Are you already planning for 2024?
Sebastian Vettel ponders motorsport comeback
By Felix Görner and Emmanuel Schneider
06/14/2023, 7:18 p.m
Will we see Sebastian Vettel’s racing comeback next year? According to information from RTL/ntv, the four-time Formula 1 world champion is considering starting in the legendary 24-hour race in Le Mans. He would not be the first ex-world champion to ride there.
Sebastian Vettel is currently retired from motorsport. But at least a temporary return seems to be a real option at the moment. According to RTL/ntv research, the 35-year-old is considering starting in the racing classic 24 Hours of Le Mans for the coming year. Accordingly, the motorsport veteran followed this year’s race in France intensively in his home country last weekend. According to reports, Vettel is particularly fascinated by the history, the cars and the history of the event and can well imagine competing there in 2024 as well.
His former teammate Charles Leclerc was a step closer this year. The Ferrari driver, who is not yet running smoothly in the current Formula 1 season, followed the sensational comeback victory of the traditional brand in Le Mans from the Scuderia pits after a 50-year absence. Visibly enthusiastic about the classic, the Monegasque spoke of a possible start in the coming years. However, he did not give an exact time.
The importance of the 24 Hours of Le Mans has increased for Formula 1 drivers in recent years. A former F1 driver, Antonio Giovinazzi, was part of Ferrari’s winning team this year. Kamui Kobayashi (Toyota), Sébastien Buemi (Toyota) and Sébastien Bourdais (Cadillac) also once drove in the premier class of motorsport. With Jenson Button (Hendrick Motorsports), world champion from 2009, there was even a former champion at the start.
Vettel’s spokeswoman is already there
Possible role models for Vettel could also be Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso. In 2015, the currently only German Formula 1 driver drove in Le Mans and won in his guest appearance with Porsche. Since there were no scheduling conflicts with Formula 1, his then Force India team allowed the start. The same was true for Fernando Alonso, who competed in Le Mans in 2018 and 2019 (his second year he did not drive in F1) and triumphed in both years.
Vettel’s spokeswoman Britta Roeske at Le Mans.
(Photo: IMAGO/Andreas Beil)
There has already been a change from the Vettel camp to Le Mans. The spokeswoman for the ex-world champion, Britta Roeske, recently made her debut as a TV reporter for “L’Équipe TV”. It is quite possible that Vettel will take the same step next year and get into a hypercar.
If he still needed conviction, the 2023 race provided good illustrative material: 100 years after the Le Mans premiere, returning Ferrari dethroned the endurance champions from Toyota, who had always won since 2018, in a memorable race. After 24 hours, both cars fighting for victory were within one lap – with the better end for Ferrari. 300,000 fans followed the spectacle along the route.
“Everything is possible at the moment”
Vettel ended his Formula 1 career last year after 16 years and 53 wins in 299 races. Between 2010 and 2013 he won four world titles in a row with Red Bull. His positions at Ferrari (2015 to 2020) and Aston Martin (2021 to 2022) were much less successful, the native of Heppenheim made his debut for Williams in 2007 before, after a year and a sensational victory in Monza for Toro Rosso, he made his way into the Red Bull team found.
After retiring, he spent more time with his wife Hanna and their three children. In addition, Vettel takes care of his heart projects around climate and environment. In the RTL/ntv interview in March, he explained that he would follow Formula 1 “quite normally as a viewer in front of the television”.
Vettel did not rule out a comeback. “Everything is possible at the moment,” said the four-time champion at the time. “It can go in all different possible directions. It’s also possible that in six months I’ll go crazy, I can’t stand it on the couch and want to drive again. But it’s also possible that my passion will go in a completely different direction turns and my ambition to be able to bundle all the experiences into another project.”