“There’s that sort of slight pullback”: Sebastian Vettel could be tempted for a spectacular F1 return according to Bernie Collins

The former Aston Martin strategy engineer has teased former F1 driver Sebastian Vettel's return to the pinnacle of motorsports.

Back in 2007, the German driver ventured into the realm of Formula 1, driving for the then-BMW Sauber team. He marked his debut race at the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas.

From there on, Vettel amassed four consecutive world championships, all coming during his stint with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013. Furthermore, in his 15-year-long career with different teams, he has raked in 53 race victories.

However, as the 2022 year concluded, Sebastian Vettel's F1 career came to an end, with his last run coming at the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP. The 36-year-old secured a P10 finish for Aston Martin before parting ways with the sport.

Recently, Vettel was seen testing the Porsche 963 Hypercar as he might give a shot at the 24-hour Le Mans, which has ignited the speculation of a potential return of the 4x WDC to F1.

During the German's days at AMR, Bernadette Collins, renowned in the paddock as Bernie Collins, served as a strategy engineer on the team. Collins is currently working as an analyst for Sky Sports and F1TV and has chimed in on the possibility of Vettel's return to F1.

During The Fast and The Curious podcast, Collins shed light on the German's potential comeback to the sport, saying (via X):

"Yeah I think he would...I think that all of them have that drive within them, and all of them have been doing this for the past X number of years. Not even their F1 career – like their karting career, their junior career, they’ve been doing it for so long."

She added:

"He [Sebastian] stepped away [from F1] less than I did [sic], a year and a half ago. Unless you very quickly fill that void, I imagine for all of them, there’s that sort of slight pullback."

Sebastian Vettel opines on Max Verstappen's potential switch amid the massive outbreak in the Red Bull paddock

Things were going smoothly for the Milton Keynes-based outfit until the 2024 F1 car launch commenced. A few days preceding the launch, a female employee accused team principal Christian Horner of having controlling behavior over her. The matter spread like wildfire and prompted the internal management of Red Bull GmbH to look into it.

Horner was given a clean chit by the team, but the accuser appealed against the verdict to the FIA and within the organization. Furthermore, the feud sparked rumors of Max Verstappen going to the Silver Arrows, and Jos and Toto Wolff's friendly chat after the Bahrain GP cemented the notion.

Speaking on the three-time world champion's future, Sebastian Vettel weighed in, highlighting that there's no viable reason for the Dutchman to switch to a rival team. During an interview with sport.de, the German driver said:

"There is of course a lot of unrest at the moment, but I think from a sporting perspective there is currently no reason for him [Max Verstappen} to think about anything else."