Ferrari won’t start contract negotiations until late summer or early fall

Maurizio Arrivabene (C) does not want to lose his star driver Sebastian Vettel (L) He will want to lock Vettel in by Monza.

Just one race into the 2017 season and Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene insists he won’t be opening talks with either driver as it would be “distracting."

Both Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen are out on contract at the end of this season.

While 37-year-old Raikkonen could call it quits on his F1 career, Vettel has been linked to a move to Mercedes.

Last season the German was frustrated with the Scuderia’s performance as he went win-less.

This year, with a race win already to his name having triumphed in Australia, Arrivabene is hoping for a happier Vettel as that speaks to Ferrari’s progress.

He is, however, not willing to distract from the job at hand by entering contract talks with either driver.

The Italian said: “Talking about contracts now is only distracting the attention of our drivers, so I’m not ready to talk about any contracts.

“Then, I would like to see Sebastian happy during the season, because if Sebastian is happy, that means the car is very quick." Planet F1