Vettel tempted by aspects of F1 return, coy on Mercedes link

Sebastian Vettel says he is tempted by aspects of a return to Formula 1 and has been speaking to Toto Wolff among other team bosses, but not only about vacant seats.

Mercedes has an opening for 2025 with Lewis Hamilton moving to Ferrari, and Vettel’s recent Porsche Hypercar test suggests he’s open to a return to top level racing. The 36-year-old has not raced significantly since retiring from F1 at the end of 2022 and says he is tempted by a return, but that he other areas of interest too.

“Yeah I am [tempted], and I’m not,” Vettel told Sky News. “I am obviously looking for lots of other things and there’s lots of other things that do also interest me outside of racing.

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“I didn’t know that!” the four-time world champion joked about the seat at Mercedes. “I don’t know… There are bits that do excite me [about a return] of course, when I think about it, but there are also bits that don’t. [I miss] the thrill, the speed, I think the competition mostly. Driving quick is not the only thing, but it’s really the competition.

“I’m talking to a lot of people, because I know them, but not very specifically. Obviously it does cross my mind, I do think about it, but it’s not the main thought. I have three kids at home, it’s busy every day, there’s lots of other thoughts that I have…

“I am speaking to Toto, I don’t know if that qualifies as Mercedes, but about other things. There’s ideas that I have, events that I’m planning going forward so I did speak to a lot of other team principals as well, and not only about racing.”

And Vettel says a Le Mans drive with Porsche could be on the cards after his test, as he wanted to know what the 963 Hypercar felt like to drive.

“Maybe, I don’t know yet. I’ve been testing, I was curious. I wanted to see how it feels, it’s obviously a different discipline – it’s still racing but it’s a different car, different discipline. But yeah, there’s lots of things that excite me. Lots of different things, not necessarily just looking at something behind the wheel but also outside the car.”