Sebastian Vettel, From BMW Sauber to Triple World Champion - Part 2

After Part 1 of Sebastian Vettel's journey, Hamilton Lyndon-Griffiths takes a look at the rest of his career so far.

 After showing the world his true raw talent throughout his first three seasons in F1, Sebastian Vettel was ready to mount an even more serious challenge for the championship title. After just missing out on the 2009 championship, Vettel knew that he would have to start the new season the best way possible, if he was to have a good chance to win the championship. The days fighting at the back for Toro Rosso were now long forgotten and now lets ride with Seb as the quest continues to become the best. So lets begin part 2 and start with the 2010 season.

2010: Red Bull Racing - 1st in drivers championship - 256 points

Sebastian Vettel was ready to begin another season at Red Bull Racing once again alongside Mark Webber, both drivers felt confidant of securing both the drivers and constructors championships to take back to the factory in Milton Keynes. The season for the first time since 2006 began in the desert sands of Bahrain. Vettel started the season as he finished the last, securing pole position a mammoth 1.1 seconds than his team-mate who qualified in 6th place. However despite comfortably leading the race, near to the end of the race, he was noticeably slower. The problem was a spark plug and detached from the engine, meaning the car couldn't get up to its true speeds and therefore Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton got past. In the end Vettel cruised home in fourth place.

Vettel celebrates victory in Malaysia

The next race didn't get any better. Vettel qualified on pole again and lead the race but the car let him down once again. On lap 25 the rear brakes failed when going into turn 12 handing eventual winner Jenson Button the lead. Even though the first two races had been disappointing, Vettel made up for those reliability set backs with a win in Malaysia ahead of team-mate Webber. It was the first Red Bull win of the season. During the next three races Vettel began to score points consistently and started to climb up in the standings. In China he finished 6th, in Spain he recorded a 3rd place and in Monaco he finished 2nd behind Webber. As the championship took to Istanbul, Turkey both Vettel and Webber were level on points at the top of the championship standings on 78 points. 

Webber qualified on pole with Vettel back in 3rd. On lap 40, Webber was leading with Vettel close behind and going down to turn 12 Vettel attempted a pass but they made contact when Vettel moved over. Vettel ended his own race and ruined Webber's handing the McLaren's of Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button a 1-2 finish, Webber crossed the line 3rd. In the next race in Canada Vettel struggled to match the frontrunners  and finished in 4th place. However the next round in Valencia was all his winning the race, while Webber was involved in a horrendous crash which resulted him in landing upside down but fortunately he walked away unharmed.

At the next round in Britain the tension at Red Bull was showing when in FP3 Vettel's front wing detached itself from the car. The beginning of qualifying was marked by controversy following Vettel's wing failure. Red Bull had brought a new aerodynamic package to the race that included a new front wing, and team principal Christian Horner made the decision to remove the new front wing from Webber's car and give it to Vettel. This angered Webber, he felt that the team favoured Vettel. But otherwise the Red Bull's locked out the front row, Vettel ahead of Webber. At the start of the race Webber got the jump on Vettel, but the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton made the slightest of touches with the Red Bull resulting in a puncture for Vettel.

Webber won the race with Vettel working his way back through the field to finish 7th. To all F1 fans amazement when Webber spoke to the team via the radio he said "Not bad for a number 2 driver" a brave and bold statement to make from the Australian. The next five races were a mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. In Germany and Hungary Vettel scored pole position but couldn't convert them into a race win with two 3rd places. 

Vettel retires in Turkey after contact with team-mate Webber

Belgium was going well, running in 3rd place and catching Jenson Button. However on lap 15 Vettel went to out-brake the current world champion into the bus-stop chicane but lost the car under-braking and slammed into the Brit, ending Jenson's race and ruining his own. The race got worse, when battling with Vitantonio Liuzzi they made contact which resulted in Vettel suffering a puncture, he finished the race in 15th.

