Vettel was too ill to race even if Covid rules allowed

As F1 debates whether to allow drivers to race with Covid, Sebastian Vettel says it would not have been possible in his case as he was too ill.

Vettel missed the first two rounds of the 2022 championship after testing positive, replaced by Nico Hulkenberg for the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian grands prix.

But while Aston Martin had hoped he would be back for the Saudi race, the German continued to suffer with the virus and recorded another positive test.

He is the second driver this year alone to miss on-track action after testing positive, the first being Daniel Ricciardo who sat out the final pre-season test.

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It has the drivers questioning whether Formula 1 should now leave it up to them to decide if they are well enough to be out on track.

Vettel says in his case he was not.

“I had races when I was feeling a bit ill and raced but it was not possible [this time], so it was definitely the right decision,” said Vettel, quoted by The Race.

“It was strange to watch, but on the other hand also interesting to see how it looks from the outside.

“Nico did really well with zero preparation to jump in and do that kind of job.

“And I was part of all the meetings, briefings, listening to the drivers all the time, so tried to make the most of it. But it was a bit strange.”

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