Sebastian Vettel has quietly made a significant change to the small circle that’s surrounded him throughout his Formula 1 life, splitting with long-time press officer Britta Roeske.
In a sport where drivers cycle through engineers, managers and advisers as careers rise and fall, Vettel’s relationship with Roeske was one of the steadier constants. She’d been alongside him since his first season with Red Bull Racing in 2009, stayed through the championship years, the Ferrari stretch, the Aston Martin finale, and even remained in place after he stepped away at the end of 2022.
Roeske has indicated she’s moving on to “a new professional chapter”, describing her time working with Vettel as “formative and enriching” both personally and professionally. She did not respond to a request for comment this week.
Those around the paddock will recognise how unusual it is for a driver’s comms set-up to remain intact after retirement — but Vettel hasn’t exactly treated retirement like a clean break. While he’s no longer on the grid, his presence and profile have continued to flicker in and out of F1’s frame, and Roeske’s role remained relevant because Vettel’s post-F1 work has still put him in front of cameras, sponsors and stakeholders.
Since walking away from racing, Vettel has leaned heavily into environmental campaigning, appearing at races periodically in support of causes he’s attached his name to. He attended the 2023 Japanese Grand Prix as part of a campaign aimed at supporting bee populations, and in 2024 he was back in the spotlight at Imola, leading tributes to Ayrton Senna during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix weekend marking 30 years since Senna’s death at the circuit. Later that year, he also appeared at the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos.
Away from F1, Vettel has invested in the Germany SailGP team since leaving the championship. His most recent public outing came not in a paddock, but on the roads of the UK: he ran last month’s London Marathon in aid of the Brain & Spine Foundation and The Grand Prix Trust, completing the race in under three hours.
With Roeske stepping away, Vettel is expected to have a new team handling his public relations going forward — a detail that sounds procedural on paper, but matters when the subject is a four-time world champion who still carries outsized influence in the sport’s conversation. Even in 2026, with F1 moving through its new era and the grid’s centre of gravity shifting, Vettel remains one of those figures whose occasional appearances generate disproportionate attention.
And that’s why this split stands out: it isn’t just a staffing change, it’s the end of a long-running partnership that helped shape how Vettel was presented — and often, how he chose to present himself — through the most scrutinised years of his career.
