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Diesel leaves for good

19.04.2016 - The decision to retire was made a couple seasons ago and numerous announcement had been made before. The final farewell happened rather noiseless. One day before his 33rd birthday Diesel has ended his career. He is not only giving away his seat in Formula One, he is quitting his racing career once and for all.

Asked by the press about possible new challenges, he replied: "After so many years in the premium class of racing, I simply could not motivate myself to continue driving. I am happy. Life is so much more than driving in a circle."

Age wasn´t an issue for Diesel. With only 33 years, he is leaving racing rather early, still he looks back at a 15 years long racing career. 15 years with ups and downs, accomplishments and setbacks, admirers and critics.

Diesels story began in the German F3 Series. In his very first qualifying Diesel shocked the whole paddock and took the pole. He was able to maintain this strong first impression through out the whole year, finishing his first season at the 8th place overall, achieving 3 poles and 3 podiums overall.

For his second season, Diesel chose the Asian F2 Series. He started with high hopes but was able to achieve much more. Until the end, he was able to fight for the championship, only beaten by Italian driver De Peppis, with whom he started a long lasting friendship. Diesel finished the season with 5 wins, 10 podiums and 19 top ten results. This marked his breakthrough with only 19 years.

Diesel became a superstar in his home country Austria. From that point on, Diesel stared the covers of all newspapers, was guest in many TV shows and generally spent too much time away from the track. It seemed that he has lost his focus on racing, which affected his performance. In the following two years he finished 5th and 7th overall. He did not win any races and only finished 8 times on the podium.

Diesel than realized that his way of life became a problem. Although he won multiple private series, set numerous track records, became Austria´s leading driver, still he was not satisfied with his situation. He knew, that he had to change something. He left his surroundings, left the continent and inscribed himself into the Nascar Series. By competing against the best racers of his generation, Diesel wanted to proof something. Diesel knew, that if he performs well, he could still turn around his career. By finishing 19th overall and by performing well against the elite in racing, he regained some of his lost reputation.

After one year in the United States, Diesel returned home to Europe and to the F2. He knew that he will have a good year. The Italian driver Muzzio was the undisputed favorite to win the championship. But Diesel advanced early in the role as "the best of the rest". Three races before the seasons end, he had a comfortable gap while sitting on the second place. But he DNF all three races and lost his runner-up position. Diesel finished 4th with one win and one pole. He also finished 8 times on the podium.

Although this was by far the most disappointing experience in his career, his strong performance still got acknowledged by his peers. For the first time Diesel was invited to the Trophy of the Champions. Welcome among the best drivers in the world!

Diesel stayed the undisputed frontrunner in Austria, achieved many race wins and trophies in private series, set new track records. But still he was an the verge to retirement. The opportunity to own a Formula One team convinced him to continue his career. From that point on he was not only CEO of a F1 Team, he was also part of the drivers line up in the highest class of motorsport.

His team LKR never belonged to the elite group, on the contrary, every season it was one of the weakest teams. This resulted due to the fact that Diesel always played fair, but was also due to the fact that he had to build up the team on his own. The constant financial bottleneck never allowed LKR to close the gap to the top teams.

After 9 year Formula One, Diesel finally leaves for good. He leaves without ever finishing in the top 10. His critics often denied his talent to drive in Formula One, but Diesel always had a different opinion on that: "Sure, my prime was over a long time ago. In fact I was never one of the most talented drivers in racing, still I have a certain entitlement to be among the others in F1. Only few drivers have more ambition of knowledge than me. I wanted to leave but it was in the best interest of LKR for me to stay longer. I switched my focus more in towards the financial consolidation of the teams finances and car development. I was so close to score a point many times. But as time went by, this was not important anymore and I put my energy in the future of the team."


So what is Diesel´s legacy? How to rate his career?

He leaves as one of Austria´s most successful drivers ever. He was President of his NMA for many years. He drove in a very competitive era, still managed to achieve hundreds of poles and wins. He was able to set numerous track records, some of them still remain unbeaten. He has won many series and participated in the Trophy of the Champions once. He stands as a living legend and a lucent figurehead in the racing circus. But he leaves imperfect, because he never scored a point in Formula One.


Although he is retiring as a driver, Diesel will still remain a part of the racing community. He will continue to his work as CEO of LKR. Also he will manage the career of his younger brother Elyas Diesel. "Elyas is a raw diamond. Very talented. He will find his own path, I am very certain about that. I just want to share my experiences with him and help him grow as a man and as a racing driver."