Sebastian Vettel has dismissed the idea of pursuing a different type of role within the Formula 1 world.
The German called time on his remarkable racing career last month, at the age of 35. During his time in the sport, he won four drivers' world championships in a row with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 and won 53 races overall.
Those golden days at Red Bull came after brief stints contracted to BMW Sauber and Toro Rosso. Later in his career he drove for Ferrari and spent his final two seasons with Aston Martin, racing further down the grid than he would have liked.
Vettel matured into one of the more likeable characters on the grid as he got older and also won a lot of hearts with his campaigning work. In particular, he has become renowned in recent years for using his platform to campaign for better measures to protect the environment and to highlight social injustices such as homophobia and sexism.
Many F1 fans were – and still are – not yet ready to see him leave the sport, leading to plenty of speculation over whether he might one day return. Vettel has been careful not to fully shut the door on any future racing appearances in the sport, but has ruled out one alternative idea.
Some rumours have suggested he would be interested in commentary work, giving his insight as a racer to TV viewers. But when asked about that by Servus TV, he said: "No, no, no, let's not. No, thank you. I think there are others who can do it better."
In the same interview, he reflected upon an emotional final race weekend as an F1 driver in Abu Dhabi. Every driver took time over those few days to pay tribute to what he has achieved both on and off the track, while he also received a guard of honour from those fellow competitors before signing off with some doughnuts after the end of the race.
"I think I was very, very lucky to be able to celebrate such a farewell," said the German. "The recognition from the other drivers and the whole paddock meant a lot to me. I think the atmosphere throughout the weekend was very, very nice towards me and I think very special."
Vettel has also been linked with a return to Red Bull in a management role. Team adviser Helmut Marko recently said of that potentiality: "We have two teams, so we are open to that. His life will definitely be different from the one had had as a driver. He'd come to work earlier, leave later and receive only a small part of a pilot's salary."
