Sebastian Vettel could make a return to racing with the Volkswagen group next season: Report

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel could reportedly return to racing with the Volkswagen Group driving in the Hypercar series in the 2024 season.

The German driver retired from the world of motorsport at the end of the 2022 season after driving for the Aston Martin F1 team for two years. However, he was recently spotted at the 2023 F1 Japanese Grand Prix as a spectator and claimed that he was missing the action after watching the cars go around the track while being on the sidelines.

As per AMuS, there are some speculations linking him with a drive in the World Endurance Championship with the British Hypercar team Jota. It is believed that former F1 world champion Jenson Button and F1 driver Robert Kubica have also held talks with Team Jota. A report also claimed a test in an LMP2 car could be lined up for Vettel soon.

Speaking on his return, Sebastian Vettel said:

“Nothing has been signed or decided yet. But I have the matter in the back of my mind. I still have time to decide. If at some point I come to the conclusion that it doesn’t work without racing, then I will drive again.”

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Sebastian Vettel explains why he can not rule out a return to the sport

Sebastian Vettel has said that although he is not thinking about racing again, he cannot rule out the possibility of a return in the future.

Speaking with Channel 4, the former Ferrari driver said:

“I’m not thinking about it too much, to be honest. That’s not a no, but how could you rule it out? I mean, I can say ‘no’ now but then in a year, I’m watching the race and I’m starting to panic – might happen, I don’t know. Then what? You know, then I was like, ‘Oh, but a year ago, you said no [to coming back]’, so I think it’s safer to say, you never know."

He added:

“But yeah, I mean it’s a big commitment. Obviously, I stopped for plenty of reasons. I love the time at home that I’ve got with the family. At the moment, one bubble is getting smaller and a lot of doors or things open up. It might be that at some point, it could be a good thing to think of jumping back into the bubble. I don’t know.”

It will be fascinating to see which motorsport category will Sebastian Vettel choose if he ever decides to return to racing in the near future.