Sebastian Vettel now has only one race left in his Formula 1 career, with the German set to retire from the sport after the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The 35-year-old had a positive sprint race, despite nearly colliding with his teammate Lance Stroll, starting the main race on Sunday from P9.
This starting position gave Vettel a good chance of securing points on his final F1 appearance in Brazil, and helping his team in their battle with Alfa Romeo in the constructors’ championship, but it was not to be as he finished the race in P11.
The four-time world champion has suggested that pit stop timing at tyre choice was what cost his team a chance to score more points, claiming that the medium tyres just did not have to pace to allow him to compete at the end of the race.
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“I think we were a bit late coming in and lost the positions, then we were a bit in traffic which didn’t help, didn’t have the free air and then had the wrong tyres at the end,” said Vettel in his post-race interview.
“So not much we could have done and therefore just fell out of the points.”
Valtteri Bottas finished the race in ninth, one position ahead of Lance Stroll, which means that Alfa Romeo moved a point further away from Aston Martin, extending the gap to five points with one race to go.
Vettel has said that regardless of how quick the car looked and how much progress the team has made, the main objective and the only one that matters is to finish ahead of Alfa Romeo in the final standings.
“Yeah [it was a strong weekend], but I think we should have scored more points, obviously the Alfa Romeos today outscored us, which wasn’t our target.”
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The retiring German will be determined to finish his career on a high and help his team to finish above their rivals in the championship come the checkered flag in Abu Dhabi, such is his professionalism.
Sitting an impressive P11 in the drivers’ championship, there have been pleas from fans and pundits for Vettel to reconsider his retirement, but the Red Bull legend has insisted that he is ready for a new adventure and is looking forward to being able to spend more time with his children.
Vettel has also ruled out a reserve driver role, claiming that he would still be using up all his time to travel to race weekends, but just to do nothing, which he sees as counterproductive for his plan.