F1 | Abu Dhabi GP | Ovations and original lyrics for Vettel's Ferrari farewell
Ovations, an oversized trophy and an acapella song on team radio. Sebastian Vettel's farewell to Scuderia Ferrari was something special.
Following today’s news of AlphaTauri unceremoniously replacing Daniil Kvyat with Yuki Tsunoda for 2021, it is a good time to reflect on Sebastian Vettel’s farewell from Scuderia Ferrari. The reason being that Sebastian Vettel was given closure for his tenure with the Prancing Horse and ample time and opportunity to say goodbye after six seasons of racing for the Italian manufacturer.
One such farewell moment was a song in Italian on the Ferrari team radio at the culmination of the Abu Dhabi GP. Prior to this, at the start of the race, the Ferrari team had applauded as Sebastian Vettel left the garage for one last time driving his Scuderia Ferrari SF1000.
After 118 races for the Italian giants, Sebastian Vettel had amassed 55 podiums, 14 victories and 12 pole positions. Despite only managing a 14th place finish in his final race in red, Vettel still ensured he gave his parting gift to his team. Having crossed the finish line, it was not long before Sebastian Vettel treated his team to an original set of lyrics to an acapella version of a famous Italian song from the 1960s - Azzurro.
Before Sebastian Vettel created a moment to rival that of Smooth Operator Carlos Sainz (the driver taking his seat in 2021) he first heard his team thanking him for all he had done. Then came Vettel’s surprise as he said in Italian:
“You know that sometimes I like to sing, so I thought of singing one last time a song for you.” At this point, the former four-time F1 Drivers’ Champion pulled out a sheet of paper which he had hidden in his car – I am sure his mechanics would let him off for the added weight this time – and he sang:
You are the red team; You are passionate; You’ll never surrender; My stop is coming; I loved being with you.
I felt your magic, an extraordinary feeling. Guys, I thank you, for having me. I will miss all of you. Greetings to all of you in Maranello,
You deserve to be mentioned here. And now I’ll say goodbye, and wish you all the best. I wish you to be happy but above all, to be healthy.”
Speaking after the race, Sebastian Vettel explained why he had treated the team to his acapella rendition of Azzurro when speaking to them in this way for the final time:
“Obviously, I've had a lot of highs with the whole team, and every time I was really excited, for some reason I started to sing…So I think it was a nice way, for one last time, to sing again. And obviously the song that I leave them to is a very, very popular Italian song Azzurro from Adriano Celentano.
“I changed the lyrics, so I hope I don't get in trouble with copyright. But yeah, I think it was a good way to express the gratitude for the team."
All of this came before Vettel went around handing out bottles of Heineken later on in the garage to the mechanics as they broke down the garage and equipment for the 17th time in the condensed 2020 F1 season.
Another memento from Sebastian Vettel’s final Grand Prix for Scuderia Ferrari came in the form of an oversized trophy listing the details of each of his 14 victories.
On the silver trophy were the dates and car details from when such feats had been achieved. This went right back to Malaysia 2015 when Vettel had won at Sepang in the SF15-T.
At Sunday’s trophy presentation what followed was another ovation and photo opportunity with the whole team as Seb and Charles Leclerc jointly hoisted the gigantic double-handed silver trophy in the air.
Speaking about the trophy to the media, Sebastian Vettel said in his typical honest way:
“I was surprised myself. Obviously I've never finished P14 before and got a trophy. So it will definitely be a good nice memory. There was also a sign at the front [of the garage] with all the wins. This year has been in a way a total reflection of the great time that I had with the team.”
The pit board at the front of the Scuderia Ferrari garage read Grazie Seb above the number he races ‘5’.
A fifth title never did come to Sebastian Vettel while racing in the Scuderia Ferrari colours and no doubt the team had hoped for more from the former champion. However, as far as farewells go – no one could have asked for anything more and no one was more deserving of it.
Grazie Seb!
