Mercedes could put together the two dominant drivers of modern Formula One in a star line-up with Sebastian Vettel a possibility to join Lewis Hamilton.
Team boss Toto Wolff said Mercedes would be giving consideration to the possibility of shaking up their established driver partnership to bring in Vettel when his Ferrari contract expires at the end of this season.
“I don’t want to discount Sebastian as a four-time world champion because who knows what happens in the next months?” said Wolff.
“If I had told you in January that we would not have any racing in the first half of the year, nobody would have believed it. So, in that respect we are just keeping our options open at this stage.
“It’s not lip service. I think we owe it to a four-time world champion not to come out and say straightaway, ‘No’. You need to think about it.
“On the other side, we have a fantastic line-up (Hamilton is currently paired with Valtteri Bottas) and I’m happy with both our pilots. But you never know.
"One of them may decide that he doesn’t want to go racing anymore and suddenly you have a vacant spot.”
Ex-F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone previously told Standard Sport that, after talks with Vettel, he expected the German to take a year’s break from the sport before returning in 2022.
