Aston Martin team boss Mike Krack says he was "100 per cent tempted" to ask Sebastian Vettel to fill in for Lance Stroll in Bahrain in the wake of his pre-season cycling crash.
Stroll's injured wrist had sidelined the Canadian from testing and put in jeopardy his participation in the opening round of the championship in Bahrain.
The team ultimately opted to trust Stroll's recovery process while putting reserve driver Felipe Drugovich on stand-by, just in case.
However, when the situation was still fluid, Krack was tempted to ask Vettel to return to the fray, having even exchanged a few phone calls with the now-retired German driver to discuss the matter.
©AstonMartin
"[I was] tempted, yes, 100%," Krack told the F1 Nation podcast.
"But we didn't do it because we have such high respect for Sebastian, and with the decision he made [to retire], I think it would not have been correct to ask.
"We wanted to respect where he was and we didn't want to put him in a difficult position."
Upon his exit from Formula 1, Vettel had made his retirement plans clear to his former team, and while the five-time world champion could have perhaps made a shock one-off return, it was certainly not his desire.
But the German has remained in contact with his former team and watched its remarkable achievements from afar.
"We have been in touch, we were in touch for the new year obviously but then also Sebastian was Sebastian like: congratulating us, very gentleman-like on our first podium in Bahrain," added Krack.
"We said to him: 'This is also your merit' because he brought us really one step up over the previous two years.
"He brought us up in a lot of areas where we have learned and progressed a lot, so he certainly has his part in where we are now.
"But he was comfortable with [the decision to retire.]
"He was not regretting it because he was very conscious about his decision when it was made, and I think the respect between himself and the team and myself was really shown by this great moment of congratulating us.
"It was really appreciated and I relayed it to the whole team."
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
