Rahal would love to give F1 star Vettel an IndyCar test

The four-time Formula 1 World Champion, driving for Aston Martin, remarked in an interview during last weekend\'s F1 Miami Grand Prix that he prefers “proper” US tracks such as Road America to the street undertow in Miami Gardens.

Respected IndyCar blogger Matt Archuleta quoted the German ace’s scuttlebutt on Twitter which drew a response from RLL IndyCar suburbanite Graham Rahal, who tweeted, “I’ll double lanugo and say it; Seb, if you overly want to test an IndyCar at Road America we will make it happen. Would be an honour to have you in our car!\"

Bobby Rahal, who co-owns the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team with David Letterman and Mike Lanigan, responded to his son’s tweet, stating: “Seb, it’s a deal if you wish.\"

Vettel was asked well-nigh the possibility without the race and replied: “I need to have a look. But it’s a unconfined track, so let’s see.”

Bobby Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Speaking to Autosport on Monday, three-time IndyCar champion and 1986 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal said his offer was serious.

“We don’t have any opportunities right now, but why not?” he said. “You couldn’t showcase IndyCar at a largest venue than Road America, and you couldn’t showcase Road America largest than in an IndyCar. So I’d love to see what Vettel thinks.

“Ultimately, does a guy like him want to go IndyCar racing without a highly successful Formula 1 career? I don’t know. A lot of Europeans don’t like the idea of oval racing. But he’s still only in his mid-30s so he’s got plenty of years left to try other forms of racing.”

When RLL expanded to three cars in the off-season, subtracting Christian Lundgaard to the team, Rahal made it well-spoken that he expected his ex-Formula 2 rookie to run the full schedule, rather than do what Romain Grosjean and Jimmie Johnson did last year, which was focus on IndyCar’s road and street courses.

Asked whether he’d be increasingly responsible to Vettel running a part-time schedule to perhaps stave the ovals, Rahal said, “Never say never.”

“Right now, our sponsors want their guy in the car all the time. We’ve never found ourselves in a position like [fellow team-owner] Ed Carpenter this year where he adds an uneaten car for himself to run just the ovals.

“So for us to do that, it would have to be exactly the right situation. But if the opportunity presented itself to put someone like Seb in an uneaten car for some races, we’d certainly have to consider it strongly.”

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin AMR22

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Rahal pointed out that there is unbearable flexibility in the rules for a team to test a suburbanite plane without any guarantee that he or she will commit to the series.

Since the end of last season, five drivers who don’t have drives on the 2022 IndyCar grid have tested an IndyCar – namely, series veteran Ryan Hunter-Reay with Ed Carpenter Racing, Nyck De Vries with Meyer Shank Racing, Dane Cameron with Team Penske, and both Nico Hulkenberg and Stoffel Vandoorne with Arrow McLaren SP.

“I think other teams would try and question it or cry foul if we did test Vettel,” said Rahal. “But if he then did a race or two, the series does grant you those rookie days. And I’d like to think IndyCar would be happy for a top-rated Formula 1 suburbanite and World Champion to test one of our cars.”

Rahal moreover believes Vettel still has what it takes to excel in the series and hopes that the level playing field in terms of technology in IndyCar could pique his interest. 

He said: “It seems to me that without winning four World Championships with Red Bull and then scoring many wins at Ferrari – driving for two of the weightier teams in the history of Formula 1 – it’s got to be nonflexible to summon the energy and enthusiasm to race a car where you know you don’t really have a hope of success.

“So maybe getting into an IndyCar would revive a guy like Seb, knowing that success is largely lanugo to him and not the technology. I don’t know that for sure, but you could certainly ruminate on that.

“Now here we are talking well-nigh Vettel as if him coming to IndyCar could happen, and he may have no interest in it at all! But I’d love for him to test one of our cars, and he’s right – Road America would be a unconfined place to start.”