Sebastian Vettel

Vettel is out of contract with Aston Martin at the end of this season and, after weeks of speculation about his future, has now confirmed he will be stepping ...

The energy it takes to become one with the car and the team, to chase perfection takes focus and commitment. I believe that there is still a race to win. Children are our future, further I feel there is so much to explore and learn about life and about myself. My passion comes with certain aspects that I have learned to dislike. "My passion with racing and Formula One comes with lots of time spent away from them, and takes a lot of energy. "Committing to my passion the way I did and the way I think it is right, does no longer go side by side with my wish to be a great father and husband.

Sebastian Vettel's announcement that he will leave Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season means an empty slot will be left at Aston Martin for 2023.

The team uses Mercedes engines and that there are all sorts of connections between Stroll and Toto Wolff that would make such a deal painless. He has a reputation for being disruptive and looking after his own interests, and that doesn't fit with the job of being Lance Stroll's team-mate. Mick Schumacher is also out of contract at Haas, and no doubt Vettel will be singing the praises of his protege. That would open up a seat for Colton Herta or someone else that McLaren wants to promote. But is he really the man the team wants? In addition, Aston is a car manufacturer, and there are marketing considerations.

Lewis Hamilton has praised rival Sebastian Vettel for supporting his anti-racism campaigning, after the four-time world champion confirmed he will retire ...

I could see how professional he was and it gave me a good insight into how you need to behave and how you need to be, to be a successful F1 driver like he was. I wish him the best and we will miss him. To see him go is something that you can see coming. (It's) not the news that I want. "He has been one of the very, very few drivers in racing history that has stood for much more than himself. Obviously personally, I spent some time alongside him which was a privilege.

The German driver says he will retire at the end of the season to spend more time with his family.

“You put other priorities in place and you are not willing to pay the price of being an F1 driver. It's how you feel and what you want to do, and your family," the 32-year-old Mexican driver said. "They might be solved in the future but the will to apply that change has to grow much, much stronger and has to be leading to action today. “The decision to retire has been a difficult one for me to take, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it,” Vettel said. Seb, it’s been an honour to call you a competitor and an ever greater honour to call you my friend. "I believe in change and progress and every little bit makes a difference."

Sebastian Vettel isn't like any racing driver Formula 1 has ever seen so it was perhaps fitting that the way he announced his retirement shocked everyone.

And it's a tough call, but one the billionaire has time to ponder. Their reserve Nico Hulkenberg is an option and has done a solid job when he’s been parachuted in, but he’s not the big-name signing that Stroll craves. They want the prestige that they bring, but also the experience that will deliver engineering expertise to support Lance Stroll, who is still reasonably early in his F1 career. They know he will give it everything, as he is doing at Alpine, and has the potential to deliver some huge results. But Vettel has proved that he is more than capable of making this next chapter of his life a huge success. At 35, with Vettel keen not to miss more of his children growing up and his perspective widening to include pushing for change outside F1 – whether that’s for greater equality or a push for sustainability and kindness to the environment – he decided it was time. He has the making of a successful philanthropist. When Vettel sets his mind to something, he follows through and makes a success of it. It’s the unknown, the polar opposite of what his life has been like for the last 15 years. Worse still, the significant upgrades they have brought to the track have not delivered the kind of pace they were supposed to. Aston Martin wanted Vettel, whose two-year deal expired at the end of this year, to stay on for a third season. The German has had a positive impact on billionaire Lawrence Stroll’s team in a reasonably short amount of time.

The youngest driver to win a title will leave the sport at the end of the 2022 season, when his contract with Aston Martin concludes.

I love it, and every time I step in the car I love it,” he said during the May television appearance. In his retirement announcement, Vettel cited a desire to spend more time with his family and on his personal interests. Vettel won his four championships consecutively from 2010 to 2013, tying Alain Prost for the third most in Formula One history by the time he was 26.

Following the announcement of his retirement, F1 rival Lewis Hamilton said Sebastian Vettel is "one of the greatest people" F1 has ever had.

It's really kind of been him standing out into the uncomfortable light and trying to do something with the platform that we have and I think that's why for me he's very much unlike any other drivers that have been here, past or present." "He's been so supportive to me and I'd like to think I've supported him also. "I think he's one of the greatest people we've seen in this sport and we need more like him. But I do hope it will be in a better place and we have not wasted our time." Over time we've started to see one another take those brave steps and standing up for things we believe in and been able to support each other. he's been so brave in speaking out and standing for what he believes in.

Sebastian Vettel's retirement means there's a vacant seat in F1 for 2023. Who's your money on?

The idea of going up against Stroll as a rookie might appeal, but the team’s form lately might not. Alpine is in the position of needing to hand Oscar Piastri a drive in 2023, or risk losing his services. If they chose youth over experience, could Alonso make a sensational switch to Aston? Seems unlikely, but only he knows the true contents of ‘El Plan’... TG has hastily scribbled down some names (and in no way accurate or legally binding) odds on a scrap of paper, now yours for inspection below. He’s clearly ready for bigger things but he's tied to a contract until the end of 2023, and while parent company Red Bull have no interest in promoting him again, they also won’t let him go. The prospect was always on the cards but only last week the 35-year-old had hinted that he was open to continuing with Aston Martin beyond this season.

Sebastian Vettel has backed Haas driver Mick Schumacher to replace him at Aston Martin when he retires at the end of this season.

"We need to start to speak to Gene about it and talk through the different scenarios of what we are going to do. Schumacher currently drives for Haas but is not contracted to the team beyond the end of this year. "We did have a very, very brief chat about what might be next.

Haas' Mick Schumacher makes the short list of Formula 1 drivers who could be a fit at Aston Martin in 2023.

