LONDON: Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel has suggested he could return to Formula One following talks with Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff.
Mercedes are in search of a new driver after Lewis Hamilton announced in February he was leaving the team for Ferrari following 11 years with the Silver Arrows.
Vettel won his four world championship titles with Red Bull from 2010-13. He retired from Formula One at the end of the 2022 season after six years at Ferrari and two with Aston Martin.
But he has now hinted at a return to Grand Prix racing following talks with Wolff and several other team bosses.
“I am speaking to Toto. I don’t know if that qualifies as Mercedes, but about other things,” Vettel told Sky Sports News on Wednesday.
“I’m talking to a lot of people because I know them, but not very specific. I mean obviously it does cross my mind, I do think about it, but it’s not the main thought,” the 36-year-old German added.
“I have three kids at home, it’s busy every day, so there’s a lot of other thoughts I have. 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. There’s thoughts, but nothing concrete at the minute.”
Vettel said he was taken aback by Hamilton’s decision to leave Mercedes for Ferrari after winning six world championships with the German giants.
“I was surprised, like I guess most of us were,” he said.
“But it is exciting. Obviously he’s looking for a new challenge and it will be different to see him in red, in a different color.”
Vettel, meanwhile, has been test-driving the Porsche car scheduled to compete in this year’s Le Mans 24 Hours.
“Maybe, I don’t know yet,” he replied when asked if he could make his first appearance in the celebrated endurance race this year.
“I’ve been testing. I was curious, so 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.
“I am (tempted) and I’m not. I am obviously also looking for lots of other things and there’s lots of other things that do interest me outside of racing.”
Vettel hints at Formula One return after talks with Mercedes boss
https://arab.news/6rd3y
Vettel hints at Formula One return after talks with Mercedes boss
- Vettel won his four world championship titles with Red Bull from 2010-13
- “I am speaking to Toto. I don’t know if that qualifies as Mercedes, but about other things,” Vettel told Sky Sports News on Wednesday
Variawa wins Dakar 8th stage, Al-Attiyah retains overall lead
- 5 stages remain before Saturday’s finish in the Red Sea port of Yanbu
WADI AL-DAWASIR: Saood Variawa won the eighth stage of the Dakar Rally in a South African one-two with Henk Lategan on Monday as Nasser Al-Attiyah saw his overall lead cut to four minutes in the Saudi desert.
Dacia Sandriders driver Al-Attiyah finished fifth and one minute and 16 seconds behind 20-year-old Toyota SA driver Variawa, who beat factory entry Lategan by three seconds on the 483km loop around the southern city of Wadi Al-Dawasir.
The Qatari’s closest rival Mattias Ekstrom was third for Ford in the longest stage of the 48th edition of the rally.
Last year’s Dakar runner-up Lategan moved up to third overall, six minutes and eight seconds off the lead with five stages remaining before Saturday’s finish in the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
The one-two was the fourth ever by South African drivers in the car category.
Ford’s Nani Roma and Carlos Sainz were fourth and fifth respectively.
“We made a little mistake close to the finish and we lost around three minutes,” said Al-Attiyah, a five times Dakar winner. “But OK, I am really happy from the performance. We don’t lose a lot of time. I think we did a good job.”
Predictions that this year’s Dakar would be the closest battle yet were backed up by the top five in the standings, from three different teams, being separated by 10 minutes and 39 seconds.
Sixth-placed Sebastien Loeb, the nine-times world rally champion driving for Dacia, remained in contention and was within 17 minutes of his leading teammate.
Reigning Dakar champion Yazeed Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia withdrew last week.
In the motorcycle category, Argentina’s Luciano Benavides took his third stage win in four days and seized the overall lead for the first time in his career from Australian KTM teammate and defending champion Daniel Sanders.
Benavides, who had started the day nearly five minutes adrift, leads Sanders by 10 seconds with American Honda rider Ricky Brabec third and four minutes 47 seconds off the pace.
“These last two stages were a little bit faster and in these conditions I feel really good, I can read the roadbook super well and take really good decisions,” said Benavides.
The Dakar began in 1978 as a race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital but switched to South America in 2009 for security reasons. It moved to Saudi Arabia in 2020.
The race is the first round of the World Rally-Raid Championship season.
