From Massa’s Sao Paulo tearjerker to Alonso’s Abu Dhabi donuts – 6 emotional F1 driver departures

After plenty of speculation, RB have confirmed that Daniel Ricciardo will be replaced by Liam Lawson for the remainder of the 2024 season – ending the Australian’s second stint in F1. As the dust settles on the news, we’ve picked out a selection of poignant driver exits from recent memory, including some that were swiftly reversed…
Michael Schumacher dropped a massive announcement midway through 2006 when the then 37-year-old revealed – moments after claiming victory in front of the Tifosi at the Italian Grand Prix – that he would be retiring from the sport come the end of the season.
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Schumacher was already a seven-time world champion at this point, vying to make it a record-extending eight in a fierce battle with Renault rival Fernando Alonso, and had claimed 90 of the 91 victories he would ultimately finish his career with.
During an emotional post-race press conference, at the home of the Ferrari team he had achieved so much with, Schumacher managed to keep his composure in front of gathered journalists while explaining the decision and how it felt after a lengthy stint at the top.
There would be a second farewell for Schumacher in 2012 when, at the end of a challenging return to the sport with Mercedes, the legendary racer brought the curtain down on his F1 adventure for good amid plenty of touching tributes at that year’s Interlagos finale.
Mark Webber’s retirement announcement was made particularly early in 2013, with just over a third of the season passing before the Australian and Red Bull Racing confirmed his impending return to the world of endurance competition with Porsche for the following year.
It meant that, like Schumacher, the Brazilian Grand Prix would play host to his 215th and final start, which yielded fourth on the grid and second in the race behind team mate Sebastian Vettel – who had agonisingly pipped him to the title a few years before.
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“Take it all in and enjoy it,” was the message from the Red Bull pit wall after the chequered flag, with Webber appearing slightly teary-eyed as he took off his helmet and balaclava and waved to the fans around the track on his way back to the pit lane.
There was another tear-jerking scene at Interlagos in 2016 when home hero Felipe Massa entered what he thought would be his penultimate Grand Prix and crashed out as the rain-hit race entered its closing stages – prompting a walk back to the pits from the final corner.
When he got there, Massa experienced one of the most emotional moments in recent F1 history as mechanics left their garages to applaud him, those on the pit gantry turned around to join in and the grandstands on the start/finish straight erupted in applause.
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Massa barely had time to dry off, make the journey home and look back on that experience, though, thanks to Nico Rosberg announcing his own retirement just days after winning the world title and triggering unexpected movement in the driver market.
With the Brazilian’s team mate, Valtteri Bottas, being signed by Mercedes, it meant Williams needed an experienced pair of hands to partner the incoming Lance Stroll for 2017. Massa agreed to stay on and this time ended his career via a points finish at home.
Jenson Button was another big-name driver to retire (or so he also believed) from F1 in 2016, with the Briton walking away following seven seasons at McLaren – their partnership beginning just after his and Brawn GP’s 2009 title triumphs.
Like Massa, he was given a guard of honour by team members, paddock personalities and family, albeit a slightly more structured one that took him from the McLaren hospitality unit to the back of the garage on race day at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
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Those emotional scenes – a couple of years on from his father John’s passing – looked all but certain to be Button’s last in the paddock, until McLaren needed a one-race replacement for the Indianapolis 500-bound Alonso at the 2017 Monaco Grand Prix and he duly stepped in.
Speaking of Alonso, the two-time champion settled on his own F1 retirement a couple of years later, having been unable to add to that mid-noughties championship double across multiple stints at McLaren, a return to Renault and a spell at Ferrari.
Abu Dhabi was again the location, where the Spaniard took centre stage for a special F1 tribute event, continued the guard of honour theme ahead of the race and provisionally ended his career in the company of two fellow stars – namely Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel.
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As the race drew to a close, and having finished just outside the points, Alonso was joined by former team mate Hamilton and Ferrari replacement Vettel for a series of celebratory donuts on the start/finish straight – an incredible sight as fans began to process the departure of a legend.
But, as per Schumacher, Massa and Button’s stories, it was not the last we saw of Alonso, for after a few years of sampling different motorsport categories and races, he decided to make a full-time comeback with Alpine and continue his quest for a third title.
Last but not least, four-time champion Vettel added to the list of emotional Abu Dhabi departures when he completed his 299th and final Grand Prix with Aston Martin on F1’s visit to the Yas Marina Circuit at the end of the 2022 season.
A year on from former team mate Kimi Raikkonen’s exit, and in the same year that Ricciardo vacated his seat at McLaren, Vettel said farewell to a sport that had given him so much – and one he had given so much to – across some 16 years.
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Most of the F1 paddock gathered on the Saturday night before the race to pay tribute to Vettel in a track run, wearing specially designed t-shirts that read ‘Danke Seb’ while Vettel himself wore one that simply read ‘Danke F1’ in return.
Further powerful pictures followed on race day when Vettel – having been part of Alonso’s donut celebrations back in 2018 – burned some more rubber on the pit straight and offered a final thank you to the fans and friends who had been part of his sensational journey.
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From Massa’s Sao Paulo tearjerker to Alonso’s Abu Dhabi donuts – 6 emotional F1 driver departures
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