Vettel should take ‘a year off ’ — Red Bull adviser
Sebastian Vettel should abandon hopes of racing in Formula One next year and take a break from the sport, influential Red Bull adviser Helmet Marko said Thursday.
The 77-year-old Austrian knows Vettel well and believes there are no serious vacancies on the 2021 grid when he is dumped by Ferrari at the end of the season.
Marko confirmed that Red Bull would not be able to offer their former champion driver a seat next season — making clear that the 33-year-old German could be without a team after Renault on Wednesday confirmed the return of Fernando Alonso for 2021. “I would take a year off and look at it from an outside perspective,” Marko told specialist German magazine Auto Motor und Sport. “But then maybe he likes the life with the family so much that he leaves completely.”
Marko closed the door on a Vettel return to the team where he made his name by claiming the drivers’ title every year from 2010 to 2013. “We have no place for Vettel,” he said. “We have (Alex) Albon and we are happy with him. Albon is half Thai and Red Bull is 51 per cent Thai ...”
Marko might have added “F1 is no place for old men” until Renault’s move to recruit veteran Alonso as Vettel appeared to be squeezed out by younger men in all directions. Vettel’s possible options have been reduced not only by Alonso’s return to Renault, where he won his two titles in 2005 and 2006, but by McLaren’s move to sign Daniel Ricciardo as successor to Ferraribound Carlos Sainz, the man who will replace Vettel at Maranello. Defending six-time champions Mercedes have said they are very happy with their current driver pairing of champion Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, who won last Sunday’s season-opening Austrian Grand Prix, even though both are out of contract at the end of this year.
Vettel has said he will take time to reflect on his future and has no immediate wish to retire. “If you make the decision to close the door, you shouldn’t do it so that you can hope to open it again sometime,” he said in Spielberg last weekend.