The retired driver was unrecognizable in medical scrubs when he joined surgeons at the Municipal Clinic in Karlsruhe, Germany.
The 35-year-old accepted Head of Neurosurgery Uwe Spetzger’s invitation to become a “brain surgeon for a day”.
Special guests can participate in a once-a-month opportunity to learn about the work of the clinic’s surgeons.
“I’m just looking anyway,” the Red Bull legend quipped to German source Neueste Nachrichten during his visit.
However, Spetzger assured that “anyone who can see Grey’s Anatomy can stand it” before the trainees entered to observe the surgeries.
The F1 superstar, dressed in blue overalls, can be identified as Sebastian Vettel.
During his day as a trainee, the four-time world champion observed two operations.
The first was to remove a cyst caused by a brain tumor from a patient, and the second was to replace a fractured disc in the cervical spine with a compact titanium cage.
Vettel quit from motorsports last season to spend more time with his family.
However, after three hours in the operating room, he observed parallels between the jobs of a surgeon and a racing driver.
He stated: “You must believe in yourself and your craft, as well as enjoy your work. With that comes precision and a desire to improve.
“Unfortunately, this is frequently underestimated.” Sport, like life, usually need more than one person.”
When asked if he could take on the job full-time, he laughed and said, “Of certainly, the craft is really interesting. But I’d have to sit on the bench for too long to learn.
Despite retiring from the sport, Vettel remains one of the most accomplished drivers of the modern age.
And it has been confirmed that he will soon be back in familiar terrain, driving his 2011 title-winning RB7 at the Nurburgring Nordschleife in a special event later this year.
Daniel Ricciardo will also team up with Vettel for the unique occasion.
In 2013, seven-time F1 champion Michael Schumacher was the last driver to drive an F1 vehicle around the circuit, termed “the world’s most dangerous racetrack”.
Mick Schumacher, Schumacher’s son and current Mercedes reserve driver, will drive another of his father’s old cars, the Mercedes W02, during next month’s Goodwood Festival of Speed.
