Sebastian Vettel has admitted that he’s not currently considering a comeback to Formula 1, having realised “how small” the sport is since retiring.
The four-time World Champion brought his glittering career to a close at the end of last season, following an unsuccessful two-year spell with Aston Martin.
Vettel opted to retire to spend more time with his young family, with him having walked away at just 35 years old.
Given that Fernando Alonso is still competing at the top of the sport despite being 42 years old, it can be viewed that Vettel chose to retire at a young age.
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Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko recently teased a return to the sport for the German, after admitting that he doesn’t think the 53-time race winner’s F1 career as a driver is over just yet.
Vettel isn’t completely ruling out a return; however, it’s not something that looks set to happen anytime soon.
Retiring has helped him discover what else is out there in the world, away from F1 and motorsport.
He’s continued to express his love of bees and nature and is actually at the Japanese Grand Prix this weekend, with him having opened a series of insect hotels on the inside of Turn 2 at Suzuka.
A ceremony took place involving all 20 drivers on Thursday to celebrate the habitat being built, as part of Vettel’s new ‘Buzzin Corner’ project.
The kerb at Turn 2 has been painted yellow and black so that the habitat’s location can be easily identified, with it being a project that Vettel as deeply “enjoyed”.
“Not for now. I mean, I’ve enjoyed this project,” Vettel said, as reported by Motorsport.com.
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“It is obviously a small project, but I’ve enjoyed my time so far this year, and had lots of ideas, and lots of things that I read up on.
“F1 was the centre to my life for so long, but once you step out, you realise even more how big the rest of the world is, and how small in a way F1 is.
“But not to take any excitement from the sport: it’s an amazing sport and amazing feeling to drive those cars.
“So yes, of course I do miss that. But I also feel at some point it’s probably time for all of us to move on.”