“We can make a deal”: Sebastian Vettel offers to replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes once latter retires from F1

Sebastian Vettel is at the final step of his F1 career, with only the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix remaining in his basket. After this, the German will bid goodbye to the sport as he announced his retirement this year.

With a glorious F1 career, Vettel is among the most decorated F1 drivers. He is statistically the third most successful driver with four titles and 53 wins. Only Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton better his record.

Thus, his farewell will be special, as drivers from across the generations are reminiscing about his time in F1, including his biggest rival in the sport Lewis Hamilton.

Also read: Ferrari engine wasn’t running at full power due to reliability concerns throughout 2022 F1 season

Sebastian Vettel offers a deal to Lewis Hamilton

Hamilton is still in denial that Vettel, the only contemporary he has in F1, is leaving. During the press conference of the final Grand Prix of the year, the Briton said this isn’t the end of Vettel’s time in F1.

He even said drivers return after a few years away from the sport. He cites Fernando Alonso’s example, who was sitting right next to Hamilton. In response, Vettel said he has an offer on the table, including Hamilton, so that the former’s return to F1 is guaranteed.

“Maybe we can make a deal,” said Vettel. “Maybe when you want to get away, and I want to come back.” Hamilton, while laughing, completes his sentence, “We can swap.”

my sewis heart 😭pic.twitter.com/bc0KBwaILv

— out of context Toto Wolff (@askolatte) November 17, 2022

They could have been teammates

Vettel, ahead of his last F1 race, appeared in the Beyond the Grid podcast, where he talked about the possibility of teaming up with Lewis Hamilton. The German said he had a couple of conversations with Niki Lauda but never got interested.

There were several reasons for it. But two stand out, he had already committed to Ferrari, an equally strong powerhouse, and secondly, Mercedes has kept Hamilton as their main man, and they wouldn’t want two drivers of equal stature together.

So, it was better to remain focused on Ferrari. At the Maranello-based team, Vettel vied for the titles with Hamilton, but in the end, the Briton always managed to have an edge and won all the head-to-head battles against him during that era.

Also read: F1 pole position couldn’t have rescued Mick Schumacher from Haas axe claims Guenther Steiner

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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