“My love for racing is still there”: Sebastian Vettel clears the air about his potential retirement from F1

Sebastian Vettel admits that he considered leaving F1 at one point, but is still in the sport because of his love for racing. 

Vettel is one of the greatest F1 drivers of all time. The 34 year old is a 4 time World Champion and has won 53 races in his illustrious career. He’s behind only Lewis Hamilton and Michael Schumacher in terms of most race wins in the sport.

However, the recent past hasn’t been too kind to the German driver. His dream move to Ferrari in 2015 didn’t work out as he failed to win a World Title with the Italian team.

He left the Scuderia in 2021 to join Aston Martin but had a very quiet first season with the Silverstone outfit, spending the majority of the year in the midfield.

Also read: Sebastian Vettel assesses the good and bad of expletive-laden tirade on team radio

There were recent reports about Vettel considering retirement. It was widely speculated that he was only in the sport to use F1 as a platform to raise environmental concerns. In an interview with F1 insider.com, the former Red Bull driver cleared the air about these rumours.

“Of course, you sometimes ask yourself some questions,” said Vettel. “I would be lying if I said that thought hadn’t crossed my mind yet. But I don’t just keep racing to deliver a certain message. If I did, I wouldn’t be honest with myself.”

“If I don’t have the motivation or the ambition to succeed, if I keep racing just to carry a message or pump my bank accounts, it’s a betrayal to the generation that comes after us that dreams of racing here now.”

“I can finally sort things out even when I leave Formula 1. But the fire in my soul is still burning.”

Sebastian Vettel to remain loyal to Aston Martin’s long term goals

The Aston Martin name returned after a long time to F1 after Racing Point was rebranded at the end of 2020. The expectations were high, but they failed to live up to them. With a mediocre mechanical package at his disposal, Vettel was able to achieve just 1 podium finish in 2021.

He admitted that he’s not happy about how the car performed, but he remains committed to what he believes his team can achieve.

“It pisses me off because I’m an athlete and I try my best to be faster. But it’s true that it’s not vital,” said Sebastian Vettel.

Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin
Podium
💚#AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/jVnHTDwTfD

— Aston Martin Cognizant F1 Team (@AstonMartinF1) June 6, 2021

“In that respect, yes, it’s a luxury problem. But it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to do everything I can to win with every bit of it. Otherwise, there’s no point in me being involved in this project.”

“I feel my responsibility in this project. We have the motivation, we are trying to move forward together and the team is trying to improve everything possible.”

The new rules present a great opportunity in 2022. But at the same time, we have to be realistic and not talk about being a favourite. However, first, we have to see how big our car is. We need to see if she’ll be okay.” he concluded.

Also read: Lando Norris excited by the unpredictability that’ll come with the radically altered 2022 F1 cars