All 20 Formula 1 drivers met up for dinner on Thursday night to celebrate the retirement of veteran star Sebastian Vettel. Vettel has enjoyed a remarkable career behind the wheel, winning 53 races and four F1 world championships.
The German star became a dominant force in the sport whilst driving for Red Bull, winning his four world titles consecutively between 2010 and 2013. Ahead of his swan song on Sunday, Vettel was joined by his rivals on the track for a celebration off it.
Seemingly putting their rivalries aside all 20 drivers dined together, with a number of them sharing snaps of the F1 class of 2022 in unison.
Taking to Instagram, Mercedes man - and recent winner - George Russell took to Instagram to show fans a look into the celebration, along with the caption: "Great evening with the rest of the guys celebrating Seb's last race. Cheers!"
Earlier in the day, Russell - who was just 12 when Vettel won his first world title - paid tribute to the Aston Martin man, sharing a photo of the pair swapping helmets which included a special message from the German veteran. "Seb you have a small head," wrote the Englishman accompanied with a laughing face emoji.
"Pleasure to swap helmets with you mate, you're a legend. I hope you enjoy your last F1 race!!" Russell was not the only man paying tribute to Vettel, with his fellow Englishman and Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton also taking to Instagram to document the night.
Posting a photo of himself and Vettel, as well as all 20 drivers together, Hamilton wrote: "We’ve come a long way as drivers and continue to grow as men. Despite whatever may happen on the track we grow and become better each day.
"Us all coming together to celebrate life and Seb’s amazing career in F1 is truly a night I’ll never forget." As mentioned by the seven-time world champion, Vettel and Hamilton played out many a battle on the track throughout the 35-year-old's career.
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And despite his farewell meal and retirement this week the Englishman believes their on-track battles or not over yet, revealing that he believes Vettel will one day make a return to the sport. Joining the German in a press conference, he said: "We always had such great battles. I was just sitting here thinking most drivers are coming back.
"You're probably going to come back. You'll be back. Formula 1 has a way of sucking you back in. I don't think it's 'a goodbye show', it's 'see you later', because he'll come back. I'm going to put my money on that he's going to come back, just take a sabbatical, like one year, maybe two years maximum, and then come back"
