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Sebastian Vettel feels Fernando Alonso does not need any advice from him for the Aston Martin stint. The German driver announced his retirement earlier in the season and was promptly replaced by the Spaniard. When questioned in an interview with the team about what kind of advice he would give him, Sebastian Vettel said that Alonso did not need any advice. He said,
"Fernando doesn't need any advice. I'm not sure he's taking any advice, but he doesn't need it anyway. He's been around for so long and seen so much – he'll be fine."
Sebastian Vettel did, however, cast doubts over the team's ambitions to be challenging for the title soon. The German driver pointed to the restrictive nature of the regulations that could go against Aston Martin. He said,
"The people are in place, the new factory is being built, so it's all coming together – but it will take time. There was a huge chance with the regulation changes this year, but we fell into the same trap as many others did. Some teams maybe got a little lucky, designing a car around a ride height that would work. Now we have these regulations until 2026, so the teams that had a good start will have a headstart over the teams that had a bad start. And the budget cap means you can't just throw money and resources at the problem to catch up."
Reflecting on his time with the team, Sebastian Vettel termed his time as 'challenging'. He admitted that there were a few aspirations that both the team and the driver had which could not be fulfilled eventually. He said,
"They have been challenging [years] because the car wasn't as competitive as we hoped. This year, we wanted to make a significant improvement over last year. We failed. We're currently where we finished last year. I'm not pointing the finger and saying we did a bad job. I'm just being realistic. We had high hopes, but we fell short. I've loved working with the team – getting to know different people and different approaches. These two years have been very challenging because I wasn't familiar with running at the back of the field."
Sebastian Vettel would have retired even if he was fighting for titles
Sebastian Vettel was asked if he would have retired even if he had a competitive car and was challenging for titles. He was quite candid in his response as he admitted that the situation could have been different. Vettel did, however, reveal that he would have made the same decision in the end. He said,
"I don't know. Would I be retiring if I had been very competitive over the last three or four years: winning races, fighting for championships – maybe winning another one? I might have come to the same decision. Equally, I might not have. It's impossible to say, but it has crossed my mind."
Vettel further added,
"Finishing 10th doesn't give me a buzz because I know how it feels to finish first. If you've never finished first, the first time you finish 10th you get a real buzz. But I'm happy that I don't get a buzz from finishing 10th. You have to be true to yourself. I love winning. It sounds selfish and egotistical but winning is what drives me."
Sebastian Vettel will be racing in the last four races of his career this season and will retire as a four-time world champion.
