Remembering Sebastian Vettel’s greatest F1 moments

Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season on Thursday, taking to Instagram to share a video message with the news.

Vettel has driven for a handful of teams over his career, including BMW Sauber (2006-07), Toro Rosso (2007-08), Red Bull (2009-14), Ferrari (2015-20) and his current team, Aston Martin (2021-22). In the 2007 United States Grand Prix, he made his racing debut with BMW Sauber. He has since become the youngest World Champion in F1 and holds the third most race wins and podium finishes.

As his career comes to an end, let’s remember some of Vettel’s greatest moments in F1.

2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Going into the season's final race, Vettel was third in the Drivers Championship and 15 points behind the first-place leader Fernando Alonso. Vettel would have to fight more than Alonso for the championship as Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton were also in the running. After qualifying first, Vettel remained in pole position despite an early safety car. When Vettel pitted on the 24th lap, he rejoined the race behind the leader Jenson Button. But after Button pitted on the 39th lap, Vettel retook the lead. In the closing laps of the race, Hamilton closed the gap between himself in second and Vettel in first but couldn’t manage an overtake. Vettel had a clear path to victory, and once the top five cars crossed the finish line, it became official; Vettel was the youngest F1 Championship winner.   

2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Following a stellar season, Vettel headed into Abu Dhabi with a 13-point lead in the Drivers Championship over Alonso. During the qualifying session, Vettel managed a third-place finish. Unfortunately, his car lacked the necessary fuel required by the FIA for sample analysis, and he started the race from the pit lane. A two-time champion at this point, Vettel slowly passed his competition to bring him closer to the top, but he damaged his front wing in the process. During a safety car, Vettel pitted and came out in 21st place. Throughout the race, Vettel climbed into fourth place and battled Button for third. By the 53rd lap, Vettel managed an overtake to finish third. He would become the eventual 2012 Drivers World Champion in the final race.

2008 Italian Grand Prix 

In his first season as an F1 driver, Vettel qualified first to become the youngest driver in F1 history to take pole position. On race day, the track was slippery due to heavy rain earlier in the day, which caused a rolling start behind the safety car. When the safety car headed back into the pit lane, Vettel remained in first and gained a comfortable lead of two seconds over the second-place driver. Many crashes and collisions would mark this race, but Vettel stayed out of the trouble and finished first by 12.5 seconds. This was Vettel’s maiden win, becoming F1’s youngest driver to win a Grand Prix. 

2013 dominance 

During his 2013 season with Red Bull, Vettel won 13 Grand Prix races and nine consecutive races. He set a record with the most consecutive race wins and became the third F1 driver to record back-to-back grand slams in Singapore and Korea. An F1 grand slam is when a racer wins a Grand Prix from pole position, leads every lap of the race and records the fastest lap. At the Indian Grand Prix, Vettel started first and secured his fourth and final Drivers Championship.    

2019 German Grand Prix

The German driver’s home race started unfavourably as Vettel failed to set a time within the 107 percent requirement during the qualifying session. Usually, drivers who fail to qualify within 107 percent of the fastest qualifying time are not permitted to start the race. The stewards permitted Vettel to start the race, but it would be from the back of the grid. Due to heavy rain on race day, all cars began with wet tyres and the safety car was brought out for three additional laps, excluding the formation lap. At the end of the first lap, Vettel had moved up into 14th place. After a safety car on lap two, Vettel pitted for intermediate tyres as the track began to dry. He managed to make it into the top ten. After multiple safety cars and a drying track, Vettel, on slick tyres, moved into fifth. In the final laps of the race, he managed a second-place finish. The German fans surely enjoyed that.