Sebastian Vettel Announces Surprising Return To Racing

Friday, 22 March 2024 at 23:00

Sebastian Vettel will once again appear on the race track as he's set to make a surprising return to the motorsport.

In recent weeks, the German's name has been often mentioned in relation to Mercedes, as after Lewis Hamilton's departure from the team, many saw a great opportunity to return to F1 for Vettel.

The 36-year-old ended his career in the pinnacle of motorsport in 2022 when driving for Aston Martin, and he hinted multiple times that he doesn't really plan to make a return to the sport.

For now, he's not returning to Formula One, however, he will be driving for Porsche Penske Motorsport, testing their Porsche 963 at the Motorland Aragon in Teruel, Spain, ahead of the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans.

This year's most prestigious endurance race is supposed to take place on June 15th and 16th, 2024, and ahead of that, all teams have to test their hypercar prototypes, and this includes a 36-hour testing session, in which Vettel will take part.

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"I’m looking forward to testing the Porsche 963. I already got the chance to get a feel for the car during a rollout in Weissach. I’ve always followed other racing series and my curiosity for endurance events encouraged me to just give it a shot."

According to Vettel's words, he always wanted to try an endurance car, and Porsche, a 19-time Le Mans winner, is certainly the great fit for the four-time Formula One World Champion.

"Now I’m excited about the long run in Aragon and I’m looking forward to my time behind the wheel. It’ll definitely take an adjustment and some getting used to but everyone in the team is very open and helps me."

The first question that many fans asked was whether this means that Vettel will compete at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The German driver addressed that, too, saying there are no further plans at the moment.

"This will be a new experience for me. We will then see what happens next in this respect – at the moment there are no further plans for the future."

Joining Vettel during next week's testing in Spain will be Matt Campbell, Michael Christensen, Frédéric Makowiecki, Kévin Estre, André Lotterer, and Laurens Vanthoor.