodcast that the German was never considered as a viable option for McLaren.

"Obviously Seb's an awesome driver and a four-time champion," said Brown. "But I think we were pretty far down the path in the off-season and knew we would either land with Daniel or Carlos.

"We never really entertained anyone beyond that, and especially with Seb's late breaking news - we were pretty far down the path at that point."

Unlikely to land a seat at Mercedes alongside Lewis Hamilton, Vettel appears to have very few options available to him if he wishes to continue in the sport.

"It really depends, if Seb looks around, it doesn't look like there's a Mercedes or Red Bull opportunity for him, there's not a McLaren opportunity for him, clearly not at Ferrari, so the next best is Renault," added Brown.

"And the next question is does Seb want to go with a team that is probably not going to win in 2021? It's a great team, and they too should be moving up the grid but I think unless Seb wants to restart a journey with a team that's back on a journey - then I think he'll end up probably leaving the sport unfortunately."

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