Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2010

The five teams of number five: Vettel’s F1 career history in pictures

F1 history

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Sebastian Vettel has announced he will retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season, bringing one of the most successful grand prix careers to a close.

During that time he’s driven for five different teams and won races for three of them – so far. His 53 grand prix victories is the third-highest total of any driver and he remains the youngest person ever to win the world championship.

BMW-Sauber – 2006-07

It all began 15 years ago with a one-off debut in the United States Grand Prix.

Sebastian Vettel, BMW Sauber, Istanbul, 2006
Sebastian Vettel, BMW Sauber, Istanbul, 2006
Race starts: 1
(7 practice appearances)
Pole positions: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 0
Points: 1
Fastest laps: 0
Championships: 0

BMW gave Vettel his first opportunity to get behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car after he dominated their German junior championship in 2003, winning an incredible 18 races out of 20. In 2006 BMW took over the Sauber team and Vettel started making appearances at official F1 race weekends as a practice driver. Notoriously, he collected a fine for speeding in the pit lane as he left the garage at Istanbul Park as he headed out onto the track during a grand prix weekend for the first time.

The following year Vettel made his race debut as a one-off substitute for regular driver Robert Kubica, who suffered an enormous crash during the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel quickly got to grips with the unfamiliar Indianapolis Motor Speedway road circuit and brought his car home in eighth place for the final point.

Kubica was back in the car at the next race. But Vettel was not left on the sidelines for long.

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Sebastian Vettel, BMW Sauber, Indianapolis, 2007
Sebastian Vettel, BMW Sauber, Indianapolis, 2007

Toro Rosso – 2007-08

Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso, Monza, 2008
Sebastian Vettel, Toro Rosso, Monza, 2008
Race starts: 25
Pole positions: 1
Wins: 1
Podiums: 1
Points: 40
Fastest laps: 0
Championships: 0

Red Bull also had a hand in Vettel’s progress through the junior ranks and four races after his debut with BMW Sauber they placed him at junior team Toro Rosso (now AlphaTauri) in place of Scott Speed. His first drive for the team came at the Hungaroring, where 15 years later he has announced his retirement.

Vettel took little time to get on the pace of team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi. But he did not endear himself to future Red Bull team mate Mark Webber by punting him off during a Safety Car period in the rain-lashed Japanese Grand Prix while the pair were running second and third. He made amends at the next race in China with a fine fourth place.

Better followed in 2008 when the Italian Grand Prix weekend took place under what seemed like a persistent downpour. Vettel astonished by planting his car on pole position and striding to victory as the rain continued to fall on Sunday. Not only was it the first and still only victory for a Ferrari engine customer, it meant Red Bull’s junior team had become grand prix winners before the senior outfit.

Unsurprisingly, Vettel was ushered into the top team alongside Webber for 2009, in place of the retiring David Coulthard.

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Red Bull – 2009-14

Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2010
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Yas Marina, 2010
Race starts: 113
Pole positions: 45
Wins: 39
Podiums: 66
Points: 1,612
Fastest laps: 24
Championships: 4

Three races into his career as a Red Bull driver, Vettel scored his second victory in another soaking wet race, in Shanghai. The rapid Brawns won most of the races in the first half of the season, however, and Jenson Button beat him to the title.

The following year Vettel claimed his first world championship title in one of the sport’s most dramatic title-deciders. Alonso and Webber arrived at the top of the standings, yet somehow both contrived to finish outside of the top six, and victory for Vettel sealed a shock title win.

It took four years for anyone to prise the trophy from Vettel’s grasp. The formidable RB7, which he took a record 15 pole positions in, made his first championship defence somewhat straightforward.

But Fernando Alonso made him work hard for his third title, and when he was left facing backwards on the first lap at Interlagos all seemed lost. Incredibly he recovered to deny Alonso the title by three points. Red Bull returned to dominance in the second half of 2013, Vettel winning a record nine races in a row, sealing his final title on the way.

The introduction of F1’s V6 hybrid turbo regulations in 2014 broke Red Bull’s stranglehold on the championship silverware and began an era of dominance by Mercedes. Vettel failed to win once in the under-powered and unreliable RB10, while new team mate Daniel Ricciardo claimed a trio of wins.

Ferrari – 2015-20

Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Sepang International Circuit, 2015
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, Sepang International Circuit, 2015

Having achieved so much in his time at Red Bull, Vettel was keen for a new challenge. What greater challenge could there be than emulating his great mentor Michael Schumacher’s feat of turning around an underperforming Ferrari team and bring them back into championship contention once again?

Race starts: 118
Pole positions: 12
Wins: 14
Podiums: 55
Points: 1,400
Fastest laps: 14
Championships: 0

Vettel’s tenure at the Scuderia started with great promise winning his second race in red at the Malaysian Grand Prix. However, Mercedes were just too strong over the season for Vettel to be in contention for the title.

After a frustrating, winless season in 2016, the rules changes for the 2017 saw Ferrari and Vettel fly out of the blocks with three wins and three second places in the first six rounds to lead the drivers’ championship up to the summer break ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Unfortunately, three wins in a row for his rival and a crash at the start of a wet Singapore Grand Prix cost him first in the standings, which he never reclaimed.

The following year was also promising, with back-to-back wins to start the season. Once again, Vettel was ahead of Hamilton in the standings, until throwing away a win and the championship lead at his home race at Hockenheim when it began to rain, causing him to crash out of the race. It was the closest Vettel ever came again to leading the F1 drivers’ standings, with Hamilton taking the title and dominating the 2019 campaign.

