There are very few drivers who are capable of leaving the Formula 1 grid and being competitive when they decide to return.
Nico Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso, Esteban Ocon and Alex Albon are the only confirmed drivers on the 2025 F1 grid who have left the sport and successfully returned.
Many have tried and failed in the past, although the likes of Alain Prost and Niki Lauda both won Formula 1 championships after taking some time out.
More recently, Jenson Button made a one-off appearance for McLaren in 2017 to stand in for Alonso at the Monaco Grand Prix.
He failed to finish the race, put Pascal Wehrlein on his side and picked up a grid penalty he looks likely to never serve.
David Coulthard saw many drivers come and go during his time in F1 before hanging up his racing gloves in 2008 after helping Red Bull establish themselves on the grid.
As his career was ending, the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel were just getting started on their way to becoming multiple world champions.
In an interview with Lucas Stewart’s YouTube channel, Coulthard admitted that Vettel would be crazy if he thought he could make a return to Formula 1 now.
David Coulthard tells Sebastian Vettel he’s ‘delusional’ if he wants to make an F1 return
After spells with BMW Sauber, Toro Rosso, Red Bull, Ferrari and Aston Martin, Vettel retired from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season.
He was outscored by teammate Lance Stroll that year but was linked with a return to the grid last season.
Mercedes were linked with Vettel after news broke of Hamilton’s move to Ferrari, but it felt like a courtesy to the 53-win driver to not immediately dismiss him as an option when his name cropped up.
READ MORE: The five worst moments of Sebastian Vettel’s F1 career including Multi-21 controversy and Red Bull teammate collision
Coulthard was asked if Vettel should come back to Formula 1 and answered: “No!”
He was then asked as a follow-up question if he thinks he will and continued: “Only if he’s living in a delusional space where he thinks that having taken a couple of years out, he’ll be quicker.
“But the facts are, the stopwatch doesn’t lie and he wasn’t delivering the lap times at the end of his career.”
Sebastian Vettel inspiring Lewis Hamilton’s start to life at Ferrari
While Vettel appears very unlikely to ever make a return to Formula 1 in a racing capacity, he’s still frequently spotted on the grid.
Vettel led tributes to Ayrton Senna at last year’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix before Hamilton drove one of his old McLarens during one of the wettest weekends in F1 history.
Hamilton has now followed in Vettel’s footsteps to join Ferrari at the end of his career after a successful spell elsewhere.
READ MORE: David Coulthard shares his theory about why Lewis Hamilton crashed during his first Ferrari test in Barcelona
Hamilton has copied one Vettel obsession during his first weeks at Ferrari, and if there’s any driver who knows how to analyse a car and embed themselves in a new team, it’s the German.
The Brit will hope that his time with Ferrari is more successful than Vettel’s where he failed to win a championship before being beaten by Charles Leclerc.
Meanwhile, the Monegasque driver will have another world champion who has dared to join his team in his sights.
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