The next race was at Monza and it wasn't looking good for Vettel, he qualified in 6th place and his strategy wasn't working so the Red Bull team decided to take a risk, which was to pit on the final lap. Amazingly the risk paid off and Vettel finished in 4th place. Singapore went well for Vettel, he qualified in 2nd place behind the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso and was constantly putting pressure on the double world champion. Unfortunately for Vettel, Alonso never cracked under pressure and beat Vettel to the line by just two tenths. Now the championship got serious, four races to go and five drivers were in the hunt for the title. Mark Webber led the championship ahead of Alonso, Lewis Hamilton was 3rd with Vettel 4th and Button in 5th, all had a chance of the championship.

The Japanese Grand Prix was all about Vettel, pole position and the race win gave him an even better chance of the title, just 14 points behind team-mate Webber. However things went horribly wrong for Vettel and his title aspirations looked bleak, when both him and Webber retired from the next race in Korea, leaving Alonso to lick up the spoils. The penultimate race was held in Interlagos, Brazil, and the title battle was down to four drivers when Jenson's hopes were ended in Korea with only a 12th place finish. The race was all about Red Bull, Vettel winning Webber to give Red Bull the constructors championship, their fist since they entered F1 in 2005.

Vettel celebrates his championship in Abu Dhabi

As the championship would finish in Abu Dhabi, Alonso led by 8 points ahead of Webber with Vettel a further 7 behind. Vettel threw the marker down with a stunning pole position, with Alonso 3rd and Webber in 5th. Vettel would win the race comfortably but it depended on were Alonso and Webber finished. Alonso was having a good race but his first pit-stop would ruin his title hopes, when for the rest of the race he was stuck behind the Renault of Vitaly Petrov and Webber was stuck behind them. Alonso finished in 7th and Webber 8th, Vettel became the youngest world champion ever, he had done what he set out to do the first time he stepped into a Formula One car.

Vettel finished on 256 points with Webber on 238 points. Vettel was know the man to beat, 2011 was going to be a huge season to see whether he could manage the pressure form the media and fans. The quest was now finally of the mark.

2011: Red Bull Racing - 1st in drivers championship - 392 points

Sebastian Vettel was about going to enter his 3rd season as a Red Bull driver, once again alongside Mark Webber. Both drivers were looking to secure both championships for the second season running, Vettel on the other hand was looking to become the youngest double and back to back world champion. In doing so he would be only the 9th driver to win back to back titles joining the an elite group, with the likes of Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher.

He started on the right foot, winning in Australia

The season began back in Melbourne and Vettel was on form after winter testing, setting an amazing lap time to claim pole position by 7 tenths ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The race was all Vettel's despite a strong challenge after the second stops by Hamilton, Vettel never looked back and took the win. Malaysia was just as easy, pole position this time only by 0.096, but the race was all his from the first corner and his 100% record kept going. However China was a different matter, Vettel might have got another pole position but the race was a lot tougher than the first two. Into the first corner he lost the lead and actually fell to 3rd behind the two McLaren's, in the first pit-stops Button accidentally went into the wrong pit box and lost time.

Vettel capitalised on this and overtook the former world champion, after this he led the race for a good 44 laps but Lewis Hamilton was set quick lap times and closing in fast. On lap 52 he made his move on Vettel and got past with ease, winning the race ending Vettel's 100% record. The next race was in Turkey and despite not winning for the first time this season it didn't phase him one bit. From Turkey to Great Britain came 4 wins, 4 pole positions and 6 podiums and by Germany Vettel had finished every race inside the top 2, displaying his and the RB7's dominance.

More trophies for his collection after winning in India

However Vettel only qualified 3rd in front of his home fans and the race was a surprise struggle for the world champ. While running in 4th position he made a rare mistake when he went wide into turn 11 spinning the car, he managed to rejoin and finish in 4th place. Hungary was disappointing as well, Vettel might of finished 2nd but a win had been on the cards but McLaren's Jenson Button managed to snatch victory from his grasps. Vettel went into Spa having come off the back of two rare disappointing results, but the Vettel we had seen in the first half of the season was back with a vengeance. Three wins on the bounce in Spa, Monza and Singapore, meaning he only had to score one point to win the title.

