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Sebastian Vettel lashed out at Fernando Alonso during the season finale of the 2015 F1 season at Abu Dhabi for not letting him past while being a lap down. The German driver was trying to fight for the podium positions during the race, while Alonso was a lap down and outside of the point-scoring positions.
Vettel and Fernando Alonso have shared a long-lived rivalry, being two of the most prominent F1 faces in the 21st century. They have also shared six drivers' world titles between them in their prime.
The peak of their rivalry came during the 2010-13 era, when Vettel won all his world championships and Alonso narrowly missed out on a couple of occasions. But the nature of their battles remained mostly civil.
In the 2015 season finale at Abu Dhabi, tensions boiled over between the two former world champions. Vettel, in a Ferrari, was on an alternate strategy, trying to finish his season with a podium finish.
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However, Fernando Alonso's McLaren stood between him and this goal. Vettel was trying to lap Alonso during the race, who was slow to move aside despite being a lap down. Vettel radioed his frustration to Ferrari, saying, via ESPN:
"I mean he must really hate me, I don't know what's wrong with him. I'm losing a second just because of that."
In the end, Alonso finished the race in P17, two laps down on race winner Nico Rosberg. McLaren had struggled to integrate the Honda power unit into their cars in 2015, causing reliability issues and a slow pace in general.
Vettel finished the race just off the podium in P4. His teammate and another former world champion, Kimi Raikkonen, finished third. Rosberg and world champion Lewis Hamilton were the other drivers to stand on the podium that evening.
Sebastian Vettel confirms that he will not return to F1
Sebastian Vettel has confirmed that he will not return to F1 as a driver, highlighting that newer drivers need to be given a fair shot in the sport. The 38-year-old has been linked with a move to join Red Bull's management team.
Speaking to German outlet Auto Motor und Sport, Vettel explained that his time in F1 as a driver was over.
"F1 is finished. At some point the time is ripe to leave the field to others. You see that with the rookies. I think it's good that a lot of drivers have now been replaced," said Vettel.
"That's not a vote against the older ones, but for the younger ones. In the past, I didn't care who among the established drivers was no longer driving," he added.
Sebastian Vettel also confirmed that he had held unofficial talks with Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko to replace him in his role in the future. Marko, who also heads the Austrian team's junior program, has also mentioned that he will not remain in his current role forever.
