Vettel is contemplating a 2024 comeback with an ex-F1 superteam.
Sebastien Vettel, a four-time Formula 1 champion, is considering making a full-time comeback in 2024.
Vettel might compete in the World Endurance Championship in 2024, and he might even end up sharing a car with Jenson Button and Robert Kubica, two of his former F1 competitors.
According to the German publication Auto Motor und Sport, Sebastian Vettel had discussions with customer Porsche team Jota about joining the lineup in the second of the UK-based team’s two Porsche 963s that will be used in an all-star lineup next season.
When Vettel made the decision to retire from racing last year, he wasn’t in a rush to set up a post-F1 racing schedule.
He has satisfied his urge to drive by making appearances in his own vintage F1 vehicles, such as at Goodwood and reuniting with a Red Bull that won the championship at a recent Nordschleife race.
However, Vettel would be taking a big step if he made a full racing comeback with a serious schedule.
Additionally, the information being circulated is not just unproven rumors.
Vettel and respected F1 journalist Michael Schmidt get along well, and Schmidt questioned Vettel about this issue at Suzuka last weekend.
Vettel is quoted by Schmidt’s magazine Auto Motor und Sport as saying, “Nothing has been signed or decided yet.”.
But I’m keeping the issue in the back of my mind.
I’ve got time to make a choice.
“I’ll drive again if I eventually decide that it won’t work without racing.
“.
Vettel renamed Turn 2 of the renowned track “BUZZIN’ CORNER” while in Suzuka to launch a new biodiversity initiative.
On the Thursday before the Japanese Grand Prix, he launched it with the support of nearly the entire F1 grid and various senior staff members and installed 11 “insect hotels” behind the inside barrier at the corner.
Vettel had only twice since retiring raced in an F1 paddock.
At the beginning of the year, he was also present in Monaco.
Kubica, who currently leads the LMP2 class with Team WRT after winning the Spa and most recent Fuji WEC races with teammates Rui Andrade and Louis Deletraz, may replace Vettel.
Kubica has yet to decide on a Hypercar drive for the upcoming season, but Jota has spoken with him.
Assuming nothing changes, Kubica will join Andrade and Deletraz as the last LMP2 champions of the WEC before the competition is limited to GT3 and Hypercars.
After competing in his second 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this year with the Garage 56-entered Hendrick Motorsport-run NASCAR, the 2009 F1 champion Button is reportedly also eyeing a Hypercar program for the upcoming season.
Both Vettel and Button have recently had conversations with the Jota team, which is running a Porsche in Hypercar this year.
Only Button has any endurance racing experience; during the 2018–19 season, he competed in a race against Toyota’s might in the LMP1 era with the SMP Racing team.
In recent months, Formula 1 reserve drivers Felipe Drugovich and Mick Schumacher are also known to have spoken with WEC teams.
While Drugovich is rumored to be eyeing a possible program after speaking to several teams throughout 2023, Schumacher has met with the Alpine team that will debut two of its A424 Hypercars next season.
Jota is considering testing drivers ahead of the WEC Bahrain finale in early November, though it is not yet known who the potential testers will be.
In the 6 Hours of Spa in May, the team competed in the Hypercar division, and a month later, it briefly held the lead during the Le Mans 24 Hours.
This season, Will Stevens, a former Manor F1 driver, and Porsche factory drivers Antonio Felix da Costa and Yifei Ye have teamed up.
As it entered the Hypercar category, Jota secured Hertz as a high-profile partner.
It also provided a car for Haas F1 tester Pietro Fittipaldi and his teammates Oliver Rasmussen and David Heinemeier Hansson to finish the final LMP2 season.
