Vettel became an Aston Martin driver in 2021 after leaving Ferrari, signing with the hope – now a multiple world champion – that He will be able to follow in the footsteps of his childhood hero, Michael Schumacher. However, he was not able to reach the top with the Maranello team, but he can still be considered one of the most successful drivers in Formula 1.
On that day, Vettel gave a longer interview to the official Aston Martin website, in which he spoke, among other things, He doesn’t expect his name to live forever – He only hopes that those who once met him will remember him as a respectable and kind person.
“Someone once said, ‘You will remember until the last person who knew you dies.’ But let me put it this way: The United Kingdom has a new king, but he is not Charles I – there were two kings before him. Do we remember them? Not suppose. There is a limit. There will come a point where no one will remember me. Nothing lasts forever.”
So you didn’t even think about how people would remember you?
“People can decide if they want to be remembered, but I don’t mind if they don’t. It doesn’t matter how I remember. I always try to give a successful performance – sometimes I don’t, but I always try to treat people with respect and kindness. If that What they will remember, I will be glad. ”
What did you learn during your years in Formula 1?
“There are many lessons in life, and it is up to you to learn from them. Being a Formula 1 driver means an accelerated lifestyle. I think that is true for most athletes. It has everything an average life has, but it is so much better. I had to grow Much faster than my school friends because I took my racing career very seriously and had to deal with a lot of adults.
Don’t you feel like you’ve lost something because you didn’t have a “normal life”?
“I still do a lot of stupid things that teens do with their friends, but when you’re 19 it’s a whole different world when you spend a lot of time with people in their 30s, 40s, 50s. Hanging out with old people hasn’t made my life any more boring. – Not at all. But I had to grow up quickly. If you want to achieve anything in life, you have to be committed – disciplined.
Was it stressful?
“I often feel that I have lived so much in the past fifteen years that I cannot even absorb everything. I have met so many people, visited so many different countries. You have taught me so much – and time will show how much I care.”
Have you fallen in love with Formula 1?
“I still love sports, I love competition. It was hard to make the decision to retire, but I’ve been thinking about it for a while. I know how much commitment this sport takes, and I just felt like it was a good time to start doing other things.”
How do you look back on the past two years with the Aston Martin Formula 1 team?
“These two years have been challenging because the car wasn’t as competitive as we would have liked. This year we wanted to make a lot of progress compared to last year. We didn’t work out. We’re currently standing where we closed last year. I’m not pointing fingers and saying we did a bad job. I’m just Realistic. We had high hopes, but our performance was poor.”
Do you regret how things went?
“No, not at all. I don’t think it was two useless years, although the results and points were not what we had hoped for. I loved working with the team – getting to know new people and new methods. Those two years were tough because I’m not used to driving At the end of the field. It was a new experience – hard times and so much to discover.”
Why?
That a person always sees only what is happening around him. When you’re on top, you only see what’s on top. When you’re in the back, you only see what’s behind you – but you always look ahead because you want to be there. On the other hand, if you’re up front, you don’t look back, because it doesn’t affect you in any way, and you don’t even appreciate the amount of work that teams behind. Just because you don’t get great results doesn’t mean you don’t work as hard.”
“I am very happy and proud to be working with these talented and dedicated people at Aston Martin. Even if it hasn’t been very exciting in terms of results, it has been a lot of fun working with them. To help the team down the road and build the future.”
Last year’s podium in Baku was definitely fun…
“Definitely. It was a race where we were more competitive and if that was the case then things like that could happen. We’ve proven that we can pull good races out of the hat. There have been other races where we’ve done really well, but we finished second. Only tenth, and when you’re tenth, no one notices.”
If the car is more competitive, will it continue to retire at the end of this season?
“I don’t know. How would I retire if I had been so competitive in the last 3-4 years, winning races, fighting for championships and maybe winning another one? I might have come to the same decision. But maybe not. Impossible to say, but it crossed my mind too. “.
“Finishing 10th doesn’t give me the thrill because I know what it is like when I finish 1st. If you haven’t been 1st before, 10th place is really exciting. But I’m glad being 10th doesn’t make me excited.”
It would be worrying if that was the case…
“It’s important to be honest with yourself. I love winning. It seems selfish and conceited, but winning is what drives me.”
53 race wins. He won 4 championships in a row. Have you ever tired of winning?
“You’ll get used to it. But when you don’t win anymore, you think about how great it feels to win again. And when you win again, it’s a big moment and it means more to you than previous wins because there is a void between the two.
Many professionals joined Aston Martin who had already won in Formula 1, people I worked with before, for example Dan Fallows or Eric Blanden. Do you think the team will achieve its goals?
“Winning does not guarantee that you will win again, but it certainly helps. The people are there, the new plant is being built, so everything is starting to come together. But it will take time. The rule changes this year created a huge opportunity, but we fell into the same group as many others.” Some teams might be a little lucky, designing their car around ground height, which works. These rules are still in effect in 2026, so teams that started well will have an advantage over those that started poorly, and the cost cap means that no More money and resources can be mobilized to solve the problems.”
You have to race some great riders, but who was the hardest? Who made your life more difficult?
Louis [Hamilton]Especially when I was in a Ferrari. Louis was always there. Before that, maybe Fernando [Alonso]when he was racing with Ferrari.
Fernando will replace you at Aston Martin next year. Do you have any advice for him?
“Fernando doesn’t need any advice. I’m not even sure he’d accept it, but he doesn’t. He’s been here a long time, he’s seen a lot – so he’ll be fine.”
Four Grand Prix, Seb. That’s all that’s left. An outstanding profession. Incredible trip. Thank you!
“You know, it’s funny that so many people thank me, but I’d really rather thank them. If I had achieved what I had but no one was watching – if there were no people in the stands, no outside feelings, it wouldn’t mean a thing. I want to I thank so many people for making my career and my life the way it is.”
