Sebastian Vettel News

[Anna]

#1 Sebastian Vettel



Driver Info

Full Name: Sebastian Vettel
Age: 24
Nationality: German
Twitter: n/a
Website: www.sebastianvettel.de/
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Vettel

F1 Statistics

Races: 76
Debut: 2007 United States GP
Points: 690
Wins: 19
Podiums: 32
Pole Positions: 26
Fastest Laps: 7
Drivers Championships: 1 (2010)
Current Championship Pos: 1st (309 Points)

Previous Championship Positons

2010: 1st (256 Points, 6 Wins)
2009: 2nd (84 Points, 4 Wins)
2008: 8th (35 Points, 1 Win)
2007: 14th (6 Points, 0 Wins)

Team History

2007: BMW
2007-2008: Toro Rosso
2009-Present: Red Bull Racing

Notable Achievements

Youngest driver to drive at a Grand Prix Meeting
Youngest driver to set a fastest time in an official grand prix session
Youngest driver to score points in F1
Youngest driver to lead a race lap
Youngest driver to qualify on Pole
Youngest driver to finish on the podium
Youngest driver to win a race
Youngest F1 runner-up
Youngest F1 Champion
2008 Autosport Rookie of the year
2009 Lorenzo Bandini Trophy Winner
2009 DHL Fastest Lap Award
2010 Autosport International Driver of the Year
2010 German Sportsman of Year

[Anna]

Vettel to ’maybe’ retire after Red Bull contract


"My contract is until then and I am not really looking much further right now"

Tuesday 6 September 2011 - 08h28, by GMM
Sebastian Vettel has refused to rule out hanging up his formula one helmet long before his thirtieth birthday.

As a 21-year-old rookie three years ago, the German became F1’s youngest ever grand prix winner at Monza at the wheel of a Toro Rosso.

Now, he is cruising to his second consecutive title, having signed up with Red Bull’s premier team for the next three years.

But beyond 2014, he is refusing to commit.

"My contract is until then and I am not really looking much further right now," Vettel told the German edition of Playboy.

"Maybe in four or five years I will have no more desire for formula one and will want to do something different.

"At the moment I can’t imagine it but you should never say never," he added.

"The feeling I get when I’m racing is that it’s so much fun and gives me more satisfaction than anything else in life.

"You have the tremendous forces on your body when you step on the brakes and turn the wheel, your brain screams ’Stop, that’s impossible! But then the car shows you that it can be done."

The magazine said Vettel, despite his considerable earnings, has inexpensive tastes — like his DVD collection and the fact his favourite vehicle is a VW bus.

Why the VW?: "Because you can do everything with it. You can even plug a freezer into the cigarette lighter," Vettel laughed. "There is really nothing on which I need to spend very much money."

[kelli52]

Red Bull Racing insists the champagne is not yet on ice, but the team’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz has already decided what present he will be giving Sebastian Vettel for winning the 2011 world championship.

“The same as last year,” Mateschitz said in an interview this week with the German news agency DPA. “His championship-winning car.”

In 2010, when German Vettel became F1′s youngest ever title winner, Mateschitz delivered the Adrian Newey-inked RB6 to his home in Switzerland.

Red Bull’s team management are coy over the 24-year-old’s chances of wrapping up a second consecutive championship in Singapore this weekend, but billionaire Mateschitz is more honest.

“We anticipate that, once again, we will achieve both of the titles this year”, said the famously low-profile Austrian, 67.

He has high praise for Vettel, who enters this weekend’s Singapore night race with a lead so big that his only championship rivals have already given up the fight.

“The fact that Sebastian is highly capable, we knew,” said Mateschitz. “That he would be able to deliver it so consistently over a long time has surprised many people.”

Bild newspaper said Vettel’s championship present, the RB7 chassis that he has unofficially dubbed ‘Kinky Kylie’ – but minus a EUR 200,000 Renault engine – is worth almost a million euros.

“Slowly, his garage in Switzerland is becoming too small,” confirmed Red Bull driver manager Dr Helmut Marko.

So what does Vettel think about his championship present?

“I am not thinking about that because I haven’t won anything yet,” said the driver at Zurich airport before boarding a flight to Singapore.

Vettel told the German-language Eurosport that he is not counting on celebrating his second title this weekend.

