Norbert Vettel: "I have always had a soft spot for engines, screwed on mopeds and motorcycles - and rode mountain races. It was like a virus. So I bought a kart for 1200 marks for the kids. Sebastian was three. I set up bowls for a slalom in our yard and he curved around”
“On a podium I built , I presented him with his first motorsport cup, which we had previously obtained. What a glow in his face."😭😭😭
Q: Abu Dhabi is not a sad occasion for you…it is exciting #SV5: “ yeah that’s how I see it, I don’t know if I’ll be in tears and breakdown but I thought about this so much and it feels so right! I’m looking forward to #AbuDhabiGP & what comes after” #SV5#Vettel
“I know the adrenaline rush will be different and will be gone, the excitement of driving in places like Suzuka pushing myself and the car to the limits and it makes me sad. Yet it is a trade for something new/different exciting. That’s how I feel”
Q: how do you want fans to remember you?
#SV5: “…. Fans make the sport what it really is. We had an experience without fans it felt wrong!. I’ll miss the people, their little messages, the attention. How should they remember me I don’t know.I don’t feel I want to be remembered”
#SV5: “it is difficult to answer, but on the day Mark got his things together and the car does what he wants, it was incredible to watch!. Also Charles was incredible in squeezing everything in one lap, Daniel too he beaten me…”
“I didn’t mean to leave Kimi out. I think he is the biggest in terms of natural talent and it shows in the car but it also shows when switching cars. If there was car change every 10 days he would be lapping everybody else. Give him a steering wheel and he knows what to do”
“I had the best relationship out of all the teammates I had. There was never an issue. we crashed into each other we talk about, joked about it. Purely because he is straightforward”
Seb said he had talks with Niki about the move to mercedes but he was then committed to winning with Ferrari:
Also said: “I think I would have enjoyed racing with Lewis, we get along really well. Our moment was Baku 2017 where today we can call it had a misunderstanding…” #SV5
“I was very upset, it was one of the moments where things didn’t go my way, and the emotional side took too much over. But I think actually it was a key moment because it could have made us step away from each other more, or bring us together. It brought us together”.
“I reflect and thought about what happened in the moment felt not right, I wanted to show him/Tell him but I couldn’t because we were wearing helmets. It was a form of communication but I also see it was a wrong one, not sportsmanlike,not fair to him which I admitted after”.
Asked if the final difficult year was the one that introduced the retirement thoughts:
#SV5: “the year before! 2019 the start of the season was for me at least not giving me that momentum to say here we go again… the problem there was too many ideas”
“Charles came in being in a different time in his career and life,it was funny because I watched him and we got alone very well, I really enjoyed the time together and he taught me things not necessarily about driving. It was little bit like looking at younger version of myself”
“ it did take me little bit of time to understand that, because obviously my goal wasn’t winning a race I wanted to win championship and that needs to win many many races, Maybe I lost my self in the process and some of the races weren’t good but some was”
#SV5: “ I have a special bond with Italy, the people the brand was always special to me, it has been a privilege to be able to drive for them. But in terms of numbers I failed because I wanted to win the championship and I didn’t..”
“Mercedes and Lewis were the better package, we couldn’t beat them but the more time passes the more i’m in peace with it because we did some great things together, and not great too!. In the end like I said there was someone out there that was just better, but no regrets”
Q: how much those five years take out of you emotionally?
#SV5: “I never felt that extra pressure of being a Ferrari driver if anything I felt the extra pressure I was putting on myself to succeed in this place and make this work! There is plenty of reasons why it didn’t but..”