Speculations of Sebastian Vettel retiring from the grid have been doing the rounds for a while now. Sadly, today the four-time Formula One champion officially confirmed that he’ll be retiring after the end of this season on his new Instagram account.

The news comes ahead of this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, which will see Vettel racing for his current team Aston Martin. The 35-year-old made his debut back in 2007 and then went on to win back-to-back championships with Red Bull, between 2010 and 2013.

After a successful stint there, Vettel joined Ferrari in 2015, and came close to dethroning Lewis Hamilton in 2017 and 2018, finishing as a runner-up. His last podium came in 2021 at the Baku circuit with Aston Martin. However, his results were disqualified after officials weren’t able to take fuel samples from the champion’s car. Vettel’s last win came in 2019, after beating his fellow teammate Charles Leclerc at the Singapore GP.

Along with posting a video on his account, Vettel also made a statement with Aston Martin saying, “The decision to retire has been a difficult one for me to take, and I have spent a lot of time thinking about it. At the end of the year, I want to take some more time to reflect on what I will focus on next; it is very clear to me that, being a father, I want to spend more time with my family.”

He further added, “But today is not about saying goodbye. Rather, it is about saying thank you – to everyone – not least to the fans, without whose passionate support Formula 1 could not exist.”

Fans have been quite understandably upset over the news, and have been flooding Twitter with reactions. Here are some of them. 

Image credits: Aston Martin Racing