'Slight pullback' possibly tempting Vettel F1 return

Former Aston Martin strategy engineer Bernie Collins has the feeling that Sebastian Vettel "would" be tempted to end his retirement and return to F1.

The German retired from F1 at the end of 2022 following two seasons with Aston Martin and since then has only made appearances in demo laps and at the Race of Champions.

However, a return to motorsport appears to potentially be on the horizon, following a successful test in Porsche Penske's hypercar at Aragon.

Vettel has even been rumoured as a possible contender for Lewis Hamilton's seat at Mercedes next year, and recently admitted that he "flirts" with the idea of making an F1 comeback.

“I think he would,” Collins told The Fast and The Curious podcast.

“I think that all of them have that drive within them, and all of them have been doing this for the past X number of years. Not even their F1 career – like their karting career, their junior career, they’ve been doing it for so long.

“So, he stepped away [from F1] less than I did [sic], a year and a half ago. Unless you very quickly fill that void, I imagine for all of them, there’s that sort of slight pullback."

Strong car important factor

Collins is currently an analyst for Sky Sports F1 but admits that even she would be tempted to return to the pitwall.

The former Aston Martin engineer thinks the right car could bring Vettel back to F1, especially if a competitive package capable of being amongst the frontrunners was offered to him.

“Thinking of me, when you think if someone said, ‘Oh, you can get on the pit wall for strategy and do one more race’, I’d probably do it," added Collins.

“So if that’s me, and I had only been doing strategy for eight years, he’s going to be like someone says, ‘Oh, you can get in this reasonably fast car for a year’ he’d be like, ‘Yeah.’

“I think, unfortunately, he was racing in Aston Martin, the car wasn’t performing as expected, he was trying to prioritise his home life, his kids, stuff like that – very important.

“So I think, if you’re then given an opportunity to get into a car that you know is going to hit the ground running.”