Lauda denies Mercedes eyeing Vettel for 2018

Mar.20 - Niki Lauda is heading to Australia denying rumours Mercedes is lining up a tilt to sign Sebastian Vettel.

The German team does not deny that Nico Rosberg's successor, Valtteri Bottas, was given a mere one-year deal so that a bigger name might be signed up for 2018.

But F1 legend Lauda denies the big plan is to lure German Vettel from Ferrari.

"That is not our plan -- I must say that quite clearly," the triple world champion and Mercedes team chairman told the Austrian broadcaster ORF.

However, he doesn't deny that Mercedes is keeping its options open.

"We're going to start with Bottas and (Lewis) Hamilton and see how it goes," said Lauda.

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Leopold

Leopold Pleijsier founded F1-Fansite.com in 2001 and has followed Formula 1 since the early 1980s. He writes about daily F1 news, race weekends, drivers and the sport’s history.

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