Before the start of the season, it looked unlikely that Sebastian Vettel’s 15th full season in Formula 1 would be his last. But despite leaving F1 without a podium, the four-time world champion has shown flashes of brilliance that will help him retain those titles.
Vettel’s Aston Martin team may have been the quickest to get their new 2022 car from the factory to the circuit before pre-season testing officially began, but Vettel had to wait longer than his peers to start the season. A positive Covid test days before the start of the season in Bahrain meant Vettel could only watch the opening two races in isolation – he hasn’t missed much as far as Aston Martin is concerned.
Vettel reappeared in the paddock as Formula 1 returned to Melbourne. But eager to make up for lost time, the first weekend of the year was one of the worst – perhaps the worst – any driver has had all season. He did himself no favors by crashing on his first lap in practice, with a power unit problem that was robbing him of track time in practice.
Nicolas Laffey only managed to qualify thanks to team-mate Lance Stroll, who made the Aston Martin mechanics work harder after beating Laffey. Then on Sunday, Vettel derailed the team’s relentless efforts by running off the track at the start of the race and then crashing out completely afterwards.
After a very poor start to the season, Vettel has gone a long way to repay his team at Imola. He got his Aston Martin into Q3 for the first time in qualifying, but finished 13th in the sprint. But after a bit of chaos, Vettel drove hard to stay in contention for the points, eventually taking Aston Martin’s points scorer of the year to a well-deserved eighth.
He should have scored again in Miami, but that hope was put to rest by an awkward collision with Mick Schumacher after he was forced to start from pit lane due to a fuel technical.
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Back-to-back points were crucial in helping the Aston Martin Constructors’ Championship round the Monaco and Baku road circuits. The latter was an impressive sixth, scoring after successfully exiting the breakaway in a fight with Esteban Ocon, then hunting Alpine down and finding a way past.
But the driver who accumulated the fourth-highest pole position in history suffered a setback on Saturday after being ruled out for three consecutive weekends in F1 – including dying at the end of the Red Bull Ring after missing the final lap. Track restrictions. He still recovered to the points at Silverstone, but his relationship with Pierre Gasly left him in trouble in Austria.
Vettel’s biggest competition with Paul Ricard was his teammate. He qualified three places early, but Stroll’s good start left Vettel behind in the early laps. At the end of the race, Vettel chased the second Aston Martin into the final lap, but Stroll stopped his car at the end of the final hairpin to prevent Vettel from grabbing the final point in tenth.
If Vettel was upset by his team-mate’s actions, he was penalized for attacking Ocon when the team allowed him to overtake Stroll on the last lap in Hungary. But by the time they reached the checkered flag, unable to pass the Alps, he was too far away to give his team-mate back the position.
Despite Aston Martin’s AMR22 gradually getting faster as the season progressed, Vettel couldn’t seem to get out of Q1 no matter how hard he tried. Passing through the Stroll, he missed the cut at Second Spa and went up the Zandvoort circuit. Loose bodywork further hampered him at Monza, although an ARS failure ended the race early.
But after that disappointing run, Aston Martin’s fortunes quickly recovered from Singapore, the site of Vettel’s last grand prix victory three years earlier. He jumped five places at the start to run in the top ten, holding off Lewis Hamilton in the second half of the race before losing out to Max Verstappen in seventh on the final lap.
At Suzuka, Vettel’s favorite track, he was powerful. He entered Q3 for the first time to start ninth from Baku, but misjudged his approach to spray one and spun, falling behind. Immediately after the red flag, he made a pit stop, which helped him gain ten places on the front pack. He edged out former partner Fernando Alonso by just 0.011 to claim sixth place. That left Aston Martin with the best chance of overturning Alfa Romeo in the championship, and it was Vettel who did most of the heavy lifting of the two drivers.
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Heading into the final race of his F1 career, Vettel was determined to bow out on a high. Gaining five places on the opening lap, he dropped to 13th in a painfully long pit stop, turning in a fantastic battle car at the Circuit of the Americas. Despite the setback, Vettel worked his way up the order before taking on Kevin Magnussen in a thrilling finale.
The Aston Martin struggled for speed at the high altitude in Mexico and was out of points but fared better in Brazil. Vettel still had to contend with a fairly strong defense from Stroll in the sprints, but he deserved better than he got in the Grand Prix, when a late Safety Car left him vulnerable on his medium tires and Stroll was finally asked to let him go. Until the 10th – the debt from Hungary was paid.
Abu Dhabi was a fitting farewell for one of the sport’s most successful drivers. Even on the track, some of his rivals openly admit to treating him kindly on the run so as not to spoil his final race. As Aston Martin had the chance to wrest sixth from Alfa Romeo, Vettel easily outscored all three days.
Vettel reached Q3 at the last attempt but the race was severely marred by a one-stop strategy which cost him several places until he left the pit road. He fought his way back to tenth place and was putting pressure on Daniel Ricciardo in ninth on the final lap, only having to find a way past McLaren to secure sixth for the team. Try as he might, he couldn’t get it in McLaren’s way, but he still secured a point when he reached the checkered flag in the 299th and final grand prix of his career.
While Vettel’s final year in Formula 1 was one of his worst in terms of results, it was far worse in terms of driving. While his final two seasons at Aston Martin didn’t provide him with more opportunities to achieve greater results than he would have liked, he leaves the grid with his head held high, knowing that his impressive record of success will always speak for itself.
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