Sebastian Vettel on the possible return and rumors about Mercedes: the former world champion misses Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari brings excitement to the “stupid season” of Formula 1: the 2024 season hasn’t even started on track yet. And right in the middle of the speculation is a potential superstar returning from Germany: Sebastian Vettel.

The 36-year-old, a four-time world champion in a row between 2010 and 2013, ended his career at the end of 2022 but left the back door open for a possible return. Already in mid-February “Motorsport-Total.com” reported for the first time that he would be interested in returning if Mercedes offered him a cockpit.

A thesis that now seems to be slowly gaining ground. Because on Friday the “NZZ” published a great interview with Vettel, in which the Swiss explicitly stated for the first time that, firstly, Hamilton’s change “surprised” him, and secondly, that he had already ” briefly exchanged text messages” with Toto Wolff.

Vettel continues by saying that a return “is not yet a problem for me, also because at 36 I still have all the time in the world. So it won’t disappear.” And he stresses that “there is no active plan yet” to return to Formula 1 as a driver. Question: “Is that a clear no now?” Vettel’s answer: “No.”

Vettel rules out a clear no to returning because: “Maybe at some point there will be a point where I will say: ‘Yes, I would like to go back.’ “If I can sort it out in my mind so that it suddenly makes sense again. But at the moment I’m doing very well without driving in Formula 1. There’s no firm no, but there’s no firm yes either.”

It has emerged from the people around him that, on the one hand, the father of three (two daughters and a son) is enjoying his new, slower life, but on the other hand he misses racing more than he initially wanted to admit. “It’s a process, and it’s probably still ongoing for me. Sometimes I miss the tension of the old world,” he admitted.

A return as a driver to international motorsport would have been possible as early as 2024. At the end of 2023, negotiations took place with the Jota Porsche team, which will compete in the WEC world endurance championship. Vettel could have been Jenson Button’s teammate and opponent, among others, of Mick Schumacher.

But the deal ultimately fell through. As of today, it looks like he will live another year without taking part in professional motor racing in 2024 after 2023. Vettel admitted: “There are things I miss. […] I lived for the moment, the competition. That’s what I miss most.”

The big question is: even if the information is correct that he has already expressed interest in Mercedes, would Mercedes really want him? Toto Wolff says that after Melbourne (i.e. at the end of March) a fundamental decision could be made on the direction in which the search for Hamilton’s successor will go.

In an interview with “Sky”, the Mercedes team boss confirmed: “We have to decide after three or four races: do we aim for young people, do we plan for the long term? Or do we aim for experience and try to optimize in the short term and give the young people with a few more years of experience? This is the decision.”

Insiders translate it like this: After Melbourne, Formula 2 will also have completed its first three race weekends in 2024. Then it will be at least a little clearer how well Andrea Kimi Antonelli fares in Formula 2. The seventeen-year-old Mercedes Junior was described by Wolff himself as a “child prodigy”.

But: Antonelli skipped Formula 3 and will contest his first season in Formula 2 in 2024. Sitting directly in the factory Mercedes in Formula 1 in 2025 would represent an immensely steep development in his career. And in the first race of the Formula 2 season, Friday’s sprint, he finished only 14th.

There is therefore much to suggest that Mercedes will be thinking more in the direction of an experienced driver who could fill a year or two before Antonelli is ready for the Silver Arrow of Formula 1. The names that come to mind are Fernando Alonso (Wolff has already met his manager Flavio Briatore), Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon or Nico Hülkenberg.

And Sebastian Vettel. Wolff: “Sebastian is a good guy and a giant in this sport.” At the same time, Mercedes is in the luxury position of having one of the most attractive cockpits on the market and is therefore under no pressure. Wolff smiled: “At the moment they are calling me from numbers I didn’t even know. Sometimes I ask myself: should I answer now or not?”

Alonso, for his part, has already been contacted by Aston Martin to extend his contract. Which the Spaniard won’t do as long as he’s racing for Mercedes. And many in the paddock suspect: if Wolff could choose between Alonso and Vettel, who hasn’t driven in Formula 1 for two years, then he would prefer to choose Alonso.

But Wolff stressed in the interview with “Sky” that – unlike other experts in the paddock – he is not of the opinion that Vettel was no longer fast enough in the last years of his active career: “I think he also has that performance, ” he said. In theory he could have said it that way out of politeness.