“When it happens does not matter. As long as we are still first after the final race, that will be ok,” he said.

The RB7′s designer Newey insisted that Vettel will not be playing a points-counting game under the Singapore lights.

“Seb doesn’t want to cruise to the world championship, he really wants to earn it,” the Briton told The Sun newspaper.

[kelli52]

Sebastian Vettel is feeling cautious about his chances of securing his second straight world title at the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay.

The Red Bull driver leads the Formula One standings by 112 points, and needs to earn only 13 more points than Fernando Alonso to secure the title with five races to spare. If Vettel wins at Marina Bay, Alonso would need to finish on the podium to keep his hopes alive.

Vettel is coy about the likelihood of winning the title under the lights in Singapore, not wanting to jinx himself by saying out loud what everyone else had already assumed, that the 2011 title is his.

"Looking to the championship, there is still some way to go," Vettel said. "We are in a very strong position, which we deserve because we've been working hard and made few mistakes. As long as we come out of the next race with a bigger lead then we started with, then we have done a good job, so let's see."

The seeming inevitability of a title for Vettel means the closing stages of the 2011 season will be something of an anticlimax compared to the nail-biting finishes of recent years. Four of the past five drivers' championships have been decided in the season's last race – the exception being Jenson Button's 2009 title with Brawn.

This year's dominance by Vettel is more akin to the utter dominance of Michael Schumacher when he was at Ferrari.

Still, the Singapore race is an event worthy of interest despite the lack of championship suspense. As the only night race on the F1 calendar, and the longest in race time, the grand prix around the Marina Bay circuit is always a peculiar challenge.

In its three years so far, the event has been lucky enough to dodge rain, but showers are never far away in the tropical city-state, and the prospect of wet roads reflecting the overhead lights is something the drivers approach with apprehension.

Afternoon rain last year left the track still damp in spots, but it is the glare from a fully wet track that concerns the drivers more than lack of tire grip.

"I love the track. It's very challenging. There are a lot of corners. It's very long, it's hot and it's a night race, so there are a lot of special things about Singapore," Vettel said. "The car seems to be very competitive there, so I hope we can go back there this year and win."

A new factor in Singapore, and all races, this year is the Drag Reduction System (DRS), which allows trailing cars to open their rear wings, reducing downforce, and make up ground on the car they are chasing.

That should, in theory, create more overtaking opportunities on a track where they have been in short supply, although the concrete barriers that hem in the circuit mean there is no margin for error on any overambitious overtaking attempts. The safety-car driver usually has a busy night in Singapore, and DRS may have him putting in for overtime on Sunday.

"The addition of DRS means that we should expect some truly electrifying racing this weekend," the McLaren team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, said. "The track is wide enough to support close and exciting wheel-to-wheel racing and I sincerely hope that's what we see this weekend."

[Anna]

Eyebrows raise after Vettel’s rude salute


On Saturday morning

Sunday 16 October 2011 - 07h59, by GMM
Sebastian Vettel had a few eyebrows raised in his honour on Saturday morning after an on-track incident with a slower car.

Even though backmarkers are not obliged to make way for the grandee runners in free practice, the world champion took his hands off the wheel in a rare loss of temper to give Jaime Alguersuari a two-finger salute.

"You can’t just pull aside for the other drivers all the time," the Toro Rosso driver told Spanish reporters. "I also have a job to do."

Earlier this weekend in Korea, German Vettel admitted that even with the 2011 title wrapped up, he is "addicted" to winning.

"I am annoyed when I am not in the winning team when we play football," he said.

"You can not describe it," the Red Bull driver told DPA news agency. "You know how much it takes on a race weekend to have everything come together so that you just get the chance to race from the front."

Then, with a win, "Sometimes you can’t soak up the full moment. That’s why you want to do it over and over again, to take away a piece of it every time."

[Anna]

Vettel: It’s difficult to judge Räikkönen

1 December 2011

Making accurate predictions about Kimi Räikkönen’s Formula 1 comeback is close to impossible before it actually happens. That is the opinion of current double World Champion Sebastian Vettel, who raced against the Finn between 2007 and 2009.

Vettel’s words came on Tuesday as the Red Bull driver visited the Viry-Châtillon headquarters of engine supplier Renault Sport, which is celebrating double title-winning success for the second consecutive F1 campaign.


