As he so often does, Sebastian Vettel found the perfect words as he signed off from Formula 1 after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The German retired from the sport with a 10th-place finish at the Yas Marina Circuit, scoring one last point. He was able to do that courtesy of a late hydraulics problem for Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to head to the pits permanently with just a few laps left of the race.
After completing the race, Vettel delighted the fans on the home straight with some doughnuts in his Aston Martin. He then clambered out of the car to wave to them and take their applause, before picking up a microphone and, without hesitation, finding the words to sign off in a memorable way.
Instead of focussing on his past achievements and the racing, he came across as a man proud of the impact he has been able to have off the track. "I feel a bit empty to be honest, it's been a big weekend," he said. "The last two years have been disappointing from a sporting point of view, but very important to me in my life.
"It's a huge privilege to be in the position we are in and with that comes responsibility. I hope to pass on to the other drivers to carry on the good work. We have the power to inspire you with what we say. Thank you for the support, messages, letters and love in general. I will miss that but it's been a joy throughout my career."
As could have been predicted, the fans voted Vettel their driver of the day – a symbolic gesture for sure, as he actually lost ground in the race due to a strategy that did not work as hoped. The 35-year-old said over the radio several times that he felt the strategy was wrong, and regretted not being able to do more.
"You know how it is, I wish it would have been a couple more points," Vettel added after the race. He finished less than a second behind Daniel Ricciardo – had he managed to overtake, Aston Martin would have finished one place higher in the constructors' championship and earned an extra £11m in prize money.
He continued: "But I enjoyed the race. I think it was a bit of a different warm-up today to get into the race but once the lights go off, it's full-on race mode. I think we obviously didn't go for maybe the best strategy. So it was a shame because I think we could have turned the constructors' championship around for us.
"I had a nice battle with Daniel but I just couldn't get close enough. But I think it was nice also with him to fight the last couple of laps and both of us to finish in the points."
