The farewell countdown: 10 races left
Vettel: Three Fs decided on his resignation
Not entirely unexpectedly, Sebastian Vettel (35) announced his retirement in Abu Dhabi at the end of the year. At his 299th Grand Prix! The letter F played the leading role three times. F like family, F like frustration and F like flop.
Roger Benoit from Budapest
Yes, the family with three children has become more and more important to him. The German from Thurgau traveled to Montreal for the first time with his wife, offspring and nanny. That’s when the farewell tour of the always friendly star began.
Only his GP car was green
The second F: Frustration has given him the rest in his long deliberations. “I still want to change a lot of things in my life. And in Formula 1 this is no longer possible. That’s where I reach my limits.” And he probably also realized that a “green” doesn’t fit well with this sport. So now he prefers to save the bees.
And opened even opened an Instagram account on Thursday as a social media opponent.
Second only once
The F for the flop is understandable. Anyone who has four world championship titles and celebrated 53 race victories (Toro Rosso 1, Red Bull 38 and Ferrari 14) wants to at least get back on the podium. And at Aston Martin Mercedes, where he somehow lacked the warmth of the nest like in the last Ferrari years, he only managed to do this twice in 2021.
Second in Baku (behind Pérez) and here in Hungary. But since he was disqualified following second place (behind Ocon). The petrol tank was missing 0.3 liters.
It all started with BMW-Sauber
Vettel, who has often caused offense with his actions in recent years, is simply fed up, wants to be a role model for his growing children and promises that it will be better in 2023 when the engineers from Mercedes and Red Bull make the car faster should, Vettel were not enough a guarantee of success.
In the end, the memories remain of a great career that began in 2007 with the premiere in Indianapolis (as a replacement for Kubica) for BMW-Sauber and ended with his first championship point. He celebrated his last win in Singapore in 2019 with the Reds.
Will Alonso stay with Alpine?
Who will join the Stroll family team in 2023? Four names are in the foreground: Alonso, Schumi, Ricciardo and reserve driver Hülkenberg.
On paper, the most logical would be the Spaniard Alonso, who turns 41 on Friday. The Fernando Express wants to “run for at least two more years”. But Alpine has now only offered him a one-year deal with an option for 2024.
The 32-time GP winner and two-time world champion demands a permanent job for two years and an option for 2025. He would easily get that at Aston Martin.
