2-time F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen claims Sebastian Vettel won’t be motivated to push after deciding to retire at the end of the 2022 season.
Sebastian Vettel announced earlier that he will be retiring from F1 at the end of the 2022 season. The German departs an illustrious career spanning 53 GP wins and 4 Driver’s titles.
He announced his retirement on his Instagram channel. The German claims he chose to retire in order to spend more time with his family and work more on his Environmental activism.
The German was a championship contender in his prime and he wished to pursue race wins and drive a competitive car. But due to the lack of seats, Vettel fast-tracked his decision to leave F1.
1998 and 1999 F1 champion Mika Hakkinen believes Vettel did the right thing by deciding to retire. He admires his talent and spoke about the former Ferrari and Red Bull driver.
“He has had an incredible career and has won four championships. He is obviously an extremely talented driver,” claims Hakkinen.
He will be replaced at Aston Martin by former World champion and rival, Fernando Alonso. But the decision to retire early might cause a weird situation for Vettel according to Hakkinen.
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Mika Hakkinen resonates with Sebastian Vettel
Mika Hakkinen says, Sebastian Vettel’s announcement to retire during F1’s Mid-season is a similar situation. Hakkinen too decided to take retire before the end of the season.
During the 2001 F1 season, Mika Hakkinen was driving for McLaren. He would be severely outpaced by Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher who’d beat him in the title race in the previous year.
In the 2001 Monaco GP, he was forced to retire after 15 laps car’s steering failed. The successive retirements and lack of pace to win races frustrated the Finn. And he decided to hang his racing shoes after the race.
Therefore the Finn understands Vettel’s decision. But he warned that because he has already decided to retire, he would not be pushing that extra bit which might fetch extra points for his struggling team.
Hakkinen says, “Now that he has made it public that he is retiring, it’s a weird situation. I have been in this situation myself in 2001. I decided to retire after the 2001 Monaco GP.”
He added, “The final push to get the maximum in the qualifying session is not there. And there might be more mistakes. And if you make a mistake in F1, it might hurt.”
Vettel is currently 14th in the standings with 16 points to his name. While Aston Martin are 9th in the constructor’s standings heading into the 2022 Belgian GP.
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