Haas has spent 18 months getting Schumacher to this stage and is not keen on starting from zero with another driver. But unlike Ferrari, Red Bull or Mercedes Aston Martin does not have a young driver program from which it has options to build around. It has a power unit partnership with Mercedes but, unlike Williams, that has not extended to those in the cockpit. There is no driver available who can bring the knowledge of 53 wins, four titles and 15 years of experience in leading teams to Aston Martin. Krack accepted that “the groundwork that Sebastian has done last year, and is still doing this year, is crucial” at a team that has for decades been rooted in the midfield but now has the ambition—and the finances—to fight at the front. There is also Pierre Gasly, now approaching 100 Grands Prix and a race winner, but he has a 2023 AlphaTauri contract and was firm. Ricciardo is the only other multiple race winner on the grid facing an uncertain future but both he and McLaren have been adamant that his 2023 contract with the team will be respected.

Mick Schumacher has said he's not paying any attention to talk about him replacing Sebastian Vettel at Aston Martin for next season.

Indeed, one of the names to be linked with a move to the Silverstone-based team was Schumacher’s, with his contract at Haas up at the end of the year and with Seb also having a close personal relationship with him. It’ll certainly be interesting to see who moves to Aston with the team having an exciting project but one that clearly needs a few seasons yet to fully achieve its aims. The four-time world champion made the announcement yesterday that he was going to leave Formula 1 at the end of the season, and of course speculation quickly started over who would replace him for 2023.

The F1 star is leaving the sport to focus on spending time with his family...

I want to learn from them and be inspired by them. There is so much to discover and learn. Speaking on his children, he said "I want to see them grow up, pass on my values to them, listen to them and not have to say goodbye anymore.

Another former world champion, a struggling race winner, and a potential protege are all candidates to fill the seat that will be vacated by Vettel next ...

Both men will be open to discussions with rivals while their futures uncertain, and a long-term project could appeal. Alonso and Drugovich seem like they sit at the unrealistic end of the scale, for very different reasons. The second difficulty Drugovich faces is that the standard of driver in F2 is not especially high this year. The first is his age. But, as De Vries and Piastri have found out, things don’t quite work like that for a variety of reasons. After all, the sport must renew itself by bringing through the next generation, and there is little a young driver can do other than beat his rivals to the junior title. Ricciardo would still have an F1 career, and would be team leader at an outfit built around him, without having to worry about beating a hugely talented team-mate who could compete for the title in the right machinery. But Aston Martin could rival their fellow Brits for Piastri’s agreement. Replacing Vettel with another former champion, who remains one of the top five drivers on the grid on raw pace and ability, would be a huge win. But I do think he’s a great driver.” But in truth, Hulkenberg’s time has come and gone. So now with their star man departing, who could Stroll and team principal Mike Krack turn to in order to keep their project alive?

Seven-time world champion Schumacher paved the way for younger German racers like Vettel to achieve their Formula 1 dreams, and so the retiring Aston Martin ...

But surely as much as it helped when Michael had some things to say when I asked and gave me advice, I'm trying to do the same to him." I think very highly of Mick – I'm not entirely objective because I'm very close to him. So he took on that role, in a relationship which stemmed back to Vettel's Ferrari days when Schumacher Jr was part of the team's development programme. "So yeah, from my side, I really like him, we get along well and I'm happy to tell him everything that I know. After all, when his son Mick entered the F1 world he did so without his father being able to guide him. Back-to-back titles with Benetton saw Schumacher crowned king of the motorsport world, and it sparked a change in attitude back home.

Back in 2016, Sebastian Vettel ran into a problem. The former four-time World Champion had made a swap to the Prancing Horse, but his Ferrari was eternally ...

In the same way he could laugh at a fan teasing him, he’s been able to look at his career and his place in the world and use what he learned to change his ways. When he signed the flag, Vettel made a face, then laughed and told me he liked my sunglasses. So I ordered a tiny blue flag off the internet and brought it with me to the Ferrari autograph session during the race weekend. If you receive a blue flag in racing, that means you’re slower than the car behind you and need to move over. At the US GP, autograph sessions took place in something of a mosh pit: Fans squished against a metal barrier, and F1 drivers were paraded behind it for about five minutes at a time, signing autographs. The former four-time World Champion had made a swap to the Prancing Horse, but his Ferrari was eternally subject to what he considered to be some ill-timed blue flag maneuvers.

The four-time champion spoke on his mindset entering the next chapter of his life ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.

Should the day come that he’s wanting for a hit of adrenaline, a number of racing teams would certainly be happy to oblige him, even on just a sporadic occurrence. But to me voice and reach have never been at the foreground, it has always been sort of the message, because it’s what I really believe in.” “What hurts me is that people like George [Russell], Lando [Norris], Charles [Leclerc], Max [Verstappen] – they don’t have the same freedoms as maybe Lewis [Hamilton] and I had. I think that would be the wrong motivator. And I think for every sportsman and woman probably the biggest challenge is waiting for us once we decide to do other things. “In all honesty, I’m also scared of what’s coming, because it might be a hole.

'F*** you' — From Aussie villain to F1 hero: Why legend's final act will be his greatest.

A final chance would come with Aston Martin, but despite the company’s riches, his two years in green have been challenging. Nine of those came in a row, which is also a record. I would do it again,” Vettel said. “I believe in change and progress, and that every little bit makes a difference. “What the f**k are we doing here?” bellowed Vettel over team radio. “My passion comes with certain aspects that I’ve learned to dislike,” he says. Twice was Vettel truly in the title fight with Mercedes’ Hamilton but was outclassed in the same way he used to do to his rivals in his pomp. “Who am I? I am Sebastian, father of three children and husband to a wonderful woman. “It’s kids isn’t it? I am obsessed with perfection,” he says. There is no alternative, the race is under way. “What a stupid action.