Sebastian Vettel has announced he is retiring from Formula One at the end of the season.
The 35-year-old will bring the curtain down on a career which yielded four world championships and 53 wins.
Vettel, who started his F1 career midway through the 2007 season and enjoyed his best years with Red Bull, made the announcement ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
BREAKING: Sebastian Vettel has announced he will retire from F1 at the end of the 2022 season
4 world titles53 race wins122 podiums1 phenomenal career#ThankYouSeb pic.twitter.com/K8BVXI6IAx
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 28, 2022
The Aston Martin driver, who lies 14th in the championship, said: “I have had the privilege of working with many fantastic people in Formula One over the past 15 years – there are far too many to mention and thank.
“The decision to retire has been a difficult one for me to take, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it.
“At the end of the year I want to take some more time to reflect on what I will focus on next; it is very clear to me that, being a father, I want to spend more time with my family.
“But today is not about saying goodbye. Rather, it is about saying thank you – to everyone – not least to the fans, without whose passionate support Formula One could not exist.”
Vettel won four consecutive titles with Red Bull between 2010 and 2013 before joining Ferrari two years later.
The German was hired to end Ferrari’s title drought but failed – and was ultimately dropped by the Italian team at the end of 2019.
Vettel moved to Aston Martin team ahead of their return to the Formula One grid after decades away.
But the British-based team have struggled for results, with Vettel deciding to walk away rather than continue for another campaign.
Sebastian Vettel dominated Formula One with Red Bull for a chunk of the 2010s (Rui Vieira/PA)
He added: “Over the past two years I have been an Aston Martin driver – and, although our results have not been as good as we had hoped, it is very clear to me that everything is being put together that a team needs to race at the very highest level for years to come.
“I have really enjoyed working with such a great bunch of people.
“I hope that the work I did last year and am continuing to do this year will be helpful in the development of a team that will win in the future, and I will work as hard as I can between now and the end of the year with that goal in mind, giving as always my best in the last 10 races.”
Vettel will sign off at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in November which will mark his 300th race.
Lawrence Stroll – the Canadian fashion billionaire who owns Aston Martin – paid tribute to Vettel.
He said: “I want to thank Sebastian from the bottom of my heart for the great work that he has done for Aston Martin over the past year and a half.
“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.
“He has driven some fantastic races for us, and, behind the scenes, his experience and expertise with our engineers have been extremely valuable.
“He is one of the all-time greats of Formula One, and it has been a privilege to have been able to work with him.
“He will continue to race for us up to and including the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which will be his 300th Grand Prix entry. We will give him a fabulous send-off.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here