10 lesser known facts about Sebastian Vettel

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.