Sebastian Vettel used his newly created Instagram account to post a video justifying his decision to retire from Formula One
Sebastian Vettel's career of four world titles, 53 wins and almost 300 GP in Formula 1 comes to an end when the current championship ends. The announcement came this Thursday morning (28), initially through a statement from Aston Martin and then with a video released by the driver in the account created only yesterday on Instagram. It was on the social network that the German justified himself and said that interests have changed over the years: he specifically pointed to the desire to see his daughters grow up and to fight in a concrete way against man-made climate change.
The video came out later in the morning, at the same time as the statement from the British team he has defended for the last two years and with whom he has become very close. CEO and Aston Martin boss Lawrence Stroll and Mike Krack, respectively, made it clear: they wanted him to continue. It was Vettel who defined that he wanted to leave the scene.
The video said on Instagram features very well-written text. Exactly what one would expect from a guy like Vettel. In it, he explains that his desires in life have changed over the years. At 35, he wants to see spending more time with his family and watching the kids grow up. Sebastian has been married since 2019 to Hanna Prater, his girlfriend of many years, and together with whom he has three daughters. Emilie, born in January 2014; Matida, from September 2015; and a third child, born in November 2019 and who has never had his name revealed.
Beyond his family, Vettel wants to ensure a future for the children through fighting climate change and global warming. It is with this in mind that he says "the best race is yet to come." Sebastian indicates that he will not leave public life.
"I hereby announce my retirement from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season. I should probably start with a long list of people to thank, but I feel it is more important to explain the reasons why I have made this decision. I love the sport and it has been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember. But as much as there is a life on the track, there is also a life off the track. Being a racing driver was never my only identity. I'm a big believer in an identity built by who we are and how we treat others, over and above what we do for a living," he said.
"And who am I? I am Sebastian, father of three children and husband to a wonderful woman. I am curious and easily fascinated by passionate and skilled people. I am obsessed with perfection. I am tolerant and feel that we all have the same rights to live - no matter what we look like, where we come from, and who we love. I love to go out and I love nature and its wonders. I am stubborn and impatient. I can be very annoying, too. I like to make people laugh. I like chocolate and the smell of fresh bread. My favorite color is blue. I believe in change and progress - and that every little action makes a difference. I am optimistic and believe that people are good. Besides motorsports, I have a family and I love being around them," he pointed out.
"I have acquired, over time, interests other than Formula 1. My passion for the sport and for F1 entails a lot of time away from the family and takes a lot of my energy. Committing myself to my passion - the way I did and the way I believe is right - is no longer compatible with my desire to be a great father and husband. The energy required to join the car and the team in pursuit of perfection demands focus and commitment. My goals have changed: from winning races and fighting for championships, to watching my children grow up and passing my values to them, helping them when they fall, listening to them when they need me, not having to say 'bye-bye,' and most importantly, being able to learn from them and let them inspire me, he explained.
"Children are our future. Also, I feel there is a lot to explore and learn about life and myself. Speaking of the future, I feel we live in very decisive times and how we all shape these next few years will determine our lives. My passion comes with certain aspects that I have learned to dislike - they can be solved in the future, but the will to apply that change has to grow a lot, be a lot stronger, and it has to lead to action today. Talking is not enough, and we cannot wait. There is no alternative. This race is already underway. My best race? It is yet to come, he assured.
"I believe in moving on and looking forward. Time is a one-way street, and I want to go with it. Looking back will only slow you down. I'm looking forward to racing on unfamiliar tracks and finding new challenges. The marks I left on the track will remain until time allows and the rain will wash them away. New marks will be placed. Tomorrow belongs to those who shape today. The next curve is in good hands, for the new generation is already here. I believe there is still a race to win. Goodbye, and thank you for letting me share the track with you. I loved every part of it," he finished.
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Vettel's career
Even though he was not one of the leading drivers on the grid in the 'Drive to Survive Era', which brought so many new fans to the World Championship, Vettel's career is one of the most impressive of all time in over 70 years of F1.
