Sebastian Vettel Clarifies Position on Potential Formula 1 Return
Sebastian Vettel says he remains open to a future role in Formula 1, but he isn’t chasing one. In an interview regarding his future plans with BBC Radio 5 Live, the four time world champion addressed months of paddock chatter directly. Any Sebastian Vettel F1 return, he made clear, is not something he is actively working towards right now.
Vettel retired from the sport at the end of 2022 after two seasons with Aston Martin. Between 2010 and 2013 he won four consecutive drivers’ titles with Red Bull, having also driven for Toro Rosso and Ferrari across a career spent mostly at the front of the grid.
BBC 5Live Interview Details and Official Statements
“I’m always open for what comes around the corner in terms of maybe a role in the future, but I’m not actively pursuing it,” Vettel told 5 Live. Asked whether he had been putting himself forward to any teams, he was just as direct.
“I’m not speaking to teams or individuals and dropping my CV here and there but following from the outside with great joy and pleasure,” he said. He isn’t touring the paddock with a CV; he’s watching from a distance instead. “I’m still very much involved in the sport,” Vettel added. “Obviously, I don’t have an active role at the moment, but very much following what’s going on and caring about the sport’s future.”
Vettel’s Post-F1 Activities and Focus on Sustainability
Life away from the cockpit has given Vettel plenty to occupy him. “Obviously, I enjoy the time that I have,” he said. “I think it’s a privilege to be in that position with family, but also I run a little farm at home, so looking after that.” It’s a quieter existence than his championship years, but a full one all the same.
He has kept a public profile too, from his charity London Marathon run earlier this year to a recent appearance at the inaugural Wellington Race of Champions. Sustainability, though, is where his energy really goes. He talks about it in personal terms, caring about the sport’s environmental future for his own children as much as “for all of us and the future of the sport,” as he put it. Readers who caught our piece on his views on F1 sustainability rules will know this isn’t new ground for him. “But obviously, the topics that have been in my head the final years of my active career are still very much there and present,” he added.
Formula 1 Horizon and Future Project Timeline
Vettel pointed to two specific things he’s still watching from outside the sport: F1’s push for net zero carbon by 2030, and the new engine regulations on the way. “Especially [F1’s net zero goal in] 2030 or the new regulations, what might change,” he said, when asked what still catches his attention.
He wouldn’t put a timeline on any next step, but he suggested the door hasn’t closed. “That’s where it closes the loop and the projects that I’ve done, some of them visible at the track, others less visible, I’m very much thinking about the ideas that I have for what might come next,” he said. For now, a Sebastian Vettel F1 return stays a possibility rather than a plan, with the German focused on family, the farm, and the causes he cared about long before he left the grid.
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