Sebastian Vettel keeps the door ajar: endurance itch hasn’t gone away
Sebastian Vettel isn’t done with the idea of racing. Not entirely, anyway.
Speaking on F1’s Beyond the Grid podcast, the four-time world champion made it clear that while life outside the cockpit suits him just fine, a competitive return isn’t off the table if the right programme comes along — with endurance racing still very much on his radar.
“I haven’t ruled it out completely,” Vettel said. “I tested the Porsche and it was fun, to be honest. It wasn’t a Formula 1 car, but I didn’t expect it to be. I enjoyed it, and I can see the element of sharing a car and being more of a team.”
That Porsche test, in the 963 Hypercar, came last spring as he sized up the World Endurance Championship’s top class. It didn’t lead to a seat then, but the experience clearly landed. The tone was unmistakable: he feels the pull of long-distance racing’s collaborative rhythm after a career built on elbows-out individual combat.
“In Formula 1, it’s all elbows out, you try to beat your teammate,” he said. “With endurance, there’s something attractive about doing it together.”
Vettel, now 38, stepped away from F1 at the end of 2022 after his final season with Aston Martin. Since then he’s been frequently linked to returns of various shapes and sizes — rumours he’s mostly ignored — while throwing himself into family life and off-track projects. Yet the competitive spark never vanishes entirely for drivers of his calibre. He admits the itch appears at very specific times.
“It’s the intense moments that I might miss,” he explained. “Like when I was in Japan for Buzzin’ Corners, watching qualifying from the sidelines. I thought, ‘I wish I was in the car right now,’ because I know exactly how it feels: low fuel, new tyres, Suzuka. I wish I could explain it to you.”
Then reality checks in. “On Sunday, watching them come around with a full tank and managing tyres — that bit I didn’t miss,” he added with a smile. It’s the razor-edge laps at Monaco, the street circuits under the lights, the fight when someone’s breathing down your neck — that’s what lingers.
Vettel revealed he’d spoken with Porsche around his earlier test but the talks “never really materialised.” Still, he’s not closing any chapters. “I don’t rule it out,” he said. “I know I’m getting older, but I’m not ‘old’ old. I’m still in very good shape, because I love sports.”
That last line matters. Endurance racing, perhaps more than ever, rewards fitness, racecraft and mechanical sympathy — qualities Vettel has in spades. It also asks for harmony with teammates, a trait that’s often defined his strongest years in F1. The culture of a WEC programme would likely suit the methodical, detail-driven side of Vettel that thrived at Red Bull and was often visible even in Ferrari’s tougher days.
None of this means a return is imminent. He’s been consistent about enjoying the balance of his post-F1 life, and he doesn’t sound like a man hunting for a gap on the grid. But in a paddock where words are weighed carefully, “I don’t rule it out” is as loud as it gets from Vettel.
If he does reappear, don’t expect a half-measure. It would be a programme with purpose, the kind that offers him those “intense moments” without the everyday grind he’s happy to have left behind. And he knows exactly where to look for them.
