Sebastian Vettel will race again alongside his good friend Mick Schumacher despite their respective absences from the Formula 1 grid next year.
Vettel brought the curtain down on his trophy-laden F1 career last month after his final race in Abu Dhabi. But while his absence from the 2023 grid is a voluntary one, Schumacher's is due to having been axed by Haas after two difficult years with the team.
With Mick now in a reserve role for Mercedes and Seb spending more time with his family and away from motorsport, F1 fans are deprived of one of the strongest bonds on the grid. But they will see them racing together soon and, this time, they will be team-mates.
Vettel and Schumacher have signed up to represent Team Germany at the Race of Champions in January. It marks the third consecutive year that they have partnered at the event, which will return to the snowy and ice course in Pite Havsbad, Sweden, after being held there last year.
"I'm delighted that Mick will be joining me at the Race Of Champions again – for my first race since my retirement from Formula 1," said Vettel. "Neither of us has much experience on snow and ice so it was a steep learning curve in Sweden earlier this year.
"I ended up surprising myself by getting to the individual final against Sébastien Loeb [last year] and now I can't wait to come back and team up with Mick to see if we can take Team Germany all the way to another ROC Nations Cup title."
And Schumacher added: "It's great to be back at the Race Of Champions and to see all the drivers again. Even better that Sebastian will be competing too, so that Team Germany can hopefully live up to the tradition of fighting for the title in the ROC Nations Cup.
"I'm really looking forward to driving on ice again, and to spending time and fighting battles with this impressive roster of drivers attending." Other familiar faces who have signed up for the 2023 Race of Champions include double world champion Mika Hakkinen and F2 champion Felipe Drugovich.
Valtteri Bottas is the only driver on the 2023 F1 grid to be taking part, representing Finland. As for the British duo, 13-time F1 race winner David Coulthard will race alongside triple W Series and future F1 hopeful Jamie Chadwick.
