By James Broughton, July 28, 2022
Going, going, going, gone. Sebastian Vettel has announced his plan to retire from Formula One at the end of the 2022 season. Vettel said he had “spent a lot of time thinking about it” and the plan to retire has been a “difficult” decision to make. Vettel entered the sport at the precocious age of 19. He retires at a relatively young age of 35 years old. Vettel won his 4 championships with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013, accumulating 34 wins along the way. The best drivers always end up in the best cars.
No matter how good you are, you still have to deliver and Vettel did just that, therefore he is deserving of his championships and wins. Vettel switched to Ferrari for the 2015 season and despite winning a further 19 races for the Scuderia the championship alluded him on two occasions. The switch to Aston Martin in 2021 would see Vettel become a mid-field runner.
The Aston Martin F1 car is not a front runner and there is only so much a driver as capable as Vettel can do. Vettel considered many factors prior to making his retirement public, perhaps running in the mid-field for another year was not desirable. The other issue is simply this, the sporting career is shortlived and Vettel must have felt his time in the sport had passed.
Every sportsman will eventually retire, otherwise, the likes of Martin Brundle would still be driving. Whereas most F1 drivers become mere footnotes or statistics, Vettel, through his own efforts and skill, has cemented his name alongside the greats of Formula One. And don’t be sad for Sebastian Vettel, he retires with a net worth of over $100M.
With any sport a new generation will always replace the current, that is how it is and always will be. In a year from now, the world of F1 will have moved on from the Vettel era because in Formula One there is no room for sentimentality.
