Sebastian Vettel is poised to rescue his beleaguered Formula 1 career by signing up with Aston Martin for 2021.
That is the claim of Germany's Bild newspaper, reporting that "only details" of the contract with the Lawrence Stroll-owned team that is currently called Racing Point are still to be clarified.
It is believed Vettel has even met with Stroll in Switzerland, where they both live.
"The topis is already being discussed behind hands in the paddock," F1 legend Gerhard Berger, who was Vettel's first team boss in F1, told Servus TV.
"I can imagine that Sebastian will go to Racing Point."
With Stroll's son Lance in one cockpit, it is believed a break clause in Sergio Perez's Racing Point contract will be triggered prior to July 31.
Therefore, as a result of ending that EUR 7 million per year deal, Vettel might even have agreed to race for free next year.
"To my knowledge, Perez has a so-called soft contract which can be terminated relatively easily," Berger told f1-insider.com.
Vettel, though, is not confirming the news.
"My future is still open," he said on the phone this week. "Nothing has been decided yet. I could take a year off - a lot is still possible.
"The only certain thing is that I will do everything possible until the end of the season to get out of this current low with Ferrari," the quadruple world champion added.
If Vettel does go to Aston Martin, former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher thinks the 33-year-old and Stroll's new project would be "an ingenious combination".
"He will have the best engine in the field in his car," he told Sky Deutschland, "and at the last race, Racing Point was the fastest car after Mercedes.
"At the moment you have to put them on the list alongside Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull."
Referring to team owner Stroll, Schumacher added: "That's what happened at Red Bull - a billionaire who really wants to move a team forward.
"Vettel is also definitely in the mood. The way it is now is not the way a champion wants to retire."
