Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel has revealed that he has held talks with Red Bull over a future role with the team.
The German has been largely out of the F1 spotlight since retiring at the end of 2022, but has made sporadic reappearances in the intervening years.
Vettel, apart from spending retirement with his family, has also been active in a number of social issues, becoming an advocate for environmental awareness.
His and Red Bull’s legacies are indelibly intertwined, with half of its eight Drivers’ Championships having been won by Vettel, between 2010 and 2013.
There has been inevitable speculation as to how long Helmut Marko will remain in an active advisory role with the Milton Keynes-based squad, although the 82-year-old has given few indications of an impending retirement.
Vettel, speaking to ORF, corroborated this standpoint, but indicated he has had informal discussions about a future position with the team.
“There have been a few headlines now, I still get along very well with Helmut, and we are also in exchange on the subject,” he said.
“These are not yet so intense, and in-depth, but it may be something where I can play a role, but in what form, it will show.
“But I have to admit that I haven’t been close to F1 in the last few years, but I think Marko knows what he is doing – and no matter what happens, you can still learn a lot from him.”
Marko is ‘not replaceable’
Marko has been part of the furniture since the team was established in 2005, having already been in charge of the Red Bull Junior Team for six years.
The Austrian oversees the team’s driver development scheme and has been credited with helping a number of talented youngsters make the grade to F1, Vettel included.
Despite his apparent wish to hold some sort of role in the team in the future, Vettel was clear about Marko’s stature and legacy being hard to live up to.
“Marko is not replaceable,” he said, “let’s leave it at that, such as his character, and he has done a very large amount for the team since 2005, and it might not be the goal for someone to replace him.
“He’s said a few times that he is going to stop, but he is still there, and I wish he would stay for a long time, but he will go at some point, and he knows it.
“He is a brutal realist and can judge things quite well, and he will know when the time is right.”
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