By now, Vettel’s good friend and team mate Kimi Raikkonen had left Ferrari, replaced by the promising young Charles Leclerc. The newcomer made a strong impression against his champion team mate, winning in Spa and Monza, while Vettel claimed what is likely to be his final win of his career in Singapore.

In the Covid-compromised 2020 season, Ferrari were nowhere. Hit with a power unit nerf after a controversial deal with the FIA, it was the team’s worst season for 40 years. Mistakes were setting in and Leclerc was outpacing Vettel regularly. Before the start of the suspended season, Ferrari announced they would not renew Vettel’s contract for 2021. He was now out of a drive and left pondering his future.

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Aston Martin – 2021-22

Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, Bahrain, 2021
Sebastian Vettel, Aston Martin, Bahrain, 2021

After months of speculation, Racing Point announced that Vettel would join the team when they transitioned into Aston Martin for the 2021 season. With major investment into the Silverstone-based team, it was a new opportunity for Vettel to sink his teeth into a long-term project and try to bring one of the most recognisable brands in automotive history to the front of Formula 1.

Race starts: 32 (42 by Abu Dhabi)
Pole positions: 0
Wins: 0
Podiums: 1
Points: 58
Fastest Laps: 0
Championships: 0

The first year was predictably challenging, with the AMR21 confined to the midfield for the vast majority of the season. There were some standout Sundays, however. Vettel kept cool in the chaos of Azerbaijan to secure second place and the team’s first podium appearance in British Racing Green. There should have been a second trophy in Hungary when Vettel chased Esteban Ocon for the win for the whole race, but a shortage of fuel in his car after the race left the stewards with no option but to disqualify him.

By now, Vettel was beginning to show a new side to him. He began speaking publicly about his concern for the environment and setting up bee hotels at home. He was one of the most prominent drivers to embrace F1’s ‘We Race as One’ programme, visibly taking a knee before races alongside rival and friend Hamilton and proudly wearing symbols of LGBTQ+ support in the paddock and on his helmet. He also developed a close relationship with rookie Mick Schumacher – the son of the man who had mentored Vettel a decade prior.

The major rules changes for 2022 were disappointing on track for Vettel and Aston Martin, with the team losing ground compared to many of their rivals. It wasn’t helped by him missing the opening two races due to Covid.

Meanwhile Vettel was continuing to become increasingly vocal off track, even appearing on British political discussion show Question Time on the BBC to share his views about politics, the environment, and human rights. With his contract up at the end of the season, speculation about whether he would continue in Formula 1 beyond this year grew, but Vettel always maintained he had a desire to remain racing.

Eventually, the day before first practice for the Hungarian Grand Prix – one race before the summer break – Vettel announced he would retire from Formula 1 at the end of the 2022 season. If he does not win another race before his retirement, he will end his career with four world championship titles, 53 grand prix victories, 57 pole positions and 122 podium appearances – making him one of Formula 1’s all-time most successful drivers.

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And not forgetting the first time he drove a Williams

Sebastian Vettel, Williams, Jerez, 2005
Sebastian Vettel, Williams, Jerez, 2005

While Vettel recently got behind the wheel of a 1992 Williams, it wasn’t the first time he’d driven one of the team’s cars. Before his F1 career began, BMW arranged a test for him at Jerez in 2005, driving one of the team’s BMW V10-powered machines.

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Vettel celebrating his first world championship victory in 2010

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...
Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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5 comments on “The five teams of number five: Vettel’s F1 career history in pictures”

  1. Watching him rattle off every F1 champion in chronological order is perhaps something you’d expect from someone on Racefans rather than an actual driver. He clearly loves the sport and he has given it so much (he has annoyed me a few times but made me smile so much more). Whatever he does with his life next, I’ve no doubt he’ll be a success at it.

    He just seems like one of those people who can apply themselves to many things. Or he could just do doughnuts in his FW14B and be a stay at home dad. Whatever he does – I wish him well.

  2. That’s almost the end of an era. It makes me a bit sad, I wish he left the sport in a better situation, instead of driving at the back of the field, fighting for points. In the Redbull days he was this wunderkind, winning 4 titles and boring us to death with the dominance at times, and annoying with his radio celebrations. But I came to appreciate him more during the Ferrari years, and I actually rooted for him against Hamilton in 2017-2018, because I wanted to see both legendary drivers taking titles from each other. It was frustrating to be a fan, because of his critical mistakes that were starting to become somewhat frequent. But we just saw last weekend Leclerc doing the same, which is probably a consequence of the pressure of fighting for a title in a Ferrari. I’ll never forget the RoC when he had to race for his teammate Wehrlein, who had crashed, and Seb smashed everybody in all the cars. Auf Wiedersehen, Seb! Enjoy life post-F1 and go try some endurance races.

  3. Wow, kinda special for me, as I can remember every step of Vettel’s career in F1.

  4. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    28th July 2022, 23:16

    What a career! There are only a handful of drivers who aren’t dreaming of a racing career like that.

  5. Vettel’s recovery drive at Interlagos in 2012 has stuck with me ever since. It was an amazing thing to watch. Maybe he will pull an Alonzo if the opportunity arrives in the future. I wasn’t that much of a fan of his when he began (that finger thing was a bit much), but his consistency and his determination won me over. I hope that he can leverage his F1 career into making a difference in the world outside of sport, as I suspect that his intention is to move in that direction. Quality sportsman.

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