In a great F1 career of ups and downs, Sebastian Vettel chose to be his most authentic self

The then 21-year-old became the youngest Formula One race winner at the time, announcing himself on one of the sport’s most storied stages. As he announces his retirement four world championships, 53 race wins, and 122 podiums later, it is a career he can look back on fondly.

Vettel, who revealed in a statement that he had taken the decision to call time on his career to spend more time with his family, had a record-breaking first half of his career. In 2010, he became the youngest driver to win an F1 world championship at the age of 23, winning it three times in a row thereafter. He has since amassed the third-most Grand Prix wins, and fourth-most pole positions. He also holds the record for most pole positions in a single season (15) in 2011.

The final season of his quartet of titles, 2013, which saw him win a world-record nine consecutive races and a joint-record 13 in total, is considered by some as the most dominant in F1 history, even greater than his idol and compatriot Michael Schumacher’s 2004 season.

The second half of his career was highlighted by a fractured stint at Ferrari, where he attempted to fill his idol’s shoes by pursuing their first championship since 2005, but failed to win in front of Lewis Hamilton’s dominance with Mercedes. Nevertheless, his 14 race wins at the team are only behind Schumacher and Niki Lauda in Ferrari history.

But to define Vettel by his achievements on the track would be a mistake, one that he himself does not wish to commit. In an emotional video he released on social media announcing his retirement, he said: “Being a racing driver has never been my sole identity. I very much believe in identity by who we are and how we treat others rather than by what we do.”

Vettel was notorious, and at times downright hated, for his aggressive and arrogant driving style during his dominance with Red Bull. In the later years of his career, he was lauded for his political activism. He stood firmly with Hamilton in opposition to institutional racism in society and F1, was vocal in his criticism of the anti-LGBTQ+ laws while racing in Hungary, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, and has been outspoken about climate change.

He often drove to the absolute limit, sometimes defying team orders to do whatever he could to win, and goaded his opponents. He also built ‘bee hotels’ with kids, cleaned up trash in the grandstands of circuits, and organised a karting event for women drivers in Saudi Arabia after the law preventing them from driving was lifted. He hardly minced his words or held back in the press, and refused to be on social media until the day he announced his retirement.

In an era defined by athletes’ well-oiled PR machinery, Vettel simply chose to be himself. None of it was a performance and all of it was him. And true to form, his disillusionment with F1, not just because of the underperformance of his current team Aston Martin, was evident in his retirement video, which relayed the tension between his values and his sport.

At a recent appearance on BBC Question Time, a program usually reserved for politicians and significant members of industry, Vettel revealed that he does feel like a hypocrite when he voices his concerns over energy conservation and climate change, while at the same time travelling around the world to pursue his passion of driving gas-guzzling racing cars.

“It does (make me a hypocrite),” Vettel said. “There’s questions I ask myself about racing in F1 and travelling the world. There are certain things in my control, and certain things that are not. I love driving a car, it’s my passion and I enjoy it very much. The minute I get out of the car, I do think: ‘Is this something we should do?’”

As Vettel calls time on an all-time great F1 career, it is worth taking note that instead of being defined by all the success and glory, his legacy must be defined by his authenticity. That is, above all else, what he wants too.