{"id":24194,"date":"2024-09-06T05:10:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T09:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=24194"},"modified":"2024-09-06T06:52:41","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:52:41","slug":"mattia-binotto-addresses-sebastian-vettel-rumours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/06\/mattia-binotto-addresses-sebastian-vettel-rumours\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattia Binotto addresses Sebastian Vettel rumours"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At this stage, numerous drivers are linked to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/05\/mattia-binotto-sauber-will-decide-soon-on-2025-line-up\/\" target=\"_self\">Sauber&#8217;s vacant 2025 seat<\/a>. The Swiss team are yet to decide who will drive alongside Nico Hulkenberg, partly because their next move will also position them for Audi&#8217;s arrival in 2026. One name that has barely been mentioned as a contender is that of <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/03\/26\/sebastian-vettel-le-mans-chances-grow-after-strong-test\/\" target=\"_self\">Sebastian Vettel<\/a>, but whispers have emerged about the 4-time Champion being open to a return.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Sebastian Vettel to Audi? Mattia Binotto responds to speculation<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4>Audi keep options open<\/h4>\n<p>Helmut Marko, who is no stranger to controversial and provocative statements, first suggested that Vettel could make a return to F1 during the summer break.<\/p>\n<p>The senior Red Bull advisor told <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.oe24.at\/sport\/motorsport\/formel1\/vettel-sensations-comeback-fuer-audi\/603733681\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">oe24<\/a> that the German driver is open to racing on the grid once again. With no seats available at the top teams, Marko suggested Audi as the most realistic option.<\/p>\n<p>On paper, there is plenty of reason for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/08\/23\/valtteri-bottas-provides-update-on-audi-contract-talks\/\" target=\"_self\">Audi<\/a> to pursue the 4-time Champion. As a German manufacturer, they would obviously benefit from the presence of a German icon of the sport like Vettel joining their project.<\/p>\n<p>However, it cannot be said there have been indications that negotiations are even taking place.<\/p>\n<p>When asked about the possibility of this blockbuster move at the Italian GP, Audi CTO <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/01\/mattia-binotto-reveals-leading-sauber-2025-candidates\/\" target=\"_self\">Mattia Binotto<\/a> gave this response:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I love Sebastian &#8211; I know him very well from the past, and I appreciate working with him,&#8221; he told Sky &#8211; per <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.sport.de\/news\/ne7019810\/formel-1-sebastian-vettel-zu-audi-das-sagt-mattia-binotto\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sport.de<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I know how strong he is as a person and as a driver.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I&#8217;ve only been here for a few weeks. I have to understand everything first, look around, listen, and at some point, we will have to make a decision.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;And that has to be the right decision for Audi. Not just for 2025, but also for the future.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"FDflrckSS3FcrUYDAZ0U9w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2169750196\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'FDflrckSS3FcrUYDAZ0U9w',sig:'vuq6a8bnDG6O2X7us3K5LSFjSVIToqa4Mg3RLvVuKcA=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2169750196',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>Sebastian Vettel move unlikely, but nothing is certain<\/h4>\n<p>It must be emphasised that reports of Vettel returning to the grid are few and far between. Suggestions of the 37-year-old joining the field have been speculative at best, especially in regards to an Audi move.<\/p>\n<p>Bottas and Bortoleto, as <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/09\/01\/f1-news-bortoleto-receives-sauber-contract-boost-after-monza-win\/\" target=\"_self\">previously reported by LWOS<\/a>, are the two favourites to join the Swiss-based outfit. In the case of both drivers, negotiations about a 2025 deal are already well underway.<\/p>\n<p>Moreover, with Hulkenberg already on a multi-year deal, it is understood that Sauber are open to signing a young driver alongside him.<\/p>\n<p>Someone like 19-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2024\/08\/16\/gabriel-bortoleto-receives-alonsos-support-in-audi-talks\/\" target=\"_self\">Gabriel Bortoleto<\/a> is a very interesting option for the team, especially for the long term. Mattia Binotto was spotted talking with the Brazilian after his victory in F2&#8217;s Monza Feature Race.<\/p>\n<p>Whether Sebastian Vettel is even interested in returning to the grid remains uncertain. Whilst Helmut Marko obviously has a long-standing relationship with the German, it is unclear how enthusiastic Vettel is about making a comeback.<\/p>\n<p>Even assuming that he wants to race in F1 once more, he would surely want a car capable of fighting at the front. At least in the short term, there is no guarantee that Audi could offer him this.<\/p>\n<p>Still, as Sauber continue to deliberate on their 2025 line-up, speculation will persist about the candidates under consideration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At this stage, numerous drivers are linked to Sauber&#8217;s vacant 2025 seat. The Swiss team are yet to decide who will drive alongside Nico Hulkenberg, partly because their next move will also position them for Audi&#8217;s arrival in 2026. One name that has barely been mentioned as a contender is that of Sebastian Vettel, but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":24195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4,3],"tags":[2220,206,68,465,684,117],"class_list":["post-24194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-2024-formula-1-season","tag-audi","tag-f1","tag-f1-news","tag-mattia-binotto","tag-sebastian-vettel"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}