Red Bull, Audi, Aston All Rejected Vettel

Dr Helmut Marko has revealed that he issued a clear “no” to Sebastian Vettel’s desire to return to Formula 1 in 2025 with Red Bull.

Amid the swirling rumours about Sergio Perez’s uncertain future last year, advisor Marko admits the team’s former quadruple world champion Vettel picked up the phone.

That is despite the fact that, as recently as mere days ago, the 37-year-old German insisted he is perfectly happy in retirement.

“I have really enjoyed the last few years, including the time with the children,” Vettel told RTL. “Hopefully the children have too.

“Maybe the mood will change again, but at the moment things are still going very well.”

Auto Bild insists, however, that Vettel is “not completely finished” with Formula 1 quite yet.

“He says to his confidants that he still feels fit enough,” journalist Ralf Bach claims. “He will continue to look for a comeback opportunity.”

Bach added that, despite the official story, Vettel actually did not voluntarily retire. “Aston Martin did not want to extend his contract, and others did not want to give him a new one,” he said.

According to the same report, after Vettel retired, he “offered his services” to Audi’s new Formula 1 project – but Sauber and Audi turned him down.

As for Marko, he freely admits that Vettel wanted to be Max Verstappen’s teammate for 2025.

“Sebastian would have liked to drive alongside Max for us,” he said. “But that wouldn’t have made sense – also to protect him.

“Max would have clearly beaten him and damaged Sebastian’s reputation. I couldn’t and didn’t want to allow that.”

David Coulthard, who retired from F1 in 2008 at the age of 37 – driving for Red Bull – urged Vettel to embrace his post-racing life.

“He should give it up and stop dreaming that he will be faster after taking a few years off,” he is quoted as saying by Speed Week. “He wasn’t quite at his best at the end at Aston Martin.

“The stopwatch doesn’t lie,” Coulthard added.