“I always liked, for some reason, rallying,” Sebastian Vettel drops a hint on his post-career plans
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Sebastian Vettel
Sebastian Vettel retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season. For now, anyways, as he has not yet ruled out a future return. In addition to this, just because he’s not racing in F1 doesn’t mean he won’t race at all or try his hand elsewhere. A case in point is that he’ll be at the 2023 edition of the Race of Champions. This will be his 11th ROC, and he’s already won that event (individually) once, in 2015, in addition to his 7 wins representing Germany.
During his time in F1, Vettel racked up 53 race wins (third-most ever) and 4 world titles, which is quite an impressive tally. But now that he’s called time on his career, he can look at other types of racing. The ROC event will be at the end of January, and he’ll team up with Mick Schumacher. Rallying is another type of racing that is of interest to Vettel.
But for now, he’s looking forward to doing things outside of racing. As per Formula1.com, he said: “I think naturally you do look at other stuff. I don’t know yet, is the answer. I think I quite look forward to the idea of nothing, at first, and then see what it does to me. I mean, there are lots of other things in my head as well. Other interests and ideas outside racing.”
He added: “Obviously I’ve done this for so long and it’s central to my life. So, it will be difficult to say that I’m not going to miss it, but how much and whether then I start to look at something else, we’ll see.” When asked if he would one day like to compete in the Monte Carlo Rally (that starts this week), Vettel said: “I always liked, for some reason, rallying, but I can see it’s a major challenge, because it’s so different to what we do in, let’s say, classic circuit racing. So I don’t know. We’ll see.”
Sebastian Vettel looking forward to being ‘surprised’ by life after F1
Sebastian Vettel retired as he wanted to spend more time with his family, and in pursuits outside racing – such as his environmental activism. But to him, it’s also an opportunity to learn about himself and put himself in uncharted territory. With his fifteen full seasons’ worth of experience in F1, a lot of things must have started seeming routine. He knows what to do and how to do it, and he won’t forget it anytime soon.
But now, he’s looking forward to things that may surprise him. Vettel said: “A lot of things don’t surprise you anymore. So I’m looking forward to being surprised and as I said, learn about myself, spend more time with my kids and family, learn together with them, which obviously will be a different challenge to me and a different pace.”
Fans will be excited to see Vettel in action at the Race of Champions this month, and at any such events (rallying or not) he may participate in following that. Of course, the most exciting thing will be a return to the Formula 1 grid, but that’s unlikely to happen for a few years. Some have predicted that he may return with Audi in a similar way (and role) as Michael Schumacher did with Mercedes.
In case you missed it:
- “He would certainly have the potential for it,” Helmut Marko sees Sebastian Vettel in management position in future F1 seasons
- “He was about the same as average,” Peter Windsor believes Sebastian Vettel has never been at par with Lewis Hamilton
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)