Ferrari: "Vettel still a key cog within the team"

Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies has insisted Sebastian Vettel is still massively important within the team, saying he'd love to confirm the German's stay beyond the 2020 season.

Vettel endured a very difficult 2019 campaign, winning just one race and getting two pole positions while young teammate Charles Leclerc out-performed the four-time champion. 

Now entering his sixth season at Ferrari, Vettel has still yet to deliver a title to Maranello, although it has to be said his cars in the first three years were not capable of doing so.

Mekies, a former safety director at the FIA before being hired by Ferrari in 2018, still believes Vettel is of vital importance to the Italian works team, however.

"He has natural leadership in his DNA and he is a massively important figure in our project," the Frenchman told Autosprint.

"He always finds the right words, he is calm and he motivates people. You get more out of a driver when he stays at a team longer, and I'd like to confirm this with Sebastian."

Vettel's contract runs out at the end of 2020, as is the case of the majority of the grid. Leclerc recently signed a deal that keeps him in Maranello until 2024.