“There is still a race to win”, and just like that Sebastian Vettel said adios to the world of F1. Vettel was my hero growing up. Seeing him retire shattered my heart in pieces. I wasn’t watching F1 when Michael Schumacher retired but believe that many of you felt the same when he said his goodbyes to the world of F1. Yet, despite being a generation apart, there’s one similarity between Schumacher and Vettel’s retirement, and that is the reason for retiring. Let’s dive into it. 

Sebastian Vettel considered Michael Schumacher as his hero growing up. The 7X champ even let Vettel pass during his final lap in F1 to signify that he’s giving the baton to the 4X champ to continue his legacy. And while Vettel wasn’t able to replicate the same success that Schumacher did in Ferrari, he for sure did his hero proud. A worthy German to continue Schumacher’s legacy. 

But we bet you didn’t expect Vettel and Schumacher to share the same reason for retirement. What was the reason you may ask? Family, we say in Dominic Toretto’s voice. Sebastian Vettel created his Instagram account and brought joice to all our lives. Finally, my favorite driver was on Social Media. Alas, it didn’t last long as Vettel’s first post was his retirement announcement. 

Vettel shared a video on Instagram talking about his retirement and how it’s time for him to shift focus from racing toward his wife and kids. Going through the book, Michael Schumacher: The Edge of Greatness, I came across this chapter whose introduction read, “Lap after lap I said goodbye to my life as a racing driver. This was the first time in my career that I asked myself, ‘Why am I doing this? Why am I investing so much time into work if I’d rather be at home with my family?’”

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The name of the chapter? The Last Lap. There are some things that are more important than anything else, family is one of them. And just like that, two of the greatest drivers of the last two decades said their goodbyes to F1. But what if they didn’t? Ross Brawn recently talked about what could’ve been for Schumacher had he not retired at the end of 2012. 

Ross Brawn on Michael Schumacher becoming an 8-time World Champion 

Mercedes were a force to be reckoned with in the Turbo Hybrid era. Dominance like that hadn’t been heard of until Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s 2023 season. Michael Schumacher said his final goodbye in 2012. But what if he didn’t? What if the 7X champ stayed at the team that he helped build and laid the foundations for success in? Ross Brawn opened up about the same. 

In an Interview with Autobuild, Ross Brawn said, “It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that he may have hung up his helmet too early. He planted the seeds of success at Mercedes between 2010 and 2012. And Fernando Alonso, at a similar age to Michael back then, shows today that you can achieve world-class performance even when you’re over 40. If Michael had still been active in 2014, he could have won the title.”

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