Urs Kuratle, Head of Porsche's official LMDh program, confirms that Vettel “behaved well” during the test in Spain, but that was to be expected.
“Sebastian certainly doesn't have to demonstrate that he knows how to drive a car. He had a certain respect for the car without knowing it, but he mastered it very well”, says the Swiss in an interview granted to Motorsport.com on the occasion of the reserved day to the press at the new headquarters of Porsche Penske Motorsport in Mannheim.
Of course it wasn't a surprise, given that Kuratle knows Vettel from their days together at BMW Sauber in Formula 1: “He's still the same Sebastian, who puts a lot of effort into things like this. It was really nice to hear his impressions.” .
The day went as planned; Although the technical excess of the WEC's LMP1 era is now a thing of the past, Hypercars are also very complex machines, whose systems work differently to those of an F1 car.
Sebastian Vettel, Porsche 963
Photo by: Porsche Motorsport
Jacques Villeneuve, who was the first to address this issue, is said to have failed to understand the manual for the Vanwall Hypercar.
Vettel, on the other hand, faced the new challenges perfectly, assures Kuratle: “Even a four-time Formula 1 world champion found himself faced with many new things: a new team and a rather complex car. He faced it very well “.
Kevin Estre, Porsche's top driver, confirms: “He was definitely motivated. I saw him briefly before going onto the track and he was talking to the engineer, looking at the telemetry and discussing on the radio. He was definitely motivated and wanted to know everything. He did his job.”
For Porsche, too, it was valuable to hear feedback from someone outside of its own team: “It's always good to get other impressions, even from the drivers. Of course, you listen to everything very carefully.”
“What he said is in line with what our regular drivers say, but it's also very interesting to hear the nuances when one of the highest caliber drivers currently around drives our car.”
Michael Christensen, Sebastian Vettel, Porsche 963
Photo by: Porsche Motorsport
Le Mans lineup still to be decided
But what happens next is far from certain. Since the Red Bull event at the Nürburgring in September 2023 it has become clear that Vettel wants to return to racing. He has also made advances towards Formula 1, but at the moment the doors seem closed. But this doesn't necessarily mean anything for Le Mans.
“He is talking to several people. We only read about it in the press – says Kuratle – Nothing has been decided yet about what he will do, when he will drive or whether he will drive for us in the future. This will only be clear in the next few days or weeks. it is still a date on which it will be decided what, how and where he will run.”
Porsche has until May 19 to nominate the drivers for the 2024 24 Hours of Le Mans: “We always look for the best possible solution for the company, for the team, and we have many drivers on the roster.”
Helmet of Sebastian Vettel, Porsche 963
Photo by: Porsche Motorsport
In concrete terms, this means that if Vettel has this desire – in light of the fact that his performance in the test was good – then it would be a practically clear choice for Porsche to give him a seat.
Nico Hülkenberg's victory in 2015 already attracted Porsche's attention for this kind of options, but even this would pale in comparison to a name like Vettel's.
Even if this were not the case, the German manufacturer does not have to worry about finding a teammate for the already confirmed Mathieu Jaminet on the 963 #4.
“I personally believe we have the ten best drivers in the sportscar field. That's more than enough if we want to have three cars with three drivers each at Le Mans.”
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