Formula One won't ever be the same! The career of Sebastian Vettel

As the new Formula One season beckons, this one will feel different. Racing legend Sebastian Vettel will not be on the grid for the first time since 2008 after retiring last year.

His career in Formula One is one of the greatest in sports history, winning four Drivers Championships in an illustrious career in a race car.

Let's look through his journey as a Formula One driver!

After starting his career as a Formula One test driver for BMW Sauber in 2006, Vettel appeared for Toro Rosso in late 2007 and then appeared as a full-time driver for them in 2008.

In his debut season, Vettel impressed in a midfield car, winning the 2008 Italian Grand Prix to become the then-youngest race winner in Formula One history.

The circumstances of his victory in Italy on a rain-soaked track led Red Bull to bring him on as a driver for the 2009 season.

In his first season with Red Bull, the German driver won four races and finished second in the Drivers' Championship behind Englishman Jenson Button.

Vettel won his first Formula One World Championship in 2010, winning five races and securing the title in the final race at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

His win made him the youngest world champion ever in F1, and he's the only driver to win the title and not be top of the championship until the final race.

His second world title was far more dominant than the first, winning 11 of the 19 races in the 2011 season, securing the title two months before the season finished.

His third consecutive world title in 2012 went right to the wire, securing five race victories and narrowly beating Ferrari's Fernando Alonso by three points in the driver's standings.

He finished his world domination of the sport in 2013. Vettel won ten of the first 16 races, becoming the first F1 driver in history to win eight consecutive races, securing his fourth title.

In his final year with Red Bull in 2014, Vettel's world title victories came to an end, finishing fifth in the Driver's Championship. At the end of the season, he announced he was joining Ferrari.

His first two seasons as a Ferrari driver were solid, finishing on 128 more points than Kimi Raikkonen to clinch third in 2015 and then finishing fourth in 2016.

Vettel's best seasons in the Ferrari came in 2017 and 2018, securing second place in both seasons behind Formula One's greatest-ever driver, Lewis Hamilton.

In 2020, Vettel had a poor year in his final season with Ferrari, finishing in 13^th after only securing 33 points. In 2021 he joined Aston Martin.

His final two seasons for Aston Martin were solid, gaining two 12th-place finishes in the drivers' standings with a midfield car and finishing his career at the 2022 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Halfway through the 2022 season, on the 28^th of July, Vettel announced he was retiring from Formula One. He ended his career with 53 race victories, four World Championships, and 122 podiums.