Sebastian Vettel sensed Fernando Alonso nerves in final F1 battle

Sebastian Vettel

Vettel sensed Alonso nerves in final F1 battle

Vettel rounded-off his career with 10th in Abu Dhabi

Ian Parkes & Ewan Gale

Thursday 24 November 2022 09:07

Sebastian Vettel could sense Fernando Alonso's nerves during a final F1 battle between the champions at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

The Aston Martin driver called time on a career that took in four championships and 53 victories by securing a point at the Yas Marina Circuit.

Vettel had been chasing the Alpine of Esteban Ocon in the opening exchanges of the season finale, with the Frenchman's team-mate Alonso keeping his distance behind his former championship rival.

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Put to him that his competitors were nervous about ending Vettel's swansong prematurely, the German replied: "You could feel that a bit with Fernando, he was very generous at the beginning.

"After that, the Saubers fought very hard because they wanted to defend the constructors' [position].

"It was a shame I was stuck behind Esteban at the beginning because I thought we had better deg but then we stayed out way too long and lost so much time."

Aston Martin "threw away" championship position

Vettel had slipped back when Aston Martin opted for a one-stop strategy but as he progressed, he was able to reach the top 10 to end his career with a final point.

That was not enough, however, to secure sixth in the constructors' standings as Alfa Romeo clinched that position on countback of the best-achieved result courtesy of Valtteri Bottas' fifth in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

On his final score, Vettel said: "It is obviously very nice.

"It would have been great for the team to get sixth in the constructors' but we threw it away with the strategy we chose.

"We did everything we could at the end."