Audi overlooked Sebastian Vettel as wild F1 comeback rumour surfaces

Sebastian Vettel isn’t “completely finished” with F1 as rumours swirl over a possible comeback.

Vettel called time on his F1 career at the end of 2022 following two lacklustre seasons at Aston Martin.

Since then, a return to F1 hasn’t seriously been on the cards for Vettel, even if his name was in the mix to join Mercedes following Lewis Hamilton's shock news that he would be joining Ferrari in 2025.

According to F1-Insider, Vettel hasn’t turned his back on F1 entirely, and believes he’s still “fit enough”.

The German would be the third-oldest driver on the F1 grid at 37, only behind

Fernando Alonso (43) and Lewis Hamilton (40).

Audi overlook Vettel

One recurring link has been Vettel to the Audi project.

Audi wanted a German driver to spearhead their driver line-up from 2026, so Vettel seemed the obvious choice if he wanted to return to F1.

According to the report, former Audi boss Andreas Seidl spoke with Vettel, but ultimately preferred Carlos Sainz.

However, Sainz wasn’t interested, with Sauber opting to sign Nico Hulkenberg as their lead driver.

New Audi boss Mattia Binotto didn’t seem to consider Vettel for the second seat, with Valtteri Bottas and Gabriel Bortoleto their options.

F2 champion Bortoleto got the nod over Bottas, with Audi favouring youth.

Marko against Red Bull return for Vettel

A potential return to Red Bull alongside Max Verstappen was mooted on a number of occasions.

Helmut Marko was against the idea, insisting that he wanted to “protect” Vettel from going up against F1’s leading driver.

He told F1-Insider: “Sebastian would have liked to ride next to Max Verstappen with us. But that wouldn’t have made sense, even to protect him. Max would have clearly beaten him and damaged Sebastian’s reputation. I couldn’t and didn’t want to allow that.”

For Vettel, his attention will turn to the upcoming Race of Champions, where he will race alongside Mick Schumacher.