The Aston Martin driver was running outside of the points until Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton retired with two laps remaining, promoting Vett𒊎el into 10th to snatch the final point on offer. 

Sunday’s grand prix at the Yas Mari🍨na Circuit marked four-time wor𒉰ld champion Vettel’s final race after a hugely-decorated, 16-year career in the sport. 

• The cooldown room speculation about Vettel returning to F1 
• The $12m fight between Vettel and Ricciardo at the F1 Abu 🃏Dhabi Grand Prix

“I don’t have that much more to say, I feel a bit empty to be honest,” said Vettel, who completed some celebratory doughnuts on the start-fin🦄ish straight after the race. 

“It’s been a big weekend. I can only repeat that the last two years have been very disappointღing from a sporting point of view but very, very important and useful for me💮 in my life - a lot of things I realised. 

“I think it’s a huge privilege to be in the position we are in and with that comes with a huge responsibility. So I hope to pass on some of th🦹e good work. It’s great to see that we have the power to inspire you with what we say. 

“There are far bigger and far more important things than racing in circles, but obviously it’s what we love. Through that, if we can transfer some of those important values, I think that’s really big and for that, I think the last two years hav🌼e been great for me. 

“Thank you for the support, thank you for all tꩵhe messages, and all the love in general. I will miss that. It’s been an absolute joy throughout𒈔 my career, so thank you.”

Vettel had been run💟ning comfortably inside the top 10 until he dropped out of the points-sco🌠ring positions due to his strategy. 

“I wish it would have been a couple more pointℱs,” the 🌄German added. “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. 

“Today we maybe didn’t go for the best stꦰrategy. It was a shame because I think we could have turned the constructors’ champ♒ionship around for us. 

“I had a nice battle with Daniel but I just couldn’t get🐟 close enough. But I think it’s nice to have fought the last couple of laps with him, with both of us finishing in the points. 

“Overall a big day, and a big thank you to all the support. So many flags and so many smiling faces, which has been very special, very nice. I’m sure I’m going to miss i♒t more than I understand r💫ight now.”