Sebastian Vettel's shocking retirement announcement
This story initially reported that Vettel was expected to stay with the limping Aston Martin squad in 2023. But, in a shocking announcement, he said 2022 would be his final season.
Author’s note: Shortly after this post was published, Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of 2022.
The confirmation came as a shock to most, especially given recent comments, reported in this article, where he indicated that he was keen to stay with the team for 2023.
Vettel said the decision to retire was difficult, but he wanted to spend more time with his family. He is also reportedly concerned over the world’s climate emergency and Formula 1’s role in it.
The article below remains unedited and accurate at its time of publishing.
It now serves as a reminder of how shocking Vettel’s announcement was. Below is what was published just days before his fateful announcement.
Quadruple world champion Sebastian Vettel says he has a ‘clear intention’ to stay at Aston Martin for 2023.
That comes despite the team’s ongoing abysmal season where they have slipped to second-to-last in the Constructors’ Championship.
Vettel is now 35 and has no contract in place beyond this year.
But, it became clear ahead of the French Grand Prix that both Aston Martin and Vettel are looking to soldier on together for 2023.
“I am talking to the team. There is a clear intention to keep going. We'll soon see where we stand,” Vettel told media, including BBCF1 and The Race, ahead of the race at Paul Ricard.
Meanwhile, Aston Martin boss Mike Krack told F1.com earlier this month that he hoped Vettel would continue.
“We are in talks … we’re confident that we can make this a success with the talks that we are having,” Krack said at the time.
He added that Vettel was not lacking motivation and described him as “very, very positive [and] very constructive”.
Aston Martin’s abysmal season
Good on Vettel for wanting to continue, given the year it has been. Aston Martin has taken a backward step and now sits second-to-bottom in the Constructors’ Championship.
Both Alfa Romeo and Haas have leapfrogged ahead, performance-wise.
Aston Martin has just 19 points after 12 races, which is well behind the midfield leaders Alpine and McLaren, who have 93 and 89 points respectively.
Aston Martin’s best finish this year is only 6th, which Vettel achieved in Azerbaijan. Rather ironically, Vettel found himself on the podium during that race in 2021.
One of the best sum-ups of Aston Martin in 2022 was a comment made by team boss Mike Krack in Imola, the season’s fourth race.
There, Vettel managed to get Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time during a wet-dry qualifying session. According to Autosport, Krack reckoned it was the first time he had seen smiling faces all year.
Ouch.
Performance-wise, little seems to have changed from then to now.
In France, Vettel and teammate Lance Stroll were only competitive enough to scrap over the final points-paying position: 10th. (Stroll took home the solitary point).
Still, the team’s post-race comments had an aura of positivity.
“We are continuing our trend of being more competitive on a Sunday so today is a good platform as the summer break approaches,” Stroll said.
The car’s race pace was decent and reliability was good, according to team boss Mike Krack.
“That is a solid basis to take forward to the Hungaroring – a circuit that we think may suit our car better than Paul Ricard.”