“Sebastian should take a year off”- Helmut Marko advised Sebastian Vettel to take a year-long sabbatical for better prospects.
Before starting the season, Ferrari declared that they would not be associating with Sebastian Vettel from 2021, thus compelling the German to send his CVs to other prospective teams.
Red Bull was among them, but Vettel was already committed to Aston Martin when a need for an experienced driver arrived. However, long before this Helmut Marko advised him to take a sabbatical from F1 for better prospects in 2022, like Mercedes and even Red Bull.
“Sebastian should take a year off and take some time out,” Marko told F1-Insider.com. “It was clear that Sebastian would have another difficult season with Ferrari.
“I didn’t want him to act rashly, but to wait. Because it was clear to me that fundamental things would change in the driver market for 2022. For example, I was sure that there would be a vacancy at Mercedes then. But not only there.”
When asked about was there any interests of Red Bull in convincing Vettel to take a sabbatical, “More in general, I advised Sebastian to take time off. But that also included Red Bull.” replied Marko.
“I just wanted him to still be on the market at the right time so he could take the best possible offer. Above all, I didn’t want a four-time world champion to say goodbye to Formula One like that. Not as a friend, and not as a Red Bull man.”
Aston Martin is a tempting offer, even for Sebastian Vettel.
Despite luring him with the prospect of riding with a Championship worthy team, Vettel chose to sign a contract with Aston Martin and continue his career in the sport, and Marko admits it was a tempting offer.
“Aston Martin was very tempting”, he says. “The name is cult; the close cooperation with Mercedes promised a sporting perspective. I can understand him, even if I personally would have waited.”
