After departing Ferrari, it seemed possible that Vettel might return to Red Bull Racing to partner with current Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen; the German spills the beans on the rumour saying that he never really had a serious discussion with Red Bull management in 2020 about a possible return to Milton Keynes, contrary to what some media reported at the time.

In 2020, Scuderia Ferrari announced that it would end its collaboration with Sebastian Vettel and replace the German with Spaniard Carlos Sainz from the 2021 season. The four-time world champion, who had just spent seven years at Maranello, suddenly found himself without a seat and began talks with several teams on the grid.

On several occasions Vettel was seen in the paddock talking to Red Bull’s team management, fuelling rumours of a possible return to Milton Keynes, the team with which he won all four of his world titles in his career.

“I’m happy with the choice I made…”

At the same time, Red Bull had just taken the decision to part ways with driver Alex Albon and were looking for a replacement, but at that very moment Sebastian Vettel had already made the decision to join the future Aston Martin team as a direct replacement for Mexican Sergio Perez, who will eventually join Red Bull in 2021.

“I made the decision to join Aston Martin before I knew that Alex [Albon] was going to leave [from Red Bull], so it was never really close,” the four-time world champion was quoted by the championship website as saying.

“Of course I know Christian [Horner], I know Helmut [Marko], so for sure I had some kind of brief conversation with them, but there was never anything very serious. I knew that if it had been an option or something serious, we would have at least discussed it, but it never got to that point.”

“Obviously, a few months later you can look back and say ‘what if’ and ‘what if’ and so on, but I’m happy with the choice I made [to join Aston Martin, ed.] We expected to be more competitive last year and this year, but we weren’t, and I’m very happy with the way the team has progressed and how we’re working together.”

“It’s not the kind of thing you can dream of running in the positions we’re running in, but it’s been a challenge, and I think I’ve accepted it while trying to make the most of it.”

Sebastian Vettel will no longer be in Formula 1 next year as the German driver has made the decision to end his career after 16 years in motorsport’s premier class.

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