Coulthard hands Vettel 'delusional' F1 warning

David Coulthard has warned Sebastian Vettel he is "delusional" if he believes he can make a comeback to F1.

Vettel retired at the end of the 2022 season after a glittering career with four world titles and 53 wins, and remains the youngest-ever world champion at 23 years, 134 days in 2010. 

Vettel's high-profile move to Ferrari ended in 2020 after then-boss Mattia Binotto elected not to renew his contract after a series of high-profile mistakes and blunders, including most ignominiously at the 2019 Italian GP. 

New team-mate Charles Leclerc won from pole with Vettel trailing home out of the points following an early spin at the Ascari chicane.

The German then moved to Aston Martin for two seasons but eventually called it quits in 2022, although old rival Lewis Hamilton insisted Vettel would "be back" racing at some point. 

The earliest Vettel can now expect to return to the grid is in 2026, some four seasons after his exit, with Michael Schumacher's return with Mercedes in 2010 following a similar time-span as a hypothetical Vettel return would.

But 13-time grand prix winner Coulthard believes that would firmly be the wrong decision.

“No," was Coulthard's instant response when asked on the Driver podcast if Vettel should return.

“Only if he’s living in a delusional space where he thinks that having taken a couple of years out, he’ll be quicker.

“But the facts are, the stopwatch doesn’t lie and he wasn’t delivering the lap times at the end of his career."