Mercedes' "many good options" make Vettel move unlikely - Allison

Mercedes technical director James Allison believes the Formula 1 team has too many good options on the table that would prevent the signing of Sebastian Vettel.

The four-time F1 champion has been linked with a move to Mercedes since it was announced he would be leaving Ferrari at the end of this year after six seasons with the Scuderia.

Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has so far refused to dismiss the possibility of Vettel forming a 'dream-team' driver line-up with Lewis Hamilton, saying he owed it to the 32-year-old German to consider him as a possibility.

The team could yet retain Valtteri Bottas for another season, while it has reserve driver George Russell patiently waiting in the wings as he serves his 'apprenticeship' with Williams.

Asked as whether Hamilton and Vettel would be a workable solution inside Mercedes given their status in F1, Allison told the F1 Nation podcast: "The first and most obvious thing to say is that we have a very fine driver line-up today. We also have options around us that give us access to other fine drivers.

"So it's not very easy to imagine the stars aligning in such a way as to ever make your question hypothetical. I can imagine if that were ever to happen, both men would figure out a way to make it work.

"Clearly Lewis is a phenomenal driver and Sebastian has a fair few achievements under his belt as well. I'm sure the professionals in both of them would find a way of making it work."

Allison, however, added: "I find it very difficult to imagine that the many good options that we have around us would ever evaporate to that extent."

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