Sebastian Vettel seems to be thinking seriously about retirement and leaving Formula 1 behind. The four-time world champion has been a pale shadow of what he used to be on the track this season and he also finished last in Austria. The verdict after this weekend is: Vettel should save his honour and quit F1.
Vettel in doubt despite contract negotiations
A fortnight ago Mike Crack, the Aston Martin team boss, revealed that the team has started contract negotiations with Vettel. The negotiations would even go well. There is therefore initially no reason to think that Vettel wants to quit the premier class of motor racing. The four-time world champion is also 'only' 35 years old and could therefore continue for a few more years if he would take an example from Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen. However, after the Austrian Grand Prix a report came out that Vettel is thinking about retirement.
The good contract negotiations with Aston Martin have perhaps made the German realise more than they had thought beforehand. Vettel indicated that he is seriously considering his future in Formula 1 and whether he still has the energy to grow with his ambitious team. The performance of both the driver and the team is not there at the moment and therefore, for Vettel, a lot of the fun seems to have gone. For F1 fans, it is even a tragic decline to a certain extent. The super-talent who became the youngest world champion and went on to win three more titles, could not reproduce this with Ferrari and even finished his last Grand Prix with Aston Martin in last place. Halfway through the season the German is on P14 with fifteen points. Fellow countryman Mick Schumacher is breathing down his neck.
Vettel must retire to save his honour
Finally, Vettel also seems to have been more preoccupied with peripheral issues than racing in recent races. His longer haircut and somewhat less well-groomed appearance reinforces his subversive nature this year. Vettel has appeared many a GP weekend in a self-printed T-shirt with an activist message; he did so in Miami, in Canada and again in Austria. In addition, the German is increasingly at odds with the race committee. Vettel protested against the stricter 'underwear rules' by wearing his pants over his race overalls. Last weekend he was even fined by the race committee for storming out during a meeting.
In short, it seems as if Vettel has put away all his goals in Formula 1 and is already working on his next goals in life. As noble as those new goals are and as good as it is that he is fighting for charity while still appearing relatively often in front of the world press, the German should seriously consider whether it is still relevant for him to stay in F1 as long as he is not having fun and scoring goals. Do you agree that Vettel should save his honour and decide to retire?