So Suzuka was the scene set for another possible champion to be crowned. We had seen Senna, Prost and Schumacher crowned champion here but now it was Vettel's time to shine. Qualifying on pole by just 0.009 ahead of Jenson Button who was the only other man in with a chance of the championship. The race didn't begin well for Vettel when he blocked Button into turn 1 sending the McLaren driver onto the grass. Vettel inevitably was given a drive through penalty but lucky for him he didn't lose a place. Button won the race with a stunning drive, but with a 3rd place finish Sebastian Vettel became a double and back to back champion he had done what everyone had thought about at the start of the season, retained the title.

Vettel might have won the title but that didn't stop him from pushing the RB7 to its absolute limit. Korea was the scene of another star studded performance giving Red Bull the constructors championship for the second year running. The next round was a champions drive, at the new track in India he scored pole position, the race win, fastest lap and led the entire race. Abu Dhabi looked like another race weekend, where Vettel would run away making it look so easy. However it was not to be Vettel led on the first lap into turn 2 when suddenly he lost control of his car. A puncture was the cause, forcing Vettel to retire for the first time this season. 

Interlagos, Brazil was the final round of the championship and Vettel was looking to finish his exceptional season on a high. The weekend began on a high, claiming his 15th pole position, beating previous holder Nigel Mansell's record of 14 set in 1992. However the race wouldn't be as kind when his gearbox was playing up causing Vettel to short shift. He decided to let team-mate Webber past to take the lead and try and make to the end of the race. Webber won the race with Vettel managing to finish 2nd caping off an excellent season for him and Red Bull.Vettel finished on a record 392 points 134 points more than Webber giving Red Bull a total of 650 points. Vettel had laid down a marker to beat, 2012 was going to be even tougher could he become a triple world champion?

2012: Red Bull Racing - 1st in drivers championship -  281 points

Sebastian Vettel entered 2012 knowing that if he won the championship he would once again make history. Ayrton Senna still held the record for the youngest triple world champion and Vettel straight away knew that record had to be his. If he won the championship he would join Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher in being the only drivers to win three back to back titles. The season began in Melbourne and Vettel knew he had to make a similar start as he did the past year. However qualifying turned out to be a bit of a struggle, Vettel qualified 6th behind team-mate Webber. Despite this Vettel drove a great race finishing 2nd behind Jenson Button.

A fourth round win in Bahrain brought Vettel into the fray

Malaysia was the 2nd round of the season and Vettel once again struggled in qualifying with another 6th place on the grid. The race was going according to plan running well in 5th place but in the latter stages he clipped the front wing of Narain Karthikeyan and suffered a puncture, relegating Vettel to 11th were he would finish. China brought another disastrous qualifying when Vettel didn't make it to Q3. The race was a lot better, the strategy brought him through the field and he was running in third place however his tyres started to wear and he wasn't able to hold off his opposition, finishing in 5th position. 

Vettel's season suddenly came alive in Bahrain when Vettel scored his first pole position of the season ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton. Vettel dominated the first half of the race consistently setting competitive lap times. A few laps later however, Kimi Raikkonen in his Lotus began to close the gap and on lap 46 he used DRS and KERS to get passed the German. It didn't quite work, Vettel resumed the lead and never looked back taking his 22 career win.

In Spain, Vettel once again had another disappointing qualifying with 7th place on the grid. The race didn't turn out to be much better as he only made up one place finishing in 6th place, meaning he was joint championship leader with Fernando Alonso. Monaco was another struggle for Vettel, qualifying in 9th place. Vettel started on the soft tyres meaning he would go on a longer stint than his competitors. This worked out really well for Vettel just coming out of the pits in front of Lewis Hamilton and finishing in 4th place. the weekend in Canada looked a lot better with Vettel securing pole position by 3 tenths. However his strategy of just the 1 stop didn't work out a his tyres wore out more than expected meaning he had to pit twice and finally finish in 4th place.

The next round in Valencia started brightly when Vettel qualified on pole by nearly 4 tenths! He made a good start holding onto his lead into the first corner. He managed to build a 20 second lead and it looked like Vettel would comfortably take the victory and 25 points. However on lap 27 the safety car was brought out after their was an incident down the back of the field, Vettel's lead had evaporated. The race restarted on lap 34 and Vettel resumed his lead over the Lotus of Romain Grosjean who was quickly overtaken into turn 1 by Fernando Alonso. Suddenly Vettel lost drive coming out of turn 10 and he had to retire from the race, with what was later said to be an alternator failure. As you can imagine Vettel was outraged knowing that race was one that was lost.

