Sebastian Vettel says he is still “very open” with Ferrari in spite of his impending exit from the team at the end of the year.
Ferrari opted not to enter discussions with Vettel over extending his contract beyond 2020 and instead agreed terms with current McLaren racer Carlos Sainz.
Vettel has yet to determine his plans and has reiterated regularly this year that he has several options, including staying in Formula 1, taking a sabbatical, or retiring.
Vettel only has 10 races remaining with Ferrari but he dismissed suggestions that the partnership would suffer as a result of their impending separation.
“I don’t feel pushed out,” he said. “We are very open, also vocal and when something is not right – and that’s for Charles [Leclerc] and myself – if I get asked, I would answer.
“And if I don’t get asked, I might say it, nevertheless. I’m open, I’m here to do my job until the end of the year and there might be a lot in it for the team but there’s also a lot in it for me.
“I enjoy racing and I want to make sure I can get out of the car at the end of the year knowing that I’ve done everything I can to put all the things together, that mattered, to get the best result.”
Ferrari claimed victory courtesy of Leclerc at Monza last year but this season the marque has struggled for performance, and arrives at the venue only fifth in the standings.
“I’m not going to lie, it’s not going to be an easy weekend for us,” said Vettel.
“I think it’s very difficult to expect a big change from last weekend. Having said that, last weekend we were a little bit worse off than normal so I hope we can be back to normal, but we also know that these type of tracks do hurt us by nature, so we will see.
“We’re here to fight and we’re here to fight for the tifosi as well and we are doing the utmost we can.
“But expectations are always a big word, especially here being in Monza, so it will be very difficult this year.
“We are not having the support from the fans around the track but we will do everything we can to put the best race weekend we can together.”
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