In 2010, Vettel became the youngest Formula One driver to win a championship at 23, besting Lewis Hamilton’s 2008 title by 166 days. 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. While Vettel’s dominance gave way to that of Hamilton over the past decade, the German driver finished second behind Hamilton in 2017 and 2018. His most recent win came in the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.
Vettel, who also has raced for Red Bull and Ferrari since his 2007 debut, joined Aston Martin last year. He sits 14th in the drivers’ standings with 15 points this season.
In his retirement announcement, Vettel cited a desire to spend more time with his family and on his personal interests. The latter includes environmental issues, about which he has been increasingly outspoken. Vettel in May said climate change led him to question his role as a Formula One driver. A month later, he wore a shirt and a helmet highlighting “Canada’s climate crime” during the buildup to the Canadian Grand Prix.
“Certain things are in my control and certain things are not. It’s my passion to drive a car. I love it, and every time I step in the car I love it,” he said during the May television appearance. “When I get out of the car, of course I’m thinking as well, ‘Is this something that we should do, travel the world, wasting resources?’ ”
Vettel alluded to climate change in his retirement announcement, saying, “My passion comes with certain aspects that I have learned to dislike. 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. Talk is not enough and we cannot afford to wait. There is no alternative. The race is underway.”
