Four-time champion and Aston Martin racer will step away from Formula 1 racing after this season.
- Lewis Hamilton
- Six-time Formula 1 champion
- Charles Leclerc
- Vettel’s teammate at Ferrari, 2019-20
- Fernando Alonso
- Two-time F1 champion
- Max Verstappen
- Defending F1 World Champion
- Mick Schumacher
- Haas F1 Team
- Sergio Perez
- Red Bull Racing
- Pierre Gasly
- Lance Stroll
- Current Aston Martin Teammate
- Daniel Ricciardo
- McLaren, 2014 Teammate
- Valtteri Bottas
- Alfa Romeo
- On Thursday, Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from Formula 1, effective at the end of the current season.
- The 35-year-old Vettel says he has new challenges to face and new goals to reach.
- “I’m sure he will find other things that will make him happy in a different way,” says former teammate and current Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc.
Four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel announced today in Hungary that he’s decided 2022 will be his 16th and final season in Formula 1.
The 35-year-old Vettel says he has new challenges to face and new goals to reach.
“Who am I? I’m Sebastian, father of three children and husband to a wonderful woman,” Vettel posted on social media Thursday in announcing his retirement. “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 favorite color is blue.”
Many in and around the Formula 1 paddock today are talking about what it will be like on the F1 grid next year without Vettel. Here’s what they’re saying:
Lewis Hamilton
Six-time Formula 1 champion
“My first feeling is it’s sad to see he’s stopping. I’ve not had a lot of time to think about all the journey we’ve been through together. When I talk about the journey that I’ve felt I’ve experienced in this sport and often feeling that it’s been relatively lonely, he’s one of the few people that’s made it not feel lonely. He stood by me through a lot of things.
“I always remember 2007, a press conference in Magny-Cours and him being very outspoken in a drivers’ briefing, and I knew then he would be a powerful figure in the sport. Then seeing his success and seeing that he puts others before himself… he’s been so brave in speaking out and standing for what he believes in.
Lewis Hamilton, left, and Vettel in Turkey in 2020.
Clive MasonGetty Images
“We talk about legends in our sport… I don’t really love that name, that title, to be honest, but I think he’s one of the greatest people we’ve seen in this sport and we need more like him. Sad because I’ve lost an ally in this side of the sport on the grid, but I know that outside he will be doing great things, and we will always remain friends and I hope there are other things we get to do together outside.
“On the racing part of things, he was incredibly quick, very, very intelligent. Very good engineer I think, very, very precise on track. Just a great all-round competitor. Very fair but also very strong, firm on track. He’s never been someone to blame other people for mistakes. He would always put his hand up and say it was his fault, which I always thought was honorable. Naturally, I think when you’re focused on winning championships and stuff… when we were younger, we didn’t have time to stop and talk about what we do in our own personal lives or things we cared about.
“Over time, we’ve started to see one another take those brave steps and standing up for things we believe in and been able to support each other. He’s been so supportive to me and I’d like to think I’ve supported him also. I’ve come to realize we have a lot more in common than just the driving passion. It’s really kind of been him standing out into the uncomfortable light and trying to do something with the platform that we have and I think that’s why for me he’s very much unlike any other drivers that have been here, past or present.”
Charles Leclerc
Vettel’s teammate at Ferrari, 2019-20
“It’s sad, it’s sad for me. Maybe for him he’s much happier in the place he’s going now. Obviously it’s going to be strange not to see Seb inside the paddock. I’ve learned so much driving with him and he’s always been super nice with me. I’ll definitely miss Seb in the paddock, I wish him all the best.
Charles Leclerc and Vettel share a laugh today in Hungary.
NurPhotoGetty Images
“I’m sure he will find other things that will make him happy in a different way. There are lots of moments (with Seb), but definitely not on-track moments. I think it’s just simpler moments we’ve had at the factory and the way also our relationship evolved throughout the years. I arrived in the first year and I was super impressed. I was probably very weird to him—I was just shy and didn’t know what to say with him. But now he’s a friend and he always texts me—he did it after Sunday (in France) and always tries to make me feel better when I am going through a tough time. It’s nice to see how much I’ve grown since I first met him.”
Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso at a press conference in Hungary in 2017.
Dan MullanGetty Images
Fernando Alonso
Two-time F1 champion
“We will miss him after so many years, sharing the track together, good fights. Obviously in all his championships I was somehow in there as well. He’s a great champion and also a great man, with very strong values, lovely family. That is the decision also, into this, I heard (it’s about) his family. I saw them in Austria—they were in the same hotel. They seemed very happy, a very cute family. I think it’s going to be good fun for him. So wishing him the best and hopefully he’s around in the paddock in the future.”
