Four-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel Announces Retirement from Formula 1

Photo credit: NurPhoto – Getty Images

Four-time Formula 1 World Champion Sebastian Vettel will bring down the curtain on a distinguished career at the end of the current season.

Vettel, 35, made the announcement ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, the final race before Formula 1’s summer recess. In a lengthy video released on a newly-created Instagram account Vettel, a father of three, cited changing goals in his personal life and a desire to explore aspects outside of Formula 1.

Photo credit: NurPhoto – Getty Images

“Probably I should start with a long list of people to thank but I feel it is more important to explain the reasons behind my decision,” said Vettel.

“I love this sport, it has been central to my life since I can remember. But as much as there is life on track, there is my life off track, too. Being a racing driver has never been my sole identity. I very much believe in identity by who we are and how we treat others, rather than what we do.

“Who am I? I’m Sebastian, father of three children and husband to a wonderful woman. I am curious and easily fascinated by passionate or skilled people, I am obsessed with perfection.

“I am tolerant and feel like we all have the same rights to live, no matter what we look like, where we come from and who we love. I love being outside, I love nature and its wonders. I’m stubborn and impatient, I can be really annoying. I like to make people laugh, I like chocolate and the smell of fresh bread. My favourite colour is blue.

“I believe in change and progress and every little bit makes a difference. I am an optimist and I believe people are good. Next to racing, I have grown a family who I love being around. I’ve grown other interests outside of Formula 1.

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“My passion with racing and Formula 1 comes with lots of time spent away from them, and takes a lot of energy. Committing to my passion the way I did and the way I think it is right, does no longer go side by side with my wish to be a great father and husband. The energy it takes to become one with the car and the team, to chase perfection takes focus and commitment.

“My goals have shifted from winning races and fighting for championships to see my children grow, passing on my values, helping them up when they fall, listening to them when they need me. Not having to say goodbye, and most importantly, being able to learn from them and let them inspire me. Children are our future, further I feel there is so much to explore and learn about life and about myself.”

Vettel has become increasingly vocal in recent years on environmental and societal issues and he is expected to devote his energy to those topics.

Photo credit: Dan Istitene – Formula 1 – Getty Images

“How we all shape these next years will determine our lives,” he said. “My passion comes with certain aspects that I have learned to dislike. They might be solved in the future, but the will to apply that change has to grow much, much stronger and has to be leading to action today. Talk is not enough and we cannot afford to wait. There is no alternative.

“The race is underway. My best race is still to come. I believe in moving forward and moving on. Time is a one-way street and I want to go with the times. Looking back is only going to slow you down. I look forward to racing down unknown tracks and will be finding new challenges.

“The marks I left on track will stay until time and rain will wash them away. New ones will be put down. Tomorrow belongs to those shaping today. The next corner is in good hands as the new generation has already turned in. I believe that there is still a race to win. Farewell, thanks for letting me share the track with you. I loved every bit of it.”

Vettel enjoyed remarkable success early in his career after debuting with Toro Rosso mid-2007.

Photo credit: Darren Heath Photographer – Getty Images

He claimed an astonishing wet-weather win at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix before stepping up to Red Bull Racing for 2009 just as the team emerged as a front-runner.

Vettel became Formula 1’s youngest world champion in 2010, aged just 23, and followed it up with three in a row, including dominant campaigns in 2011 and 2013.

Vettel’s 2011 season, in which he claimed 11 victories, featured the record for most laps led in a season, while in 2013 he claimed 13 wins, including a sequence of nine in a row to round out the season.

New regulations stymied Red Bull in 2014, bringing his streak to an end, and for 2015 Vettel moved to Ferrari in a bid to emulate the achievements of his childhood hero Michael Schumacher. Vettel won races with Ferrari, and led the championship, but a combination of driver mistakes, team errors and development setbacks scuppered title bids in 2017 and 2018 as he lost out to Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

The emergence of Charles Leclerc through 2019 signaled a change in dynamic at Ferrari and before the pandemic-hit 2020 season began Ferrari and Vettel announced their split.

Vettel switched to Aston Martin on a multi-year deal but despite substantial investment the squad has struggled for performance.

His last victory was achieved with Ferrari at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix while his most recent podium was at last season’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Vettel is likely to retire with 53 victories (third on the all-time list), along with 57 pole positions and 122 podiums from 300 Grands Prix entered.

Aston Martin chairman Lawrence Stroll paid tribute to Vettel and outlined that “we made it clear to him that we wanted him to continue with us next year, but in the end he has done what he feels is right for himself and his family, and of course we respect that.”

Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack commented that “when we become fully competitive—and we will—one of the architects of that future success will be Sebastian.”

Vettel’s departure opens a vacancy at Aston Martin for 2023 alongside Lance Stroll.