Sebastian Vettel: Driver par excellence

Numero uno: Sebastian Vettel

Sebastian Vettel: driver of a different league

The Austrian racing team, based in United Kingdom, Infiniti Red Bull Racing (RBR) is now in debt to Sebastian Vettel. He has taken the brand’s name to a different league altogether. The history of Formula One has seen the dominance of Ferrari and McLaren for more than forty years. Red Bull entered the scene in 2005. It was not easy for the Austrians to take over the Italian and British giants until a young driver from Germany, who idolized arguably the greatest F1 driver and his countryman Michel Schumacher, joined them.

The making of the champion

Born in Heppenheim, West Germany, Vettel joined the auto racing at the age of 18 in 2005, the same year when RBR came into action. In 2007, he joined Scuderia Toro Rosso, which happens to be Red Bull’s sister-team.

He went on to become the youngest racer to win a Grand Prix when he won the Italian Grand Prix in 2008 at the age of 21. The following year he was taken by the Red Bull as their main driver along with Mark Webber.

The other constructors had no idea about the extent of competition they were going to face in the form of Vettel. Since their establishment in 2005, the RBR finished just once in the top five in the Constructor’s title when they had finished fifth in the year 2007.

The same year, RBR finished second behind Brawn-Mercedes and Vettel lost to then-Mercedes driver Jenson Button by 11 points. The team, which once struggled to get a place in the top five, finished second mainly due to the gem they’d uncovered in the form of Vettel. He shared a very good relationship with team principal Christan Horner.

Dominance of Vettel begins

Next comes the 2010 season, which was very memorable for Red Bull. Vettel, along with Webber, won them their first Constructor’s title. They even took the Driver’s title (Vettel), beating Fernando Alonso by four points. From here the dominance of Vettel began.

The next year, he won 11 out of the 19 reasons, just two races behind Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season. He finished 122 points ahead of former world champion and McLaren driver Button.

His bad start to the year 2012, where he had won just one race out of the first 12, could not stop him from becoming the youngest triple-world champion. He went on to win all the races in Asia and snatched the championship from Alonso. Vettel came like a storm and spoilt everything in the Spaniard’s empire. There was only one argument which begun after his win in 2012 that it was his fast car which got him the title and not his skills.

The best car will win, Ecclestone said

This season, too, Vettel is leading the points table and is zooming away, towards his fourth straight title. Next year, 2014, there are many changes taking place in F1, including change of cars, engines and the rules.

Bernie Ecclestone, CEO and President of Formula One Management, believes the dominance of Vettel will end in 2014 because it’s the best car, which is going to win and not the driver. As I mentioned, it is widely believed that the credit for Vettel’s success should be given to Adrian Newey, the chief engineer of RBR, and the onus lies on the tandem of Vettel and Horner to find a car fast enough to retain their stranglehold over F1.

It will be no surprise if he’s leading next season as well but the Constructor’s title for RBR is a little doubtful especially since former world champion Kimi Raikkonen is set to co-star with Alonso at Ferrari next season.