Vettel feels a void after his last Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel finished in 10th place in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last of his Formula 1 career. The German driver amazed us until the final moments of the race with a splendid battle against Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Ocon, and Fernando Alonso. His retirement doesn’t prevent him from thinking about his team. Aston Martin finishes tied on points with Alfa Romeo, and he would have wanted to give the team from Gaydon the 6th place in the championship.

“I would have liked to score a few more points,” he declared at the end of the race.

A strategic mistake, but a great end to the season

His team did not opt for the right strategy, according to Vettel, a better result was possible. However, he remembers his battle with Daniel Ricciardo, who is also leaving Formula 1 after two difficult seasons with McLaren. A great way to end this 2022 championship.

« We obviously chose to stay on track. When the tires started to wear out, we backed off, but we were committed to a one-stop strategy, it was done. It was the slowest strategy today. It’s not very pleasant in the car to move down the rankings. I had a good battle with Daniel, but I couldn’t get close enough to overtake him. But I think it’s good for him too to fight in the final laps. And we both finished in the points.”

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A career ending in obscurity and emptiness.

These last two seasons have been very peculiar for Vettel, who was coming out of a difficult period at Ferrari. The performance of the English car didn’t meet the expectations of the German driver. Although he managed to secure a podium in Baku and fight for victory with Esteban Ocon in Hungary in 2021, before being demoted. The two seasons at Aston Martin have been a real challenge for the four-time world champion, who found himself at the bottom of the standings in many races. As he prepares to retire from the discipline in which he has competed for 17 seasons, Sebastian Vettel says he feels a void and is touched by the impact he has had on the fans of this sport.

I don’t have much else to say. To be honest, I feel empty, it has been a big weekend. The past two years have been very disappointing from a sporting perspective, but very, very valuable and important for me in my life.

It’s amazing to see that we have the power to be a source of inspiration with what we do and what we say.