How has Sebastian Vettel impacted the Formula 1 industry?

By Kiera Gordon

Sebastian Vettel is one of the most recognisable names in F1 (Image: Getty Images)

With four world championships, 53 overall race wins and a total of 3,098 points over his whole career, Sebastian Vettel remains one of the most successful drivers in Formula 1 history. Over his 16 years of racing in this sport, how has he impacted it?

Ross Lyall, a Vettel supporter and Formula 1 fan was inspired by Sebastian to work in the F1 industry. “I started watching it with my dad when I was younger, probably around age seven”.  Lyall has started working in this industry whilst he completes his degree at university, “I’ve just joined the formula student team with the University of Glasgow, UGR”. This helps him gain knowledge about the cars for future use, “A realistic job, would be in the factories, making the parts of the car, but if there were no constraints, I’d love to be a race engineer.”

One of Vettel’s most known career wins was Multi 21. This states a driver in car one (Vettel) and a driver in car two (who in this case was Mark Webber) must hold their positions to the finish. At this point, Mark Webber was ahead of his then teammate, Sebastian Vettel. Vettel did not listen to team orders and chose to overtake him and went on to snatch the win from his teammate at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix. “You can’t forget Multi 21. Seb just floored it and overtook him.” Lyall said this was a standout moment for him in Sebastian’s career. CulturedClub, a Reddit user commented on this moment too: “And no one can forget multi-21! He was quite a brat in his day and the current Saint Seb narrative is really quite revisionist.”

One of the biggest career moves Sebastian made was leaving Red Bull to go to Ferrari, Lyall added: “I think growing up Sebastian Vettel’s idol was always Michael Schumacher…. I feel that Seb was trying to emulate what Michael had done because at the time Ferrari hadn’t won a championship in years”. A young Sebastian Vettel first met Michael Schumacher when he was seven years old at a karting race.

Vettel after achieving pole position with Ferrari in qualifying at the 2019 Japan Grand Prix (Image: Getty Images)

When Sebastian moved to Aston Martin in 2021 it was quite unexpected after racing for front runners Red Bull and Ferrari. Lyall said: “by that time, he was getting a bit older, Ferrari had Charles Leclerc come in who was at the time first driver, so I feel like that was pushing him out”. Skulldetta a Reddit user also commented on his racing at Aston Martin: “By the time he joined Aston Martin, he was mentally checking out of the sport. I don’t think he would’ve continued much longer even if Aston Martin had the pace.”

Over Seb’s illustrious career, he achieved many records including the most poles achieved in one season, for which he still holds the record of 15 poles in 2011. CulturedClub added: “His skills remembering details and feeding back to the engineer’s post-race are what was special about him.” In the 2023 season, Max Verstappen went on to break two of Sebastian’s previous records, including the most laps led in a season and the most races won in a row. “If anyone was to break the record of most poles achieved in one season, it would have to be Max because Sebastian held three records at the start of this season and now, he only has one left,” Lyall added.

Vettel’s retirement took many F1 fans by surprise (Image: Getty Images)

Sebastian’s retirement came as a shock to many, Lyall said: “I think it was a lot of factors, a desire to spend more time with family and time doing his personal interests.” With Sebastian being a voice for the eco-friendly systems being introduced to F1 Lyall felt that this may have had a part to play in his retirement: “If he’s arguing that F1 should be more environmentally friendly, he maybe thought that he was doing more damage by participating in it”. Some people were really saddened by this news, while others felt it was his time: “he had so many great moments in F1, and he’s done really well at it but it’s still really sad,” Lyall added.

After retiring, Sebastian continued to be a voice for the environment including his bee hotels at the corner of the Suzuka circuit. “I also feel like he wanted to let other young drivers come in rather than him holding up a seat for a few years.”

Vettel putting the finishing touches on one of his bee hotels (Image: Getty Images)

It’s clear through Sebastian’s racing career he has achieved lots of titles and ensured his name was one to remember in the Formula 1 industry. He has inspired many younger generations of drivers, race engineers and anyone with a dream of wanting to work in F1. Even though he is no longer directly involved in F1, he’ll never be forgotten as he is one of the greatest in the industry.