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In a shocking turn of events, Sebastian Vettel has announced that he will be retiring from F1 at the end of the 2022 season. The German has had a glorious career in the sport, having won a whopping four world championship titles, with a total of 53 remarkable wins to his name. Throughout his career, Vettel has proven himself to be a world-class athlete and a true legend of the sport.
The four-time world champion, who is currently racing for Aston Martin, made his F1 debut with BMW Sauber back in 2006 and has since raced for the likes of Toro Rosso (now called AlphaTauri), Red Bull, and Ferrari. Having driven 290 races in his career, Vettel is likely to make it to 300 races at the end of his career with the season finale in Abu Dhabi this November, a testament to the driver's unbelievable experience in the sport.
Here are the top 5 performances of Sebastian Vettel’s F1 career
#5 2010 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Fernando Alonso came into the 2010 F1 season finale leading the world championship by eight points over Red Bull's Mark Webber and a considerable fifteen-point advantage over Sebastian Vettel.
The German started the race from pole position and managed to make it to the checkered flag fairly unchallenged after Ferrari and Red Bull made errors in their pit strategies that saw Alonso and Webber respectively get stuck in the middle of the field.
With the win, Vettel went on to secure the first of his four titles for Red Bull, becoming the youngest driver to become an F1 world champion, a record that stands till date.
#4 2012 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel started the eighteenth round of the 2012 F1 season from the pitlane, making his shot at a world championship title appear quite slim. The German, however, drove an extraordinary race to make it to the podium, salvaging his chances of keeping himself in contention for the title. Although Vettel was forced to start the race from the back of the grid, he had made quite some progress since the opening lap. The Red Bull driver then made contact with Brazilian Bruno Senna, taking damage to his front wing, which cost him a lot of performance until he finally chose to pit under a safety car.
He then further damaged his wing in the latter stages of the race after hitting a polystyrene bollard that marked the start of the DRS zone to avoid crashing into Daniel Ricciardo. The driver was once again on a mission to make it to the front of the field and did just that to reach 4th towards the last few laps of the race. He then pulled off an iconic maneuver against Jenson Button to finally finish the race 3rd behind Fernando Alonso and Kimi Räikkönen.
#3 2012 F1 Brazilian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel, who had a 13-point advantage over Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the drivers' standings at the time, was chasing his third consecutive world championship title in the 2012 season finale at Interlagos. Both championship leaders had poor qualifying sessions as a result of the wet weather conditions. The defending champion dropped further down the grid after having a poor start to the race, despite starting four places ahead of the Spaniard.
Just when one thought things could not possibly get worse, Vettel spun out and found himself right at the back of the grid. As fans watched his chances of a title slip through his fingers, with Alonso back on the podium positions during the race, the Red Bull driver remained as determined as ever.
Despite having damaged his sidepod with the added factors of rain and safety cars, Vettel began making his way up the grid. He just made it to 6th place, which was the result he needed to win the title with a three-point advantage over Alonso.
#2 2013 F1 Indian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel secured his fourth and final world championship title in 2013, making up for one of the most iconic moments that the sport has witnessed.
Having dominated the majority of the season, the German started the race from pole position and went on to continue his streak of absolute domination at the Buddh International Circuit. Title rival Fernando Alonso was then unable to make up the points to Sebastian Vettel despite having another three races to go.
#1 2008 F1 Italian Grand Prix
After setting a mega lap-time early on in qualifying under tricky weather conditions, the German took pole position in Monza, also becoming the youngest polesitter in the sport. Driving for Scuderia Toro Rosso, a midfield team with which he managed to secure five results within the top 10 by the 14th round of the 2008 season, Sebastian Vettel secured a glorious race win to become the youngest F1 driver to stand on the top step of the podium. With this, he also gave his team their maiden victory after leading a Grand Prix for the first time.
His ability to keep his Toro Rosso in front for the course of the entire race, despite other teams having a significant pace advantage, set Vettel apart, certainly making him a force to be reckoned with.
