Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo to drive Red Bull F1 cars at Nordschleife in Germany

Motor racing legend Sebastian Vettel is set to return to the F1 track, with him and fellow Red Bull great Daniel Ricciardo performing demonstration laps at the iconic Nordschleife track in Germany.

Vettel, a four-time world champion, retired at the end of last season after a 15-year career on the grid, and will now reunite with the famed Red Bull RB7 he nicknamed ‘Kinky Kylie’ when he hit the circuit on 9 September.

Vettel and his former team-mate will do exhibition laps for Red Bull in their old cars, which will run on carbon-neutral electric fuel; a very important cause for the German, who is a strong advocate for sustainability and environmental protection.

“The Nordschleife myth resonated, even though we had ‘only’ driven the GP track at the time. Either way, it will be great fun to drive my RB7 – powered by e-fuel – down the Nordschleife as part of a show,’ Vettel said when announcing his show laps on the track. known as ”Green Hell”.

“Motorsport is my passion. It’s important to me to show that racing cars can run just as well and fast on CO2-neutral synthetic fuel. And it’s already today!

Vettel, a strong supporter of sustainability and the environment, is happy to drive around the exhibition in a car running on carbon-neutral fuel

Vettel (left) showers then-teammate Ricciardo (right) with champagne after the Australian won the Canadian Grand Prix in 2014

Ricciardo, pictured at the annual Met Gala in New York earlier this year, will also drive for Red Bull at the famous track on September 9.

Ricciardo, who is currently taking something of a year off as a test driver for Red Bull, has confirmed he will also be doing an exhibition lap at the famed track, part of the wider Nuerburgring circuit this month. last.

“I just got my invitation to the Nuerburgring which is pretty cool. I’m going to be driving a Red Bull car on the famous track so I’m very excited about it,” he said in a post on social media. team social.

The exhibition laps are part of a huge racing weekend for Red Bull, with the Nurburgring 12 Hour race also taking place.

It’s been a decade since a modern F1 raced on the famous Nordschleife circuit, which hosted Grands Prix between 1951 and 1976.

The end of F1 there came after racing legend Niki Lauda’s gruesome and fiery crash at the circuit, which he barely survived.

Vettel retired in 2022 after a 15-year F1 career that saw him become the most successful Red Bull driver of all time

Germany’s famous Nordschleife track is now used as a proving ground for the latest supercars, such as the Mercedes-AMG Project ONE (pictured on the circuit)

The great Michael Schumacher was the last to drive a modern car there in 2013, just months before his skiing accident, six years after Nick Heidfeld became the first driver to take a lap in an F1 car on the track since the infamous Lauda accident.

It’s one of the most famous tracks on the planet and one of the fiercest tests of any rider’s skill, with blind crests and jaw-dropping tight turns. There is an elevation gain/loss of 1000 feet per turn as it winds through the beautiful German countryside.

The RB7 that Vettel will drive in the exhibition rounds is a car the German will keep fond memories of.

He won the 2011 world championship there after a season in which he won 11 grands prix and obtained 18 of 19 poles.

Famous for giving his cars a female name each season, Vettel has named the RB7 he will drive in Germany on September 9 “Kinky Kylie”.

Vettel, pictured at the Monaco Grand Prix in 2011, races in the RB7 which he called ‘Kinky Kylie’, which many assumed was named after Kylie Minogue

Given that he named it hours after winning the Australian Grand Prix to open the season, speculation swirled in the media he named it after Kylie Minogue; although he has yet to confirm this fact.

But he was clearly a big fan of the car.

“He’s got a tight ass, lithe and beautiful to look at,” he said in 2011, after telling reporters what he named his RB7.

Ricciardo will drive the Vettel RB8 nicknamed “Abbey” – a far cry from the evocative names he used for cars earlier in his career, such as Luscious Liz, Kate’s Dirty Sister, Hungry Heidi (named after German model Heidi Klum) and Randy Mandy.