Sebastian Vettel Admits His Peak Had Passed During Final Ferrari Years

Sebastian Vettel has reflected on the end of his Formula 1 career, acknowledging that his sporting peak had already passed during his final years with Ferrari. The four-time world champion now says he was "on the way down" in 2019 and 2020, lacking the ultimate final push needed to sustain a title challenge.

Why it matters:

Vettel's candid self-assessment provides a rare and honest look into the mental and performance decline of a top driver at a legendary team. His admission that a younger, hungrier teammate like Charles Leclerc highlighted his own shifting priorities underscores the intense psychological battle drivers face as their careers evolve, moving beyond pure results to broader life considerations.

The details:

• Vettel joined Ferrari in 2015 after four titles with Red Bull, establishing himself as the clear team leader and winning 13 races between 2015 and 2018.
• He fought Lewis Hamilton for the championship until the second half of both the 2017 and 2018 seasons before ultimately finishing runner-up.
• The dynamic shifted with the arrival of Charles Leclerc in 2019. The young Monegasque driver began to assert himself internally, and the gap became more pronounced in 2020 when Vettel's departure from the team was already decided.
• Vettel pinpointed his absolute peak around 2010, calling 2015, 2017, and 2018 "very strong years," but conceded that 2019 and 2020 marked a decline.
• A key factor was contrasting his mindset with Leclerc's. Vettel was solely interested in winning and the fleeting feeling of victory, while Leclerc celebrated lower positions like fifth or sixth, fueled by the energy of being at a different career stage.

The big picture:

The 2020 season, disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, served as a significant emotional turning point. The enforced break gave Vettel his first extended period of family time, which he had never experienced before. This period also led him to reflect more deeply on global changes and future challenges for his children. This broader perspective coincided with his acknowledgment that he was no longer at his competitive peak. After two subsequent seasons with Aston Martin, the second-most successful German driver in F1 history retired, closing a chapter that had fundamentally changed at Maranello.