Sebastian Vettel joined Aston Martin in 2021 in a move that some saw as a step up for both, but it did not turn out to be the case.
Vettel established himself as one of F1’s all time greats after winning four back to back titles between 2010 and 2013. He won all these Titles with Red Bull, whom he left to join Scuderia Ferrari in 2015.
Vettel’s move to Ferrari was also seen as a huge up for the latter. The Maranello based team has not won a Title since 2008, and Vettel was billed as someone who was going to bring glory back to Ferrari.
The German driver won 14 races with Ferrari, but never posed a serious Title threat to Lewis Hamilton in his time there. After a disastrous 2020 campaign, he moved to the newly rebranded Silverstone based team, Aston Martin.
With heavy investment and Vettel’s arrival, majority of the F1 community predicted the team to make huge strides over the last two seasons. In turn, it seems as though they have taken a step back and their drivers are struggling to find pace.
Sebastian Vettel endured a frustrating low point at Austrian Grand Prix
Earlier this week, Vettel announced that he would be retiring from Formula 1 at the end of this season. This sent shockwaves throughout the community, and plenty of people shared their opinions as to why he decided to leave.
On his newly formed Instagram account, the 35-year old did explain the reason behind his retirement. His father Norbert said that he understands why his son left.
A major reason for that was how he struggled at the back end of the grid. Aston Martin have one of the slowest cars this year, and it has affected the former Red Bull driver’s chances of fighting at the front.
“It’s a shame, but I understand him,” Norbert Vettel said. “It was an incredible career for my son. But the low point was Austria. It hurt him so much to drive around at the end of the field and that accelerated this thought.”
