Racing legend Sebastian Vettel has hinted he already has plans for a new career after retiring from Formula 1 following the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 35-year-old called time on his career after 15 years and four world championships, announcing himself as one of the sport's greatest ever drivers. Whilst his time is over in F1, Vettel has implied he could well switch codes to rally.
A return to racing will come in January, with the Race of Champions returning to the Swedish snow and ice - an event Vettel competed in last year.
When asked if he had his eyes on a potential category change he said per GP Fans : "Naturally, you do look at other stuff. I quite look forward to the idea of nothing, at first, and then see what it does to me.
"There are lots of other things in my head as well, other interests and ideas outside racing. Obviously, I've done F1 for so long and it's central to my life, so it will be difficult to say I'm not going to miss it, but how much and whether I start to look at something else, we'll see.
"I always liked rallying, for some reason, but I can see it’s a major challenge because it's so different to what we do in, let's say, classic circuit racing." Whilst Vettel has linked himself to a rally move, a number of his long-time rivals have predicted his F1 career might not be over just yet.
A man who he enjoyed many a battle with, Lewis Hamilton believes that the German will one day be back out on the Formula 1 track. "We always had such great battles," Hamilton said.
"I was just sitting here thinking most drivers are coming back. You're probably going to come back. You'll be back. Formula 1 has a way of sucking you back in. I don't think it's 'a goodbye show', it's 'see you later', because he'll come back."
