Sebastian Vettel, a career in the rearview mirror

Sebastian Vettel will soon end his prolific career in Formula 1, started in 2007 with BMW Sauber. With four coronations (2010, 2011, 2012, 2013), the one who is still the youngest world champion in the history of the discipline (23 years, 4 months and 11 days in 2010) marked the latter.

Although the native of Heppenheim (Germany) believes that his mark will fade over time. “I once heard someone say: “You will be remembered until the last person who remembers you dies”. Let me put it this way: the United Kingdom has a new king, but it's not the first King Charles, there have been two others before him. Do you remember them? Probably not. There will come a time when no one will remember me. Nothing lasts eternally ", he believes in a long interview on the website of his Aston Martin team.

"People can decide if they want to remember me, but I wouldn't be offended if they didn't, he continues. It doesn't matter how I'm remembered. I always try to treat people with respect and be kind. If this is how people remember me, it will make me happy. There are many lessons in life and it's up to you whether you choose to learn anything from them.

Being a Formula 1 driver is an accelerated lifestyle. I think this is true for most professional athletes. You have everything that happens in normal life, but it's more compressed in terms of time. I had to mature earlier than my friends at school because I took my racing career very seriously and had to deal with a lot of adults. »

First race at Indianapolis in 2007

Propelled into the deep end at not even 20 years old, Sebastian Vettel became at 19 years, 11 months and 14 days old, the youngest driver in the history of Formula 1 to score a point. It was on the occasion of the 2007 United States Grand Prix. In Indianapolis, he was called to replace the firm's usual prop holder, Robert Kubica, after the Pole's spectacular accident in Montreal.

A precociousness in his sport which strongly influenced the life of the one who was nicknamed Baby Schumacher. “I was still doing all the stupid things that teenagers do with their friends, but at 19, your world is different when you also spend a lot of time with people who are in their XNUMXs, XNUMXs, and XNUMXs. It didn't make my life more boring, but I had to mature quickly.

If you want to accomplish something, you have to be committed, you have to be disciplined (…) I often feel like I've been through so much in the last 15 years that I can't take it all in. This taught me a lot, time will tell how much. »

At 35, Sebastian Vettel made the decision to hang up his helmet. An announcement that came during the summer, just before the 2022 Hungarian Grand Prix. Although certain warning signs seemed to foreshadow this decision, with declining motivation following performances below his expectations during his last season with Ferrari (2020) then the premiere at Aston Martin (2021) “I still love sports. I still love racing. The decision to retire was difficult, but I've been thinking about it for a while. I know how much commitment this sport requires and I feel like it's the right time to do something else. » The last two seasons with the Silverstone team have finally convinced the four-time world champion to close the book on Formula 1. 

Two complicated seasons at Aston Martin

“They were difficult because the car was not as competitive as we hoped, judges the German. This year we wanted to have a significant improvement over last year. We failed and we are currently where we finished last year. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone or saying we did a bad job. I'm just being realistic.

We had high hopes, but we didn't succeed (…) The last two years were difficult because I wasn't used to running at the back of the pack. It was a new experience, sometimes difficult, and I became aware of many things. You see what is happening around you. When you're in front, you don't appreciate the work that the teams in the back also do. Just because you're not getting big results doesn't mean you're not working just as hard. » Despite these two complicated years, Vettel says he “happy and proud to have worked alongside such a talented and dedicated group of people.”

Despite everything, Sebastian Vettel occasionally demonstrated his talent, leading two laps in Austin this year and finishing second in Baku last season. “It was a race where we were more competitive. We have proven that we can do good things. There were other races that we did very well, but where we finished 10th and so no one noticed.”

Since the announcement of his retirement, the quadruple world champion even seems free on the track. A better car have these last two seasons changed her state of mind? “Would I retire if I had been very competitive over the last three or four years: winning races, fighting for championships? »

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