Ferrari CEO Louis Camilleri has admitted that Sebastian Vettel’s future at Maranello is clouded.
With the emergence of his young teammate Charles Leclerc, who Camilleri says has a "long term contract", quadruple world champion Vettel has lost his number 1 status for 2020.
Team boss Mattia Binotto says the pair will start 2020, the last year in Vettel’s current contract, at "eye level".
And the big rumour is that from 2021, Ferrari could snap up Lewis Hamilton.
"It would be premature to decide anything now for the future," Camilleri said at Ferrari’s end-of-year dinner.
But it is clear that 32-year-old Vettel will be under the microscope in 2020. Spain’s Marca newspaper says the German has been in contact with McLaren.
"We have to see the performance, the way he adapts to the car and his motivation for the future," Binotto said.
"It’s not about whether he makes mistakes or not. It’s really about how he sees his future and how we see our team."
Camilleri said the Hamilton rumour was "blown out of proportion" by the media, but he did confirm that Ferrari chairman John Elkann met with the Mercedes driver this year.
"We clearly are very flattered that Lewis in particular, and other drivers, want to come and join us, but it would be premature to decide anything today," he added.
Binotto said Ferrari will begin to think about its 2021 lineup more seriously after the first few races of next season.
"Ferrari has the advantage that we are very popular among the drivers," he said. "We are in a privileged situation.
"By the beginning of May, roughly around the race in Spain, we want to know where the journey will go in 2021."