Max Verstappen, left, will likely be chasing down some of Vettel’s records one day.
Lars Baron – Formula 1Getty Images
Max Verstappen
Defending F1 World Champion
“At the end of the day he has achieved so much in this sport that it’s fully understandable for him to retire. I think he’s had an amazing career, he’s won a lot of races. He’s won a lot of championships as well, and I think he’s a great ambassador for the sport.
“To see him go, it’s something that you could see coming—everyone is getting older, at one point everyone is retiring. It is of course never nice when that moment arrives, especially of course for Seb’s fans, but these things happen. I think it’s important now that he’s just going to enjoy his life with the family, because F1 is such a short period of time in your life that you work so hard to achieve all these things that he has achieved, and now it’s time to enjoy.”
BREAKING: Sebastian Vettel has announced he will retire from F1 at the end of the 2022 season4 world titles53 race wins122 podiums
1 phenomenal career#ThankYouSeb pic.twitter.com/K8BVXI6IAx— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2022
Mick Schumacher
Haas F1 Team
“Yeah, of course I’m very sad about it. It’ll leave a huge hole in the sport because he’s such a character in Formula 1, such a special person, and such a likable person. I’ll miss him very much.”
Sergio Perez
Red Bull Racing
“In a way I feel very proud of Seb, what he has achieved. He is a great legend of the sport—he is a great guy, very fair, very vocal, has been very successful, has a beautiful family. Everything what you will hope for for a colleague to achieve. I wish the best to him and his family.”
📻 “Sebastian Vettel, you are the man!” #F1 pic.twitter.com/IhQK1paJbZ
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) July 28, 2022
Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri
“F1 will definitely miss him because first of all he’s a legend of the sport, just looking at the numbers—four titles, number of wins, poles. He has a loud personality and I think his character inside the paddock, everyone will miss him.
“He’s a guy I’ve always had so much respect for. I had the chance when I entered the Red Bull program to see how much effort he put in, his work ethic inside the team, his dedication.
“I remember when I won my GP2 title in 2016 and I didn’t get promoted to Formula 1 straight away, and I remember calling him one night and I just wanted five minutes to get his advice and how to deal with it and it turned out to be a 90-minute call. He was an F1 driver racing for Ferrari and in the list of priorities I’m very low but he still took that time to advise me and how to deal with it, deal with Red Bull, and to make the situation progress, and for this I’ll always be very grateful. We had a close relationship after, some dinners together, he’s a fantastic driver but also a great human being.”
Incredible to think that after so many years racing together #SebastianVettel will not longer be on the grid with us.Happy retirement! I’m very proud of you and proud of everything you achieved in the sport.
It’s now time to enjoy family and life!#FroheWeihnachten 😬 pic.twitter.com/SiCe8HVyvp— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) July 28, 2022
Lance Stroll
Current Aston Martin Teammate
“He’s achieved so much in this sport, he’s been a great teammate. I’ve enjoyed working alongside Seb for the last year and a half. He’s achieved so much. This is a chapter in his life that he’s moving on from, and he has a family at home and other things to look forward to. It’s been an incredible career for him.”
Carlos Sainz: “I wish him all the best. For me, since the beginning, he has been a great role model. I was privileged enough to be the simulator driver when he was at his peak, at Red Bull. I got an insight into how to be successful like he was. In those years he would stop to talk with me, to give me advice. He is an ambassador for the younger generation. Everyone in the paddock loves him. You won’t hear anyone speak bad about Seb.”
George Russell: “Such an inspiration and humble bloke. No one has got a bad word to say about Seb. He’s good fun to be around. He will be looking forward to everything he’s got planned in the future.”
Legend status. 👑 Congratulations on a remarkable career, Sebastian Vettel.
A champion on and off the track. pic.twitter.com/KU6fZABpNA— McLaren (@McLarenF1) July 28, 2022
Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren, 2014 Teammate
“You know in a way it’s sad of course because you’re losing a bit of a legend of the sport. It’s one of those, you’re sad but also happy for him to start ‘chapter two’ of his life!”
Valtteri Bottas
Alfa Romeo
“A good driver to race against and race with. With him, there’s always respect—he’s always going to race hard but fair. Really enjoyed the battles. Such a nice guy, one of those drivers that’s not afraid of speaking.”
NEWS: Sebastian Vettel will retire from #F1 at the end of the 2022 season, bringing one of the greatest careers in the history of the sport to a close.
Read more from Sebastian, Lawrence Stroll and Mike Krack. ⬇️— Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) July 28, 2022
Keyword: F1 World Reacts to Sebastian Vettel's Surprise Retirement at Age 35