Sebastian Vettel took to Instagram to announce his retirement after an illustrious career of 16 years in F1.
The end of an era has dawned upon the F1 community as Sebastian Vettel shockingly appeared on Instagram to announce his retirement.
In his 15 years of driving Formula 1 cars, the German driver became the third most successful F1 driver statistically in the history of the sport. Vettel has won four titles, and 53 Grand Prix wins.
Vettel has always been outspoken about his concerns relating to the environment, racism and human rights and other social-political issues. He recently admitted that he was a hypocrite for being a climate activist while driving an F1 car.
Now to bid adieu to F1 after the 2022 calendar, the German driver made a social media account for the first time. Vettel revealed that much of his decision is based on giving time to his family and the environmental concerns he has been having.
Also Read: Lewis Hamilton shares heartfelt tribute to Sebastian Vettel amidst his retirement announcement
Sebastian Vettel had been thinking about retirement since his Ferrari days
After winning his four titles with the Red Bull team, Vettel moved to Ferrari in 2015. He spent six years with the Italian giants as the team went through their lowest point in its history.
Following the unexpected news of Vettel’s retirement, F1 journalist Lawrence Barretto revealed that the German made his final decision only yesterday.
Barretto tweeted that Vettel told the team[Aston Martin] last night. He first started thinking about his future back in 2018 and has been back and forth since.
Fans were amazed by this news and were left to wonder about Vettel’s thoughts of retirement going back to 2018.
Some interpreted this as the result of the horrendous second half of the 2018 season with Ferrari. The 2018 season was dubbed by the media as the “Fight for Five.”
Two quadruple champions, Lewis Hamilton and Vettel himself had lined up in the front row fighting for the championship title. Later in that season though, things did not work out well for the German and he was left disappointed.
Also Read: Charles Leclerc reveals how much he admired 4-time World Champion teammate at Ferrari
