Sebastian Vettel: "I’m ready to give it my all..."

Sebastian Vettel says he is eager to get his belated 2020 F1 World Championship season up and running as he prepares to kick off what will be his final season competing with the Scuderia.

Almost four months on from the 2020 F1 season being thrown into disarray when the coronavirus pandemic began to strike hard, Vettel returns to a very different looking F1 with no spectators permitted to attend the two back-to-back Red Bull Ring events, while extra precautions need to be made between teams to ensure social distancing is maintained.

With the mid-year start to the season bringing its own challenges, Ferrari admits it is starting on the back foot having only made limited adjustments to its SF1000 since pre-season testing when it struggled to match Red Bull and Mercedes’ pace.

Moreover, with Vettel coming into the 2020 season with the knowledge he will leave Ferrari at the end of the season, he is nonetheless excited to be getting back into the thick of the action.

“It’s no secret that we’re all really keen to get back on track, as it’s been such a long time now,” he said. “At the start, the break was enjoyable, as usually we are always travelling around the world and we have little time to spend with family and friends, but the time has come to get back on track.

“I’m ready to give it my all, even if it won't be the same without the fans there supporting us. The Austrian track is like a carousel that goes round really quickly but I like it a lot, especially as it is high in the mountains which I love.

“We have to be realistic when it comes to the pecking order seen at the tests, but we are not downhearted. It will also be unusual doing two races in a row here as for the second one we will have a lot of data to work with. What we do in the first weekend will have an important effect on the second.”