Fresh details shared from Sebastian Vettel’s emotional farewell F1 dinner

The four-time Formula 1 driver had announced his retirement at the conclusion of 💟the 2022 season and the occasion was celebrated by the rare sight of every 🥃driver ignoring their differences to share a special moment.
Even the photo that emergꦗed from t💜he evening, shared by Lewis Hamilton, remains a heart-warming snapshot amid the intense rivalry between drivers.
“That was a h🍸ell of a dinner,” Pierre Gasly told podcast.
“I remember that moment forever. It was the firs�🐠�t time in five years we all got together.
“That's probably one of the🍌 very few times you'vꦑe seen the real side of people and drivers.
“You’ve always 💞got a c🌳loser relationship with certain drivers.
“But it's almost like on tha🐬t dinner, from the moment we closed🌠 the door, we all took our caps off our heads, and you just get whatever you see.
— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton)“It can be Lewis, Sebastian, Daniel, everyone came up with all sorts of random stories, which I’m not going 🐲to tell here!
“It was just hilarious and it was great to see. We’re all racing drivers, we all want to beat each other, you get a bit of banter, sometimes it goes slightl𝓀y beyond the limits, but at the end of the day we’re all just normal people with a life which is quite extraordinary.
“I get on pretty well with pretty much all the drivers. But yeah, Lewis was great, Seb was great, Yuki made us laugh so much.&n⭕bsp;
“By the end of it, we all looked at each other an♌d said ‘why didn't we do it earlier? Why did we wait five years to make t♊hat happen?’ So let’s just make sure that we get to do this again sooner than later.
“You meet a lot of people in Forꦺmula 1 but you can only really rely on and trust very few people, because we spend so much time on the r🌜oad and we don't get much time at home.
“You don't have a big social circle of very strong, close friends. You don't have many of them when you're racing in Formulaꦫ 1.&n🐽bsp;
“We p🌊robably realised we ꦬmight have a few more friends than we think in that paddock.
“It's a life which is difficult to expl♌ain and many times I feel quite uncomfortable about saying the experiences that I get in my life, because you'll sound arrogant.
“You soun♔d like yo♔u're going to brag about certain things. I know it's not normal.
“Sometimes I have theseܫ moments where I think my life is a Hollywood mꦅovie.
“That's wಞhy I really like the chats that I can have with Charles [Leclerc], because I know with Charles we’re discus🦩sing about both of our lives and we won’t judge each other.
“I know it’s almost like a happy place, a comfortable plac♛e where you can open up. He’ll understand, I’ll understand him.
“You really want to stay grounded and enjoy every single moment, but I’ve learned there are ☂things you can share and other things which you’ve got to be slight🎀ly more careful with the way you present them.”
We can 🐲safely say that the 20 F1 drivers haven’t all sat down to dinner again since Vettel’s exit from the sport.
It remains somewhat of a one-off, a great memory for those in attendance and fitting wa💙y to see off a legend.

James was a sports journalist aꦯt Sky Sports for a decade covering everything 🌼from American sports, to football, to F1.