four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will retire at the end of the season

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The end of an era. Sebastian Vettel will retire at the end of the Formula 1 season, his Aston Martin team announced on Thursday July 28. The German driver, four times world champion, had been present in the paddock since 2007. At 35, the one who has 53 Grand Prix victories is currently in fourteenth place in the driver standings. Having won his fourth crown at the age of 26, he remains today the youngest driver in history to have achieved such a feat.

The German had his peak between 2010 and 2013, during which time he was crowned world champion four times in a row. Vettel was then driving for the Red Bull team. Over this period, he has gleaned 38 of his 53 successes in Formula 1. Impressive figures which rank him third among the most prolific drivers in history, behind Lewis Hamilton (103) and Michael Schumacher (91) but ahead Alain Prost (51) or Ayrton Senna (41).

A sign of a quasi-hegemonic driver when he was at the top of his game, he won 18.34% of the Grand Prix he contested. Among active pilots, only Lewis Hamilton does better (34.33%).

After six years at Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel then joined Ferrari in 2015. He notably achieved ten successes there between 2017 and 2018. But over these two seasons, the native of Heppenheim could only finish runner-up to Lewis Hamilton at the driver classification. After these last bursts, he then took on a role as a team member for Charles Leclerc within the Scuderia. Not extended, the German had offered himself a last dance at Aston Martin since 2021. There has so far only been one podium.


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