“I will take care of Sebastian Vettel at the start”: Fernando Alonso wants former rival to end F1 career strongly at Abu Dhabi GP

Sebastian Vettel will suit up for an F1 race for the last time this Sunday at the 2022 Abu Dhabi GP. He announced earlier this year that his long and glittering F1 career will come to an end at the end of this season, and it’s been emotional for him, his rivals, and his fans.

Lewis Hamilton has been in the focus because of his on-track rivalry and off-track friendship with the four-time World Champion. He has posted numerous messages showing admiration toward Vettel and even brought all 20 drivers together for a dinner ahead of the race weekend.  However, another rival of Vettel’s has been in the news recently for the amount of respect he has shown for his illustrious career.

Between 2010 and 2013, Vettel was the most dominant driver in F1. He won all four World Championships during that time, but the driver who came closest to beating him was Fernando Alonso. Ahead of Vettel’s farewell race, Alonso warmed the hearts of millions of fans when he decided to wear a helmet that paid tribute to Vettel. After the qualifying session on Saturday, he even admitted that he was hoping for Vettel to perform as well as he could to start higher up the grid on Sunday.

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Fernando Alonso was very happy for Sebastian Vettel after Qualifying in Abu Dhabi

Fans wanted Vettel to be at his brilliant best for his last-ever qualifying session in F1 and he delivered. There were concerns regarding his pace at the start of Q1, but he was blisteringly quick thereafter as he took his Aston Martin to Q3.

During his final Q1 run, Vettel had to navigate through a lot of traffic to find a good lap time. On his way to the finish line, he drove past Alonso, who was cautiously avoiding the racing line to make sure Vettel had a flawless lap. After the session, the Spaniard admitted that it was something that all other drivers planned on doing.

“It’s not that we tried to help him,” Alonso said as reported by The Race. “But we all tried to have an eye on him when we saw him in the mirror.”

Alonso hopes Vettel has a clean and flawless Abu Dhabi GP

It will be tough to imagine an F1 grid without Vettel for most F1 fans after tomorrow. However, fans will get to enjoy the 35-year-old’s brilliance one last time tomorrow and Alonso hopes that comes uninterrupted. The two of them will start next to each other on the grid and Alonso will make sure he gets a clean start.

“I think he will start ninth,” the Oviedo-born driver added. “I will start 10th, so I will take care of him at the start and the first lap. Let’s hope we both see the chequered flag.”

Also read: “Fernando said he was happy to go!” – Esteban Ocon pokes fun at 32 GP winner ahead of final race with Alpine