Vettel’s activism defined latter years but talent burned brightest on track

“Everyone in the paddock loves him,” observed Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz of Sebastian Vettel. “You will not hear a bad word about Seb.” One perspective on Vettel, who announced his impending retirement yesterday, that reflected a uniformity of opinion that is rare, almost unheard of, in Formula One’s fractious and egocentric atmosphere.

Sainz was spot on. Vettel is admired, respected and genuinely liked. When he takes his final flag at the end of the season the four-time champion will also be missed.

Vettel’s decision to retire did not come as an enormous surprise when it was made before this weekend’s Hungarian GP. The 35-year-old has of late had the demeanour of the demob happy after 16 years in F1, having secured 53 wins, behind only Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

He has had a carefree air that suggested F1 had ceased being the centre of his universe. Indeed as he grew his hair out and began sporting a tousled beard there was more than a little of the LA Woman-period Jim Morrison relaxed, swagger to him. Without Mr Mojo’s extra pounds of course.

There had been statements of his increasing internal conflict in his feelings towards F1 and its contribution to the climate emergency, not least in admitting he felt like a hypocrite on BBC Question Time.

This was no simple Damascene conversion. He had devoted his life to F1, as driver, fan and scholar. Few could name all of F1’s champions. Vettel could, right back to the first, Giuseppe Farina in 1950. Yet his commitment to environmental issues had come to play increasingly heavily on his mind. He cited this, alongside a desire to spend more time with his family, as one of the reasons to call it a day.

He will leave a legacy as, alongside Hamilton, one of the