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Earlier this week, Vettel confirmed that he’d had discussions with a number of figures within the paddock about a potential return to the F1 grid.
The four-time world champion retired at the end of 2022 and has made only rare appearances at events since then.
Aside from a testing outing with Porsche aboard one of the brand’s 963 Hypercars and a handful of demonstration drives in historic F1 machinery, he’s remained on the sidelines.
“Sebastian is someone that you can never discount,” Wolf admitted.
“I think his track record is phenomenal. And sometimes maybe taking a break is also good to re-evaluate what’s important for you and refine your motivation.”
Mercedes is one of the eight teams yet to lock down its lineup beyond the end of the current season.
It has George Russell locked in until the end of next season, with the team undecided on exactly what it wants from his team-mate: youth, experience, or a blend of both.
Kimi Antonelli is a bright young prospect currently in his first year of Formula 2 and is the current star of Mercedes’ driver academy.
Esteban Ocon has also been flagged as a possibility. He was once Mercedes’ reserve driver and still has ties with the German company. He’s also out of contract with Alpine at the end of the year.
Vettel is a wildcard option but one Hamilton feels would be a good fit.
“I would love for Seb to come back. I think he would be an amazing option for the team, to have a multi-world championship-winning driver, someone who’s got amazing values to continue to take this team forward,” he opined on Thursday in Japan.
“The only thing I really care about is that the team takes on someone with integrity and values that are aligned with the team, where the team is going,” Hamilton added of his thoughts on his Mercedes replacement.
“Someone with compassion that’s able to work with all these great people, continue to lift them up.
“As drivers, there are some that are more selfish than others, there are some that are good drivers but perhaps not the best within team environments. I don’t know because I’ve not been in with all of them. They’ve already got George and he’s perfect for the team.
“I’m sure they’ve got so many options. I do think it’s always great to give an opportunity to an up-and-coming driver, so the idea of a youngster coming in I think, for me, is exciting.”
Wolff has confessed that he has a shortlist of potential replacements in mind, though is not currently prepared to share even the number of drivers on it, let alone the names.
“We haven’t taken the decision yet. And it’s not something that we plan to do in the next few weeks,” he said.
“I know that the driver market is very dynamic. Some of the really good guys are about to sign for some of the other teams.
“We want to continue to have these discussions and keep the options open.
“But at that stage, I think it’s much too early for us to commit to a driver, whether very young or whether very experienced – I don’t want to say old – very experienced, which the next few months will give us more clues.”
That timeline affords Mercedes the opportunity to better assess Antonelli, who will driver Mercedes’ 2021 F1 car in Austria in the coming weeks.
However, Wolff was quick to point out that the outing was not necessarily linked to his role within the team next season.
“The programme of Kimi driving Formula 1 has been in place for a long time and hasn’t changed massively over the last few weeks,” Wolff asserted.
“What we have done is added more days, but what you will see in the next few months has been in place, whether or not he’s going to sit in a Formula 1 car next year.
“So, yeah. We’re going to do a few of these days for him to get comfortable in an F1 car.
“We’re keen to see what he’s able to do in a Formula 1 car. Ollie Bearman was refreshing to look at how competitive he was in Saudi Arabia. No free practice, high speed, complicated track, and he was right up there. So Kimi would be doing just fine.”
