Vettel not an option for Red Bull

Red Bull boss Christian Horner has confirmed the team are not looking to bring Sebastian Vettel back for a second stint.

As a partnership, Vettel and Red Bull enjoyed considerable success, but Horner is focused on future rather than looking back at what has been.

“Sebastian is a great driver and what we achieved together was huge - those four back-to-back consecutive championships," Horner told the Sky Sports F1 Show. "He’s obviously made his decision to leave Ferrari, that’s his choice.

"I’m sure he’s thought very long and hard about it, but we’re very happy with the driver line-up we have in place, and Alex [Albon] was getting stronger throughout last year. We have Max [Verstappen] on a long-term contract and our ideal is to continue with those two drivers, not just for the next season but beyond that into 2021."

In a media conference call on Wednesday, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff opened the door to a move for Vettel, saying: "We owe it to a four-time world champion not to come out and say straight away 'no'. You need to think about it."

After backing Albon as a long-term partner for Verstappen, Horner added a word of warning that the Thai British driver will need to keep improving if he is to keep his seat.

Horner added: “Obviously, that will depend on how Alex performs but all the indications that we saw and the progress we saw last year show that we have a strong pairing in Max and Alex.”

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