# a special blog on the new double world champion replaced my regular Finishing Straight blog on the Korean Grand Prix.
THE word greatness is often used far too much in sport. So too is the word, legend. In the world of Formula One, you can only be considered a true great in the sport if you win the world championship twice. Winning the title back-to-back is even harder to achieve, especially when you think of the current Formula One field. The paddock may have been deprived of Robert Kubica this year by his pre-season rally accident, but this current crop of F1 drivers is probably the best in-depth we have had for over 30 years. Multiple winners Rubens Barrichello, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa, combined with superb British champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button and former conquerors of Grand Prix racing, Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso. So, this makes Sebastian Vettel’s record-breaking achievements in 2011 all the more special. He truly is a legend in the making.
Vettel’s F1 career has been full of highs and he made a name for himself from day one in an F1 cockpit. He set the fastest practice time in Turkey 2006; his first appearance on a Grand Prix weekend as a third driver for BMW Sauber. When Kubica was ruled out of the 2007 US GP following his aeroplane-like crash in Canada, Vettel stood in for the Pole. He became the youngest driver to score a world championship point, coming home eighth. BMW were keen to hold on to this starring talent, but Sebastian was part of the Red Bull young drivers programme and he ended up in a Toro Rosso later in the season, replacing Scott Speed from the Hungarian Grand Prix onwards. A few races later, he starred in Japan, running a stunning third in the wet at Fuji Speedway before crashing into the back of Mark Webber’s Red Bull behind the Safety Car. The youngster was devastated and had be consoled by his team for the embarrassing crash, but he bounced back in stunning style to record an outstanding fourth place finish just seven days later in Shanghai.
Paired with Sebastian Bourdais for the 2008 season, Vettel struggled in the early races to repeat his form from the beginning of 2007. Unbelievably, he was involved in three first lap accidents which took him out on the first lap in three of the first four races (Australia, Bahrain and Spain). Once Toro Rosso produced a new car, he started to show his true class, in a car which frankly, would have been doing well to beat Honda and Williams. Sebastian began a string of points scoring finishes from Hockenheim onwards, but it was Monza 2008 that really made him into a real star of the future.
On a weekend where the championship challengers struggled in unseasonably wet conditions, Vettel came to the fore. He delivered an impeccable performance on Saturday to become the youngest driver ever to earn a Formula One pole position. 24 hours later, he drove away from the faster McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen with consummate ease. He won the race at a canter, to become the youngest driver to ever win a Grand Prix. It was one of the finest drives I’d ever seen in Formula One and many in the Monza paddock that weekend had the same opinion. Further point’s finishes in Singapore, Japan and Brazil earnt Sebastian eighth place in the championship final positions, whilst Toro Rosso ended up ahead of senior team, Red Bull in the constructors championship.
With David Coulthard going into retirement, Vettel was the perfect fit for the senior Red Bull squad, moving to the team for 2009. In China, he overcame reliability problems in qualifying to take the team’s first pole position. On raceday, foul weather conditions greeted the drivers and teams, but once again, Sebastian’s control at the front was total. He showed his true class to record Red Bull’s first ever race victory. It was a 1-2 for the team too, with Webber following his new team-mate home. He also won from the front at Silverstone, Suzuka and Abu Dhabi to finish an excellent second in the drivers’ championship, only being knocked out of the championship running by a poor Q1 in Brazil which saw him drop out of contention. He did make mistakes, such as colliding with Kubica in Australia and crashing at Monte Carlo, but the potential of this new German was really coming through.
2010 started frustratingly for the Vettel/Red Bull partnership, thanks to reliability problems. A broken exhaust saw Vettel limp home to fourth in Bahrain and a loose wheel nut sent him spinning out of the lead in Melbourne. He won in Malaysia, but struggled with the Red Bull chassis and started to come under pressure in the team from team-mate Webber. It triggered an extraordinary collision between the team-mates in Turkey. He also drove into Jenson Button’s sidepod at Spa, labelled after that race by McLaren managing director Martin Whitmarsh as “the crash kid.” However, he came back with fourth at Monza and crushing victories in Japan and Brazil to leave him with a chance of the championship going into the final event in Abu Dhabi. It was a four-way title shootout and Sebastian drove like a champion all weekend. He started on pole and won the race. With an early Safety Car period allowing the likes of Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov to leapfrog Fernando Alonso and Webber, it was enough for Sebastian Vettel to be crowned the 2010 FIA Formula One World Champion; the youngest in the 60 year history of the championship.
This season, he has been in a class of his own. The signs were ominous with dominant victories in the first two races in Australia and Malaysia. A risky tyre strategy nearly paid off in Shanghai, but this time, he had to settle for second behind a hard-charging Hamilton. After a heavy crash in Turkey practice which ruled him out of any dry running on Friday, he returned to Istanbul Park 24 hours later to take pole position by nearly half a second. Race victory was a formality. Vettel’s best two wins of the season came in Spain and Monaco, when his package was not the fastest on raceday. In the latter, he held off the stiff challenges of Jenson Button and Alonso, having been on a worn set of Pirelli tyres for nearly 60 laps. Canada brought a rare chink in the armour, running wide on the last lap to allow Button in for a gigantic victory. He stormed to victory in Valencia and when he couldn’t win, Sebastian would consistently finish second, as he did at Silverstone and in Hungary. In between this was a torrid home event at the Nurburgring, where he was second best to team-mate Webber all weekend and had to settle for fourth; the only event in 2011 when he hasn’t finished on the rostrum. After a run of races without a win during the summer, he recovered to win at Spa, Monza and Singapore, again leading all three from the front. A cautious third place at Suzuka by his own high standards was good enough to secure his second world championship and success last time out in Korea means he can still match Michael Schumacher’s record of 13 wins in a season, set in 2004.
In qualifying, he has the natural ability of Senna to set a lap when it is required. He has shown he can overtake to win races like in Barcelona on Massa and Button and Alonso in Belgium. When he gets infront, he seems to be able to coast to victory without any trouble. With 100 per cent reliability and a sensational pitcrew around him, it’s no wonder why he has been the one to beat in 2011.
What Sebastian Vettel has achieved not just this season, but in his entire Formula One career is truly remarkable. We shouldn’t be moaning at the domination of one driver at the front, we should be hailing and witnessing one of the true legends of this great sport show their genuine class. The Vettel dynasty in Grand Prix racing has only just begun; it looks like Schumacher’s records could be beaten after all.
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