Sebastian Vettel, a four-time world champion, will leave Formula 1 at the conclusion of this year.
The 35-year-old claimed he had "spent a lot of time thinking about it" and that the decision had been "tough."
At the conclusion of the year, the German stated that he would "take more time to ponder about what I will focus on next." He declared that prioritizing more time with his family was important.
Vettel will retire from racing as one of the most accomplished athletes in history.
Only Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher, and Juan Manuel Fangio have more world championships under their belts than Sebastian Vettel, and only those three athletes have more race victories than his 53.
Added him: "We're not saying goodbye today. Instead, it's about expressing gratitude to everyone whose ardent support allowed Formula One to exist."
Hamilton and Alonso take the lead in honoring "legend" Vettel.
Although our results have not been as fantastic as we had wanted, it is extremely evident to me that everything is being put together that a team needs to race at the very top level for years to come, according to Vettel, who won four straight drivers' championships with Red Bull from 2010 to 2013.
I will work as hard as I can between now and the end of the year with that aim in mind, giving as always my all in the final 10 races. "I hope that the effort I did last year and am continuing to do this year will be beneficial in the creation of a team that will win in the future.
Vettel had intended to stay with Aston Martin for the upcoming season, but he made the decision to leave the sport.
He has developed into a vocal advocate for social and environmental causes in recent years.
Although Vettel has always avoided social media, he opened an Instagram account on Thursday, shortly before announcing his retirement, and his biography there refers to him as a "public person."
On Thursday, he stated: "I adore this sport, but just as there are days when my life is on track, there are other days when it is not. My identity has never been only as a race car driver.
"I think that every small bit counts toward growth and change.
"My desire to be a wonderful father and spouse no longer coexists with my commitment to my passion."
"I feel that these are incredibly critical times, and how we all shape the coming years will define our life," he continued.
"My passion has certain drawbacks that I've grown to detest. They could be resolved in the future, but the desire to bring about that change must grow much greater and inspire action right away because we cannot wait.
My finest race is yet to come, he said.
A successor for Vettel in the next season has not been announced by Aston Martin.
A successful career
Vettel, who has been a full-time Formula One racer since 2007, has had a split career.
His most prosperous period was spent racing with Red Bull, which he joined in 2009 and for whom he won 38 grand Prix races and four straight championships from 2010 to 2013.
Seasons of exceptional dominance were the second and fourth of those titles.
He won 13 races in 2013, tying Schumacher's record from 2004. He also won the last nine races in a row, the best streak of victories in a single season and the second-longest streak overall. In addition, Alberto Ascari won nine games in a row in the 1952 and 1953 seasons.
But his victories in 2010 and 2012 came at the culmination of protracted confrontations that lasted all season.
His maiden championship was won under unusual circumstances and in a battle with four other drivers throughout the year, including Mark Webber of Red Bull, Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, and Jenson Button of McLaren.
Despite never having led the points all season, Vettel entered the final race in Abu Dhabi third in the standings, behind Alonso and Webber.
But after Ferrari committed a disastrous tactical error and forced Alonso into the pits in reaction to Webber, the Spaniard was unable to recover and Vettel won the race by outpacing both of his competitors and securing the championship.
Due to the season deteriorating into a direct fight between Vettel and Alonso in 2012, the conflict was much more fierce.
With seven races remaining, Alonso was 39 points ahead of Vettel in a slower vehicle after Vettel and Red Bull encountered several issues in the first half of the season.
But in the last portion of the season, Vettel won four straight races in Singapore, Japan, South Korea, and India thanks to rigorous Red Bull vehicle development. Vettel closed the distance and hung on in the remaining three races to win his third championship, helped by Alonso being eliminated at the start of the Belgian and Japanese races by Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen.
An inferior second chapter
When new engine restrictions brought about a period of Mercedes dominance in 2014, Vettel's run of success came to an end, and he started to exhibit unexpected inconsistency.
He went to Ferrari for 2015, publicly declaring he wanted to emulate his childhood hero Schumacher, who had won five championships with the Italian team from 2000 to 2004. In his final year with Red Bull, he was outpaced by new teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
Between 2015 and 2019, Vettel won 14 races for the team, making him the third-most successful driver in the team's history in terms of victories.
Despite possessing the most competitive vehicle for the majority of the 2017 and 2018 seasons, he and the team were unable to win the championship he so desperately desired.
Ferrari experienced operational and reliability issues, but throughout 2018, Vettel also started to make a string of errors that were unusually frequent for a driver of his caliber and were never completely explained.
The team ultimately lost trust in Vettel. In only the Monegasque's second season in the sport, they signed Charles Leclerc in 2019 to serve as a standard for him.
He was beaten by Leclerc in his debut season with the squad. Ferrari decided to remove Vettel towards the end of the 2020 season when it was postponed due to the pandemic in the time leading up to it.
Vettel was taken aback by the choice, and he wasn't shy about how it affected him. Regardless, he will go down in sports history as one of the best drivers.
An important errant person
Vettel's true self has emerged since leaving Ferrari as he has been more empowered to express himself.
He has served as a Grand Prix Drivers' Association director for a number of years and has developed into a powerful spokesperson on important world problems, notably the climate disaster.
Earlier this year, when he appeared on BBC's Question Time, he came across as a persuasive and intellectual individual who was more than capable of handling the conflicting situation in which he found himself as an F1 driver and an environmentalist.
He acknowledged that it made him appear hypocritical and led him to wonder if competing in Formula One was morally appropriate.
Driving is my passion, he declared. "I like it every time I get in the automobile. Naturally, as soon as I step out of the automobile, I ask myself, "Is this something we should do—travel the world while wasting resources?""
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