When Nico Rosberg crossed the finish line in 4th place at last month’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the young German’s position in the race confirmed his even younger countryman’s title of 2010 World Champion, or as in the words of Sebastian Vettel’s race engineer Rocky, “weltmeister”. Shortly thereafter, Vettel-mania swept Europe’s richest country as the nation celebrated its third native World Driving Champion after Jochen Rindt (who is often categorized as Austrian) and Michael Schumacher.
Much has been written and said about Vettel being Schumacher’s protégé, but Gerard Noack, who supervises the go kart track at Schumacher’s hometown of Kerpen, denied that the 7-time World Champion has funded young Sebastian’s karting career. Pictures of Vettel, sometimes as young as 5, posing with Schumacher certainly fueled those speculations. Ever since he became the youngest Grand Prix winner 2 years ago at Monza, Vettel has often been called Baby Schumi despite their different driving styles. In an interview early in 2004, Noack said that in his over 20 years of running the Kerpen go kart track, no one has come close to impress him like Michael. No one, until a certain Sebastian Vettel came along. At the time of that interview, Vettel was only 16 years old and barely out of go karts. And Noack has seen all German F1 drivers during that period - from Bernd Schneider, Heinz Harald Frentzen, Ralf Schumacher, to present-day drivers Nick Heidfeld, Timo Glock, Nico Rosberg, and Adrian Sutil. So even at this point, there are actually lots of similarities between the early careers of Vettel and Schumacher.
For starters, they made their Grand Prix debut mid-season for a team they would never drive for again in their career – Schumacher for Jordan, Vettel for BMW. Their first teammates happen to be 2 veterans who ultimately would never win a Grand Prix – de Cesaris for Schumacher, and Heidfeld for Vettel. Andrea and Nick are actually 1-2 in terms of number of grand prix starts without winning a race.
After only one race, they transferred to a team that is neither a grandee (manufacturer team) nor a garagiste. Both Benetton (Schumacher) and Toro Rosso/Red Bull (Vettel) are in F1 to advertise their products, and for no other reason. In their new teams, they also have the same car number – 19.
Both went on to record their first victory about a year later, in their first full season, at historic tracks – Schumacher at Spa in 1992, Vettel at Monza in 2008. And both were in wet/changing conditions in a car not expected to win.
At the end of their 3rd full season in Formula 1, both Germans are World Champions. They also have 10 Grand Prix victories each in their name at the end of their title year. Both are very young when they won their first title. While Vettel at 23 is the sport’s youngest ever WDC, Schumacher, at the time of his 1st title in 1994, was 25 and was the 2nd youngest ever (to Emerson Fittipaldi) and missed out on the record by only a few days. The only reason Michael failed to earn that record at that time was that the FIA wanted a closer WDC race and disqualified and suspended Schumacher for 4 races for unprecedented and questionable infractions. Both Schumacher and Vettel were, coincidentally, driving car #5 during their maiden championship season.
At only 23 years and 4 months old, Vettel already holds most “youngest” records in Formula One. He was the youngest to drive an F1 car on a race weekend (barely 19 in 2006) when he was BMW’s test-driver. His 8th-place finish at his GP debut made him the youngest ever point-scorer (still 19 at that time). At Monza in September 2008 he became the youngest pole sitter, and a day later was the youngest Grand Prix winner, at 21, breaking Fernando Alonso’s records by more than a year. And last Sunday, Sebastian became the youngest ever World Champion.
Schumacher holds practically every record in Formula 1. Will young Seb eventually break them? Michael’s 91 wins and 7 WDCs appear to be nearly unbreakable, but the same has been said about Prost’s 51 and Fangio’s 5 in those areas just a few years ago. With already 15 pole positions, Vettel is clearly on track to one day surpass Michael’s 68. During Michael’s first full season in 1992, his teammate Martin Brundle said “I raced against Senna at 23, and Michael is better than Senna at 23. There’s absolutely no question about that”. At this point in time, Vettel at 23 has accomplished a lot more than Michael at 23.
Despite that, Sebastian still has lots of room for improvement. While no one would doubt his qualifying speed, as well as his ability to pull-away when he is ahead of the pack, he has yet to prove to be a great overtaker. The Red Bull’s characteristics may have something to do with that as teammate Webber also have difficulties in passing others. Still, this is one area for improvement. Another would be in the driver fitness category. Not that young Seb is unfit, but Michael, even early in his career, was already the benchmark in that category. Noack even once said that even when he was barely 8 years old (yes, an 8-year old kid), Schumacher was already doing fitness routines! Schumacher also has been known to pull his team together, and while Vettel has shown similar things at Toro Rosso, Webber appears to have the mechanics’ trust at Red Bull. Those are 3 areas Sebastian has to concentrate on.
Only time will tell if Vettel will be one of the greats like his more illustrious countryman. He has the talent, he has the backing, and he has the right attitude. He will have some tough competition in the years to come – Lewis Hamilton is only 2½ years older, while Fernando Alonso is not yet 30 years old at this point. Both are also backed by traditional powerhouse teams McLaren and Ferrari, and the pair would surely make thing difficult for the baby-faced lad from Heppenheim. There is also no shortage of young chargers wanting to be world champion. Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg are both under 26 and have performed impressively this year. In a few years time, we will know the answer to all of this…
Very informative Jerome!
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