Vettel indicates future interest in "challenging" code switch

Ewan Gale
Tuesday 6 December 2022 18:15

Sebastian Vettel has indicated an interest in switching codes to rallying following his retirement from F1.

But the four-time champion has insisted he is focused on the "idea of nothing" now he is settling into the immediate aftermath of his stellar career.

Vettel has teased a project on his newly-created social media channels in recent months whilst eyes are also maintained on his environmental and societal initiatives away from the race track.

January will offer a return to racing - of sorts - for the former Aston Martin, Ferrari and Red Bull driver when the Race of Champions returns to the Swedish snow and ice on which Vettel competed against rallying legends last year.

If Vettel were to contest a rally event, he would follow Kimi Raikkonen, who spent his F1 sabbatical in the WRC, Heikki Kovalainen, who is the Japanese rally champion, and Valtteri Bottas, who has taken part in the Arctic Rally.

"Naturally, you do look at other stuff," said Vettel, when asked if he had an eye on other categories.

"I quite look forward to the idea of nothing, at first, and then see what it does to me.

"There are lots of other things in my head as well, other interests and ideas outside racing.

"Obviously, I've done F1 for so long and it's central to my life, so it will be difficult to say I'm not going to miss it, but how much and whether I start to look at something else, we'll see.

"I always liked rallying, for some reason, but I can see it’s a major challenge because it's so different to what we do in, let's say, classic circuit racing."