Sebastian Vettel says his performances this year hasn’t had any impact on his decision to retire from F1 as he gives a pep talk.
Off-late, Vettel has sprung up Aston Martin’s chances to finish ahead of Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ championship. It is like a dream run for the German in a car which isn’t top notch at the moment and struggles often to make it out of Q1.
Vettel has been consistent too with his results which has laid a question mark on his decision to retire from F1 and if it was taken prematurely. The German, though, has no regrets on his decision which he says was taken seeing all angles of his career and life.
“I think it’s maybe… I don’t know if it’s a thing in Formula 1 or is it a general thing in our lives nowadays that we… to answer your question: no,” started Vettel when asked if he is stopping sooner than he should have. “I thought about this decision long and hard and from a lot of angles.
“But yeah, I don’t know if… I find it’s a bit sad that we tend to swing so much now. I see the benefits of having emotions running high and low rather than just being flat but I think the judging in general, it’s a bit too quick. We create a hype and too quickly we create like a massive – I don’t want to say disappointment and not because of my situation now, the last races versus maybe the mid part of the season – so it’s more of a general thing.
“But yeah, I obviously enjoyed the last few races, last couple of races more than I did maybe some in the mid-part of the season, but they have no impact on the decision. And if anything it’s a great reminder of why I love this sport so much, why I love racing so much. I had great races and I really enjoyed them but I also had races that I didn’t enjoy so much and I was wishing after five laps to see the chequered flag and it didn’t come out.
“So you still have to find the motivation in that and hang in there. But yeah, I wish that sometimes it just wouldn’t swing as high and as low,” summed up Vettel, who shared his thoughts when asked on his changing mindset as he has grown over the years and if he thinks the likes of Max Verstappen will see this change too in the time to come.
“I think first of all, everybody is different,” said Vettel. “But we all live our lives and I think it’s probably also part of growing up, I think. Turning 30 does change some things. Obviously. I’m a father of three children, which not many drivers on the grid are. It changes your perspective on life, how to explain or explain to you now in an answer why, I don’t know if you have children or not, but probably have friends who maybe have children already.
“So yeah, I think whatever you decide to do with your life has an impact on the person you become. I think I still have the same person in me that was in there 15 years ago, 10 years ago but for sure, I have changed in a way that I’ve learned a lot of things, got to know new people, maybe you start to see things differently. I don’t have any major regrets looking back.
“But I think I’m very grateful for the opportunity that I was given or had in Formula 1 to race, obviously, and compete on the highest level, but also to travel the world, to see so many different places, see different cultures, meet different people. I think it does something to you, and especially realising that the privilege that we have is not a given. And maybe I have a talent in what I do.
“Maybe we all have different levels of talents, but I could be born in a different place and the talent would never come out and would never shine. Yeah, I think everybody’s free to do what they want and especially I think at a younger age, you’re probably more focused on yourself, your ambitions and so on. But provided you’re looking, I think life is there to teach you many lessons so I’m sure I could have learned a lot more and I’m looking forward to having more time to learn even more in the future. But yeah, again, it’s everybody’s choice,” summed up Vettel.
Amid all the nice talks that Vettel has been getting, Aston Martin team principal Mike Krack has his own say on the German, while revealing how much he’s still in the thick of things with handful of races to go before he retires from F1.
“I think he gained from the better performance or the better results,” said Krack. “It added a little bit even more to his motivation. And it’s really nice to see him work. I mean, he has few races to go and I think we had to kick him out of the office in Mexico, otherwise he would have still been there, studying data, looking at where you can change things. So he’s not on a farewell, this I can tell you for sure. He really wants to do well. He wants to bring us forward and bring his part to finish the season in the best possible place.”
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