“It is difficult to judge,” Vettel told news agency AFP when asked about Räikkönen’s move to Lotus Renault GP. “We look at all the comeback of Michael (Schumacher, with Mercedes GP in 2010). He left when he was at the top but, when returning, told himself much had changed and that he had to adapt.

“Even if I look at the car I drove two years ago, so many things have changed - it's amazing. Even during a season, new buttons appear on your steering wheel. I can imagine it’s difficult to return straight to the same level you were on before.”

Vettel believes that the criticism Räikkönen often receives is not warranted.

“He is quiet most of the time,” the German continued. “Sometimes we are criticised for not being interesting enough and that F1 lacks strong characters; that isn’t the media’s fault, nor it is the drivers’ faults. Kimi is criticised for not speaking enough or because of the way he behaves off-track. Sometimes his attitude is perhaps not fantastic, I agree, but on the other hand it simply reflects who he is.”

[Anna]

2011 end of term report – Sebastian Vettel


392 points, World Champion

Thursday 29 December 2011 - 17h02, by Sandrine Bouchard
It is not often that a driver dominates a Formula One World Championship making virtually no mistake. This is exactly what we witnessed this season as Sebastian Vettel sailed to his second consecutive world title.

Season review

At the start of the season, Sebastian Vettel picked up where he left off at the last round of the 2010 season. The reigning World Champion was high on confidence and could count on a competitive car. In addition to that, he perfectly adapted to the new Pirelli tyres.

He set the trend in Australia with a dominant showing. He comfortably took pole position and won the race with a huge advantage over his rivals… without the help of KERS. He confirmed in Malaysia with another pole and win. However, the gap was much closer as McLaren picked up the pace.

He once again qualified on pole in China but couldn’t keep Lewis Hamilton at bay in the closing part of the race. Both men were running different strategies and Vettel struggled towards the end with worn tyres. In Turkey, the German driver added another pole to his tally and took a third victory. After such an excellent start, he already had a 34 point lead in the World Championship.

Beaten to pole by his teammate Webber in Spain, Vettel took the lead after his first pit stop and withstood Hamilton’s pressure to win the race. He also had to drive defensively in the streets of Monaco to take another win. He nursed extremely worn tyres to the end of the race whilst fending off the assaults of Alonso and Button. His strategic gamble was helped by the interruption of the race. He was able to change tyres and sprinted towards the victory at the restart.

In Canada, he looked on course to take another win but made a rare mistake in the final lap. Worried by Jenson Button’s impressive pace, he pushed a bit too hard on a wet track and ran wide. It was enough for the McLaren driver to take the lead and win. The European Grand Prix was smoother for the Red Bull driver who scored a hat-trick – pole, win and fastest lap.

The controversy over the blown diffusers and the subsequent restriction of exhaust blowing in Great-Britain affected the Red Bull and Vettel had to concede defeat at Silverstone. The German had his worst weekend of the year on his home soil and finished fourth. He was second in Hungary.

He came back stronger after the summer break and won the next three Grand Prix. He couldn’t win in Japan but a third place was enough to seal him his second World Title. He celebrated it in style in Korea with a dominant win. He then went on to win the inaugural Indian Grand Prix.

He suffered an odd retirement at Abu Dhabi. Qualified on pole position, he had a good start and was pulling away at the front when he picked up a puncture and was sent into a spin. He rejoined in last position and crawled back in the pits with suspension damages. The circumstances of his puncture are still unknown, despite thorough investigation from Pirelli and Red Bull. Undeterred by his retirement, he watched the race from the pitwall.

At the last round of the season, he took a record 15th pole of the season and beat Nigel Mansell’s former record. He had a gearbox problem during the race and had to relinquish the lead to his teammate Webber. He managed to nurse his car to the finish and crossed the line in 2nd place.

Conclusion

The youngest ever World Champion became in 2011 the youngest ever double World Champion. He had an extremely successful season and showed how much he had improved and matured between 2010 and 2011.

He took 11 wins, 15 pole positions and was on the podium of 17 out of 19 races. The title was his with four races to spare but he didn’t relax and kept pushing until the final lap of the season.

