Four-time F1 world champion and former German driver Sebastian Vettel believes that Briton Lando Norris, Australian Oscar Piastri and Dutchman Max Verstappen all deserve to win the drivers’ title at this season’s world championship.
McLaren’s Norris holds a 24-point lead over teammate Piastri with three weeks left in the Grand Prix weekend, starting next Friday in Las Vegas.
Four-time world champion Verstappen, who drives a Red Bull car, is 49 points clear of Norris after coming back late on the track. Piastri had the upper hand in the first half, but nerves seemed to have caused the Englishman Norris to come on.
“There’s a little bit of season left, but it’s okay, I like it! McLaren is the favorite to win,” Vettel told F1.com. “In the end I think all three deserve the award. It will be a great story for both McLaren drivers and it will be Max’s fifth title,” he added.
McLaren’s last driver’s title was won by British driver Lewis Hamilton in 2008, but for several years McLaren was the second team in motorsport’s ‘Great Circus’.
Vettel, who promoted F1’s forest conservation project at last weekend’s Sao Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil, has ruled out returning to the grid after retiring in 2022. However, he may be considering a different role at the top of F1 or with a team.
“I mean, there’s no age limit for other roles (other than driver), so I’m not in a hurry. Ask Helmut, for example,” Vettel said, alluding to Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko, 82.
“It really depends on the role. Of course I like the psychological element, the drivers, the young drivers… but what does it take for a team to win, what separates the teams that are successful from the teams that are not,” Vettel said in an interview.
“I think time will tell. If the challenge is the right one and it comes at the right time, why not? But I’m also not going to go door to door and say, ‘Do you have a job?'” he concluded.
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