Since he entered the grid and made his debut in the 2007 US GP, already in the final part of the season, then aged 20, Vettel has competed 289 races and has 11 more to go. Thus, he will reach 300 GPs. In this period he won 53 races, was on 122 podiums, scored 57 poles, and won four world titles. Numbers of a historical heavyweight.
Sebastian is tied with Alain Prost as four-time world champion, behind only three other drivers with more achievements; he is the youngest driver in history to win and pole in the same weekend (122 races).He is the youngest driver in history to have pole position and victory in the same weekend (21 years and 73 days, Italian GP 2008) and the youngest in history to have pole position, victory and fastest lap (21 years and 353 days, British GP 2009). He is, along with Nigel Mansell in 1992, the driver with the most wins from pole in a single year (nine, 2011). Vettel is the third driver with the most wins and laps led, the fourth with the most poles, and the seventh with the most races in history.
Despite his start at BMW, Vettel only drove eight races there, still on loan from Red Bull. The following year, 2008, he started at Toro Rosso and shone. Even with many retirements at the end of the year, he knew how to work to put the team back on track and make a magical second half of the year, winning the Italian GP, with pole position and everything.
Red Bull was the obvious destination, and so it was for 2009. That was when everything changed for the team, which made an impressive leap in the grid and left the giants Ferrari and McLaren behind. The title didn't come because of the Brawn GP phenomenon, but Red Bull was well positioned. Vettel was vice world champion and emerged as favorite for 2010.
Then, yes, began one of the most dominant moments of any driver in the history of F1. In the year he would be only 24 years old, Vettel knew how to fight. With five wins in the year, including in three of the last four races, he narrowly beat Fernando Alonso to win the world title Vettel dominated in 2011 to become a two-time champion and had to deal with Alonso again for the third place in 2012. In 2013 there was no contest: Vettel was four-time champion and still closed the season with nine straight wins - ten in the last 11, 11 in 13 and 15 wins in all.
With the arrival of the 'Hybrid Era' in 2014, the order of forces changed and Mercedes' rise was meteoric, with Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominating. Vettel seemed despondent during the year, and in October he set his sights on Ferrari the following year. For the next six years he defended the red color.
As early as 2015, when Ferrari was going through a rebuild after the departures of Luca di Montezemolo, Stefano Domenicali, and Alonso, Vettel won three times. Starting in 2017, things changed. Ferrari jumped up and put itself in a position to challenge Mercedes, with Vettel starting the 2017 and 2018 championships very strongly and leading for several times especially in the early metado of those years. Both championships have important throws that demarcate Sebastian's exit from contention: the accident with Max Verstappen at the start of the 2017 Singapore GP and the run off the track at the 2018 German GP. Hamilton got the better of him in both cases.
After the mistake in Germany, that just after a win in England, where Hamilton always reigned, Vettel did not recover. The end of that season was bad, while Charles Leclerc arrived the following year and quickly became the darling of the team, which again had changed boss and president, with the departure of Maurizio Arrivabene and the tarring and death of Sergio Marchionne. Even without the dreamed-of title, Vettel won 14 races for Ferrari, which puts him second only to Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda.
The exit was announced for the end of 2020, but still before the championship started. Aston Martin, which returned to F1 as a brand after almost 60 years, took advantage and signed with Vettel. In the first year, the four-time champion was second in the Azerbaijan GP and achieved the same result in Hungary, but on Monday he was disqualified for a technical infraction related to the amount of fuel delivered at inspection. A team problem. The expectation was to have a stronger team in 2022, but it didn't happen. Aston Martin has regressed and thinks about how to get out of the last positions this year and in the next ones. Something difficult even with the bold plans, including a new factory and wind tunnel, more employees, and the tradition of the brand.
A career nothing less than glorious, in an undeniable way. Averse to social networks, in recent years, Vettel increased the way he dealt with social issues, always at the circuits, taking advantage of the F1 platform. During this period, he defended climate issues and the bees, a species that is under global threat of extinction - something that would change the ecosystem of the planet, since the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community and anti-war issues after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as well as anti-racism. Now he will have more time to address other issues.