Sebastian Vettel was always 'Plan A' for Aston Martin until signing Fernando Alonso, says team principal

After the 2022 F1 season, Sebastian Vettel bid farewell to the sport and retired. The four-time world drivers' champion left the Aston Martin F1 team, who quickly appointed Fernando Alonso as a replacement. Though Vettel had planned to leave the sport, Aston Martin boss Mike Krack assured the German was always their first driver of choice.

During an interview with RacingNews365, Mike Krack spoke about how it was Sebastian Vettel's decision to leave the team and the sport. Aston Martin had no intentions of removing the German driver, but were ready to replace him if his decision was final. The Aston Martin team principal said:

"As a team, you have to do your homework. And we were always having Sebastian as Plan A, that was clear from the beginning, but we also told Sebastian, 'If you decide not to continue, we have also to talk to other drivers', and he was comfortable with that."

Mick Krack explained how the team gave Vettel time to think about his decision while they prepared to look for other drivers. When Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement in late July, Aston Martin quickly appointed Fernando Alonso so that they were ready for next season. Krack continued:

"Then we just waited for Sebastian to make his decision, and we acted accordingly. We had then decided, who would we go for if they were available? And then it went quickly."

When asked about whether the team had slightly pushed Sebastian Vettel to leave the team, Mick Krack completely denied and debunked the speculation. The four-time world champion was always the team's first choice and he himself wanted to leave the sport for good, which sparked up the entire silly season.

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Former driver feels Sebastian Vettel could return to F1

Since we've seen many old or retired drivers return to F1, there has been several talks about Sebastian Vettel's return as well. Ralf Schumacher, a former F1 driver, recently spoke about how there is a huge chance that the German driver could make a return.

Drivers like Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso, and many more have returned to the sport after completely retiring from it. Hence, the possibility cannot be ruled out. Ralf Schumacher said:

"A comeback by Sebastian in Formula 1 cannot be ruled out. You can see that now again with Nico Hulkenberg and also with Fernando Alonso, who is always keen to come back or to continue. In Formula 1, there are many factors that lead to being fast. One of them is experience. New drivers take a long time to get to the level of a Sebastian Vettel."

Even Lewis Hamilton, Vettel's good friend and old rival, is positive that the four-time world champion will make a comeback. There are also counter-discussions of how Vettel would never return due to his environmental awareness. Of course, only time will tell if we will see him on the grid again or not.