Mercedes boss Toto Wolff was tempted by Sebastian Vettel move after Ferrari exit | F1 | Sport
Sebastian Vettel has never driven for Mercedes in Formula 1, but Toto Wolff has revealed that might not have been the case had circumstances been different. The opportunity has never arisen for the German driver to compete for the team based in his homeland.
Instead, Vettel counts Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull and Ferrari among his former teams.
He currently competes in the striking green cars of Aston Martin, but that might not have been the case had things gone a little differently at the end of his time with Ferrari.
Vettel needed a new lease of life after several unsuccessful years with the Italian constructor.
His reputation is huge thanks to those four title wins in a row with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013, but things have not been so rosy since.
Whether it was through mistakes, bad luck or having an uncompetitive car, things just didn’t go the German’s way when he was behind the wheel of a Ferrari.
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“But when Ferrari decided to end his contract, obviously the thought came up would Sebastian be a driver for us.
“But I am so loyal to Valtteri [Bottas] and Lewis [Hamilton] that I first needed to see how our future would go.
“I would never have been able to commit to Sebastian before knowing that our two drivers would want to continue.
“And that’s why there was never any conversation that went anywhere and Sebastian very much respected that.”
Instead, Vettel joined the Racing Point team which was rebranding as Aston Martin and heading into what it hoped would be an exciting new era.
However, the first year after the rebrand didn’t go as planned, as the team slipped to seventh in the constructors’ championship despite being only seven points off McLaren in third the year before.
Over the winter, Vettel admitted that his first season with Aston Martin wasn’t exactly what he had “signed up for”.
“I think the team’s great – I really enjoy working with the team, and I think it’s been a big change obviously,” he said. “But no in terms of the results, obviously. The whole team and myself, we were hoping for more.
“I think we got hurt quite badly by the regulation changes as the team had a great car [in 2020] but not [in 2021], so we did what we could.”
