Vettel retired from racing in F1 at the end of the 2022 season having made his debut in 2007 with a one-off BMW outing in America before stepping in at Toro Rosso for the remainder of the year.
The German, speaking at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last weekend, says there has been “lots of interest” in him being given a role within F1 and isn't ruled out a future involvement in promoting green issues.
However, for the time being, he is enjoying time with his family and not having a fixed schedule.
“We'll see, but I have some ideas," Vettel said when asked about his future in F1. "I've been to Monaco earlier this year, I had a very good meeting with Stefano [Domenicali].
“Other than obviously the cars directly polluting, F1 has a huge responsibility, because it's a very big event. A lot of people attend, I think you had around 500,000 people at the British Grand Prix last weekend?
“So there's a lot more to it than just the cars, but obviously, the cars, everybody sees them. And it's important that it's headed in the right direction. But yeah, I'm talking, and I have some ideas. And obviously, we'll see what the future brings.”
Asked if he’d had many interesting job offers, he added: “There's lots of interest from different angles. But I set myself the goal last year that I want to be free.
“And I say no to a lot of things in the first place, because I want to get to know this version of myself that doesn't know in a way what to do, and doesn't have, let's say, a fixed schedule, and is able to look into different things and get inspired.
“That's still the journey I'm on. I'm spending a lot of time with my kids as well, we've done a bit of travelling as well, in a van. So I do enjoy that.
“But certainly, I also know that I will not be living the life of my kids. It's not going to be my main task. Even though I want to be there for them. But sooner or later, I will probably figure out how to take on a new challenge.”
Asked when he developed his passion for green issues, Vettel - who drove a Williams FW14B and McLaren MP4/8 at Goodwood on synthetic fuel as part of his Race Without Trace initiative - put it into the context of his own career.
“I would say probably not early enough,” he said. “It’s probably something that I heard about when I was younger and, obviously, the problem was already there.
“But it’s something that nowadays, everybody has heard about, and we are finding that we can’t run away from it or outrun it.
“Whether it impacted on my performance, I don’t know, it’s hard to tell. It’s always hard to imagine in racing.
“I would probably say no, but if it did, I don’t regret it because I think there are obviously problems in this world that are far bigger than a certain lap time and a position on the day.
“Even though racing is my life and, on the day, there is probably nothing more important to me, but to all of us and to our planet, there is a far bigger interest than whether I qualify a little bit higher up or a little bit lower.
“Putting things in perspective, what happens on the racetrack and what happens in F1 is probably not important at all.”
