‘I think that you got this a bit early,’ Vettel’s former teammate reacts to his retirement
Retired professional Formula One driver Mark Webber has spoken about former Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel’s retirement from the sport, saying he got the timing ‘maybe a sneak early.’
Vettel announced his retirement mid way through the 2022 season and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix brought an emotional end to his successful F1 career.
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Webber drove alongside Vettel when he achieved his four consecutive championship wins. He spoke to Speedcafe about the German retirement. He said:
“He got the timing bang on, I think. Maybe a sneak early.
“I think he still drives very, very well. I told him, ‘I think that you got this a bit early’, so we’ve had a bit of a laugh about that.
“But I’m stoked he’s in one piece, he’s had a great career. He was a juggernaut obviously in the early days and, on his day he could still do some special stuff.
“A four-time World Champion, not to be sneezed at, and he’ll be missed.”
Webber also discussed Vettel’s F1 journey, he continued:
“Obviously, it takes time to to nurture into a role, with all the optics of your brand or whatever you stand for and all the rest of it.
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“It takes time because that’s just the maturity factor of yourself as a professional athlete, and also how the fans embrace that attitude that you put towards your racing.
“Of course, at the start of his career, it wasn’t overly straightforward! Obviously, I shared a few podiums with him which were quite controversial, to say the least, all around the world.
“But, at the end, I think that he’s been tremendous with reflection. He’s started to bring a lot to the sport, which might not have been the case early in his career. Results, yes, but in terms of as a World Champion, he certainly did a lot more at the end, which was brilliant. I take my hat off to that.”
