Sebastian Vettel: This era’s finest

Sebastien Vettel

The last four years of Formula One have a name etched to its name who is a young racer from Germany, 26 years of age and who still looks like a kid—Sebastian Vettel—he has now won the four World Championships in a row from 2010. He is not the first driver to achieve this but the age factor plays an important role which differentiates his success from the other two racers who have experienced this. Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio are the other two who have won four consecutive titles. Schumacher won his fourth title when he was 34, Fangio was 45 whereas Vettel at an age of 26. The difference of ages shows the making of a legend.

Since his debut in the sport in 2006, he has been making and breaking several world records. It started with 2008 Italian Grand Prix where he became the youngest driver to win a race. He started from pole in Monza and under wet conditions finished well ahead of the first runners up. Fernando Alonso held the record of the youngest driver winning a race. This was the first record Vettel broke. That win was even more significant for the fact that it was Toro Rosso’s maiden win since their establishment.

In 2009, he was taken by the Red Bull Racing team. Though he did not have a kickass start for the new team, he gained some momentum in China where he went on to take the pole position and winning the race ahead of teammate Mark Webber. He again became the youngest driver to win races for two different teams. His victory gave the Red Bull their first victory and a very special one because both their drivers locked the first two positions. This was not the end of his news in that year. He was the runners up in the driver’s title and of course the youngest driver to get to that position.

Get set go!

Vettel had no idea about the phase of his life which was about to begin from 2010. He won the first race of the season in the third round which was in Malaysia. His ten podium finishes which included five wins gave him his first World Championship. He became the youngest Formula One Champion, and yes again repeat the world “the youngest”. From there on he has been unstoppable. The journalists fall short of adjectives to describe him but this champ is not yet done with winning.

The following year, 2011, was even more convincing in describing his driving abilities. He won 11 races out of 19 and fell short of just two victories in matching Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season. That year had the inauguration of Indian Grand Prix which he won by leading in all the 60 laps. His dominance in India has been amazing, he has won all the three Indian GP and with dropping of India from the race calendar for 2014, there will be only his name in the history of Budh International Circuit. That year, he had 392 points in his bag, meanwhile Jenson Button; the second placed driver in the title had only 270 points.

Red Bull has two gems, Vettel and their car engineer Adrian Neway. The credit to his success is often given to the perfect car which Neway provides to him. This started in the year 2011 where his dominance actually started. A fast car is very important for a racer but that is not the only thing which has to be considered while judging his talent. The combination of a fast paced car and the driver which can take the best out of that car shines. And Red Bull is lucky for having this combination.

The 2012 and 2013 seasons are two different ways which can be used to show the greatness of Vettel. Looking back into 2012, he had a very disappointing start with just one win till the season break in August. The Singapore Grand Prix in September was his first victory which was the spark of the fire which he was going to put on other drivers’ hopes of winning the year’s title. He went on to win all the races in Asia.

Alonso was comfortably moving towards his career’s third title when a storm called Vettel arrived and destroyed the title chances of the Spaniard. The Championship was taken till the year’s final race in Brazil. Even though Alonso finished second and Vettel sixth, that position was enough for the “Baby faced German” to seize the Driver’s title and became the youngest double World Champion.

The current year is the complete opposite to 2012. Vettel has purely shown his command over the other drivers, among whom some are World Champions. But the gap he has maintained from them in the terms of wins, poles and points, it is very difficult to believe they being former Champions. The experience age and other factors are being failed in front of this youthful racer’s brilliance.

Vettel has equaled Schumacher’s record of eight consecutive wins in a season and with the final race left and if he goes on to win it he will equal Alberto Ascari’s record of nine wins in a row in a single season which he has held since 1952. To make it clearer mathematically, 53 seasons have passed and no driver has got successful in equaling that record.

All these records not good enough?

There is this huge list of records and may be many more which are missed here but still Vettel is criticized, booed and considered not one of the greatest by many. His achievements speak for his talent and himself. He follows a very interesting rule which helps him not to get affected by all the negative things told about him. “If we are booed, then that means we are doing a good job,” he said in one of the recent interviews.

The upcoming season, 2014, is starting the motor sport from scratch. It has a new set of rules and regulations with new engines and fuel system. No driver will have any advantage from the previous reason. The maximum Vettel can have is the mental strength because of his results in the last four seasons. If he survives in this season, there is no doubt that he would be known as the greatest F1 racer of all time in Formula One.