Vettel Would Return To F1 If Offered Fast Car According To Former Colleague

Tuesday, 02 April 2024 at 18:15

Bernie Collins, a Former Aston Martin strategy engineer who previously worked with Sebastian Vettel, suggested she believed he would return if he was offered a fast car.

Sebastian Vettel, who retired at the end of the season 2022, was recently rumored to be on Toto Wolff's list for a potential Lewis Hamilton replacement.

The 36-year-old admitted that he had a brief exchange of a few text messages with Mercedes's team principal; however, he suggested he wouldn't be making a return yet.

The German driver is now 36 and believes he still has some time to make a return if he wants. Nowadays, we have 42-year-old Fernando Alonso, who will be 43 this year, driving for Aston Martin.

Read also

Hill Predicts Verstappen To Be Beaten During Japanese Grand Prix

While Vettel hasn't yet said anything specific about a potential return to F1, he suggested he was playing with the idea. Bernie Collins believes there are circumstances under which he would return. She told The Fast and The Curious podcast:

"I think he would. I think that all of them have that drive within them, and all of them have been doing this for the past X number of years. Not even their F1 career – like their karting career, their junior career, they've been doing it for so long."

"So, he stepped away [from F1] less than I did a year and a half ago. Unless you very quickly fill that void, I imagine for all of them, there's that sort of slight pullback."

In the later stages of his career, Vettel didn't have the luxury of having the fastest car on the grid. Collins reckons that if he knew he would have a fast car, the German driver would be inclined to jump in.

"If someone says, 'Oh, you can get in this reasonably fast car for a year,' he'd be like, 'Yeah.' I think, unfortunately, he was racing in Aston Martin, the car wasn't performing as expected, he was trying to prioritize his home life, his kids, stuff like that – very important."

Vettel has clearly been considering returning to motorsport, but perhaps he should try a different category, as he has lately participated in testing with Porsche's WEC team.