Sebastian Vettel believes the time is right to move on from Ferrari, although he doesn’t see his exit as a “break-up”.
The four-time world champion will contend in his final race for the Scuderia in this afternoon’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, bringing to an end a six-year stint at the team that began back in 2015.
Ahead of this weekend, Vettel looked back on what was his dream move as a kid, describing it as a failure for having not won a world championship.
But asked how the atmosphere was like within Ferrari now compared to when he first arrived, Seb was honest.
“Very different. Obviously, we started off with different people in the lead, different personnel, so very different,” he told Formula1.com.
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“I think the atmosphere in the garage is still the same, the spirit remains unbroken and I think it’s obviously a shame that we didn’t achieve what we set out to achieve. But there’s reasons for the strengths and there’s probably reasons for the weaknesses in the past years.
“In some things the team has evolved, in other things, maybe there’s still room,” Vettel added.
“Charles [Leclerc] has a long time ahead of him with the team, a lot of work, so we’ll see how it evolves. But for me obviously, the chapter ends here and I’m starting a new one with a different team, which I’m very excited about.”
When it was suggested that his final weekend with Ferrari felt like the end of a long relationship, Vettel doubted that was the right way to look at it.
“It’s not a real break-up because you get to keep the relationship, it’s not like you go part ways, you can still talk to each other,” he said.
“The people who are close to me, I’ve got their telephone number, so we will probably exchange a lot longer than the time I will be in F1, so that’s the good thing and why it’s not as harsh as a break-up.”
At the same time, amid suggestions the Vettel-Ferrari partnership hasn’t been as strong in recent years, the 33-year-old believes it is the right time to move on.
“It’s not like we hate each other,” he continued. “Some things have proven to be difficult and in this regard, it is the better choice [to leave] and I think both sides are moving forward.”