10 lesser known facts about Sebastian Vettel

He is the youngest driver to win the World Driver’s Champion for the fourth time. The uncompromising domination can be judged from the fact that Sebastian Vettel has managed to do so for four consecutive years, the only driver after Juan Manuel Fangio(winner of five titles) and Michael Schumacher(winner of seven titles) . He also comes at par with another great Alain Prost winner of four drivers title. With a bunch of records to his name, he also has his critics who find it difficult to fathom the brilliance of the German driver. But the fact remains his achievements speak for him and at this rate he is on his way to become an unbeatable Legend in the sport. Talking of facts, below is a list of lesser known facts about the newly crowned Champion.

Off the Track

Michael Schumacher was one of Vettel’s idols as a kid who started with karting before breaking records as youngest driver in Formula One.

1. As a young kid, the Heppenheim born protégé looked up to three Michaels for inspirations : Legendary racing driver Michael Schumacher, ace basketball star Michael Jordan and king of pop Michael Jackson. Though he wanted to follow in Jackson’s footsteps, he soon realised he didn’t have the voice and took to karting like his racing idol Schumacher.

2. While he believes in going fastest by scorching the race tracks across the world, he also loves facing the camera. He was seen in a music video with Melanie Fiona, in commercials endorsing products such as Head and Shoulders and featured as a voice-over artist for the German version of the movie Cars 2 along-side Fernando Alonso, who also did a voice over for the movie in Spanish. He has also been associated with the promotions for one of Red Bull Racing’s sponsor and partner – Inifniti. (Check out his videos on You Tube).

Kimi and Sebastian may have a hard fight on the race track but they share a great friendship off it.

3. He likes to play badminton(it helps him to improve speed qualities) and has had Kimi Raikkonen for company and they share quite a camaraderie off-the track. Among other things he likes walking up the mountains, skiing and cycling that help him to keep fit.

4. The things that make him cranky are waking up early, smoking areas at airports, rotten food, traffic jams(who loves them anyway) and shoes that make squeaky noises.

5. He is a crazy Beatles fan and has some memorabilia of the great music band. One of them being a Hofner guitar that was presented to him by Beatles member Sir James Paul McCartney.

6. He has special edition cars named after him from Infiniti. In September 2012, the Infiniti FX Sebastian Vettel Version concept was officially unveiled at the Frankfurt Motor Show. It was later announced that the car would go into production with only 200 of the limited edition cars to be produced.

On the Track

1. Vettel was involved in a serious crash even before his debut as a Formula One driver. The incident occurred at Spa-Francochamps while driving in a Formula three race as he crashed at 170mph into the barriers at the dreaded Eou Rouge. A piece of debri from the crash cut through his index finger and it had to be almost cut off. However, doctors were able to stitch it back together and he recovered.

2. We all know that he pretty much holds all the records as a young driver but only a few might know that he also holds a record for being the quickest driver to be fined($1000) for speeding in the pits(in a matter of 9 seconds) on his Formula One debut, as a test driver for BMW-Sauber, at the 2006 Turkish Grand Prix.

3. He has won almost every race in the current calendar since making his Formula One debut in 2007. But he is yet to reach the top of the podium at only two of the Grand Prix’s – the Hungarian GP and the US GP. His best finish at the Hungarian GP was a second place in 2011 after 7 attempts in total. He is yet to conquer the US GP(in two attempts) after he finished second last year at the return of Formula One to the US at Austin, Texas after a gap of 5 years. Incidentally, he had made his debut at the GP finishing a highly applaud able eighth place for Sauber. His home race – the German GP had also eluded him until this year as he won starting from second on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel has a tradition of naming his cars. What is it going to be next year is anyone’s guess.

4. In something which is unique to the sport, Vettel has a habit of naming his cars since 2008. It is something similar to Americans who had a habit of naming their warplanes in World War II. He named his cars – Julie (2008), Kate(2009) and Kate’s Dirty Sister (after Kate had crashed in Australia), Luscious Liz and Randy Mandy (2010 after Liz had problems and had to be replaced), Kinky Kylie (2011 named after pop-star Kylie Minogue), Abbey (2012- he just liked the name), and Hungry Heidi (2013 – named after model Heidi Klum). That’s one superstition that Vettel will probably continue for a long time.