Highs
11 wins
15 pole positions
17 podiums

Lows
Mistake in the final lap in Canada
Disappointing German Grand Prix

Nextgen-Auto.com marks:
Oliver Ferret : 19/20
D.Thys : 19/20
Sandrine Bouchard : 19/20
Jean-Michel Setbon : 19/20
Average mark on the forum Nextgen-Auto.com : 19/20
Total : 95/100

[kelli52]

Sebastian Vettel has defended his habit of regularly changing his F1 helmet livery.

The back to back world champion uses several designs in a single season, which according to Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport is a “bit disappointing” in the eyes of some spectators.

“Is it (your livery) not your business card, something special?” the magazine asked Vettel in an exclusive interview.

Vettel answered: “Some things on my helmet always stay the same.

“But somehow it just happened that my helmet designer and I experiment and have fun with it. Together, we usually have pretty good ideas.

“I do find some helmets incredibly beautiful,” the 24-year-old German conceded. “Like Senna’s. Or the bars on Damon Hill’s black helmet.

“Or the Scottish cross on David Coulthard’s. Very simple but unmistakable,” he added.

He may be setting a new trend in one way, but on the other hand he has so far resisted joining the new age of Facebook and Twitter.

“For me, this is not real communication. It’s not my thing,” Vettel insisted.

“I find it a very indirect and impersonal way to communicate with other people.”

[kelli52]

Sebastian Vettel is reserving judgment on whether he can make it a hat-trick of Formula One World Championships this season.

Only two drivers in F1 history - Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher - have won three or more successive titles, underlining the difficulty of the task faced by Vettel and Red Bull.

When asked if the new RB8 is a championship challenger, Vettel said: "It is too early for that. At the moment we have to look at ourselves and focus on our car, with hardly any time to look at what the others are doing."

He added: "There is a bit of a reference when you look at what runs they've been doing, but if you look at previous years at this time of year it's all up and down. Nothing really shows yet.

"Now we wait for Mercedes [to launch their car] and then we will know a little more, certainly at the last test in Barcelona.

"That is when people usually turn up with the car they will race at the first grand prix, so we have to be patient.

"The change in rules have also given people an opportunity to catch up, so we'll see what happens."

[kelli52]

n the 2010 F1 season, Sebastian Vettel was crowned the youngest F1 champion ever at the final race. A year later, the German Red Bull driver had absolutely no problems defending his championship, locking it in with three races to go.

Formula One’s head honcho, Bernie Ecclestone, doesn’t seem pleased with how things went last year. Ecclestone is hoping that this season’s championship will go down to the final race in Brazil.

It’s not so much that Ecclestone wants a new F1 champion, but more that he wants the series to have life at the end of the season. Ecclestone believes that Vettel’s recent dominance of the sport could be harming it as interest wanes further on in the year if the championship is decided early.

“We always say this, but I hope the last race is going to be the one where the championship is won,” Ecclestone said Thursday. “We don’t want what happened last year, which was not too good … The only person that would say no to that would be Sebastian, but I think everybody else would agree with it.”

He went on to elaborate, ”But it wasn’t good. I am surprised we survived with (the TV ratings) we got right at the end. I often wonder whether people watch because of the championship or watch because of the particular race.”

Before Vettel, Lewis Hamilton claimed the crown in 2008 and Jenson Button was the 2009 champion. Button finished second last season, Hamilton was fifth.

[kelli52]

Speed king Vettel receives Germany’s highest sports award

Two-time reigning Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel received Germany's highest sports award on Friday. Vettel, 24, received the silver bay laurel leaf from acting German President Horst Seehofer at a ceremony in Berlin. "You may know that I like to collect trophies. The silver bay laurel leaf is something special you don't get every year, possibly only once in your life. This is a big honor," Vettel said after receiving the award. Seehofer praised Vettel's "rapid career" and added: "You have shown that you have a strong character. Despite all the success, you have remained down to earth." Vettel became the youngest F1 champion in 2010 and the youngest to repeat the feat last season. The only other German driver to get the award is record world champion Michael Schumacher. The Red Bull driver Vettel came to Berlin from preseason testing in Barcelona. The 2012 season starts on March 18 in Australia, with Vettel aiming to become only the third driver to win three F1 titles in a row, the others being Juan Manuel Fangio and Schumacher.