For the next round in Britain, Vettel qualified 4th in torrential rain 2 places behind team-mate Mark Webber. The race had been promised of rain but to everyone's surprise it was gleaming sunshine that greeted us for the race . Despite a poor start meaning he lost a position, Vettel had a great strategy to lift him into the top 3 where he stayed until the chequered flag and so Vettel scored his first podium  since Bahrain.

Another win to add to his tally, this time in Korea

The 10th round of the championship was held at Hockenhiem and Vettel was looking to win his home race for the first time. it was another qualifying session hampered by rain, never the less Vettel put that behind securing 2nd place on the grid. Throughout the race he challenged for first place battling, Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. However on the penultimate into the hairpin at turn 6 Vettel battled with Jenson Button and so tried to overtake him around the outside. Button gave him space, Vettel ran wide and completed the move off the track, Jenson appealed straight away and so after the race he was given a 20 second post-race drive-through penalty for an illegal overtaking manoeuvre dropping him from second to fifth. 

With 10 rounds gone their was still 10 rounds to complete, Vettel lay 3rd in the drivers championship on 110 points, 44 behind championship leader Fernando Alonso. The next two rounds turned out to either disappointing results or amazing drives. In Hungary he qualified 3rd but finished in 4th place after both Lotus drivers had good race pace meaning he couldn't keep up. At Spa for the second time this season he failed to make it through to Q3, qualifying in 11th place. Despite a bad start, he made it though utter carnage at turn 1, caused by Romain Grosjean, one of the victims was Fernando Alonso. Vettel drove a superb race making to the podium places and finishing 2nd behind Jenson Button.

Seven time world champion Schumacher congratulates him in Brazil

Vettel was looking to continue his good run of form at Monza, qualifying in 6th place. The RB9's pace wasn't as good as hoped and on lap 47 it got worse. Vettel retied with alternator failure, his second of the season, denting his title hopes. This left him 39 points behind Fernando Alonso going into Singapore.In SIngapore Vettel qualified 3rd behind Pastor Maldonado and Lewis Hamilton. He made a decent start, passing Maldonado into turn 1 and from then on he piled the pressure on Hamilton. 

On lap 22 suddenly Hamilton slowed, grinding to a halt with gearbox failure, Vettel flew by and never looked back taking his second win of the season and closing the gap to Alonso. Vettel went to Suzuka all confidant, knowing he had previously scored 3 pole positions at the last three Japanese Grand Prix's, including 2 wins. Once again pole position was his with team-mate Webber alongside him on the front row. Vettel controlled the race from start to finish, the win, pole position, fastest lap and leading every lap.While Vettel had won, he was given some amazing news that Alonso had retired on lap 1 after contact with Kimi Raikkonen. The gap was down to 4 points. 

As the championship took to Korea it looked like Vettel would take another pole position, however everyone was surprised that team-mate Mark Webber took pole ahead of Vettel. Despite losing out to his team-mate in qualifying, Vettel got his revenge into turn 1 passing Webber with ease. Webber was managing to keep up with Vettel, however later in the race Vettel was just to quick and recored his third win in a row, taking the lead of the drivers championship, with Alonso in 3rd.Next round, India and it was its only the second F1 race it had hosted. Like the year before Vettel dominated qualifying, on pole with Webber second and Alonso 5th. Just like Korea, he was under pressure in their first few laps but after that he romped away, taking his 5th victory of the season. Alonso kept his title hopes alive finishing in 2nd, the gap was just 13 points. 

The championship took to Abu Dhabi and qualifying didn't go as well as Vettel had hoped qualifying 3rd with championship rival Alonso 7th. However Vettel came to a halt before making back to the pits after qualifying, the reason being he was low on fuel. Vettel's weekend suddenly became worse when he was given a penalty for not having enough fuel in the car, he would start in the pit-lane, advantage to Alonso. Throughout the first few corners Vettel made progress passing the slower cars of the HRT's and Marussia's. However his race was now an uphill battle when he lost part of his front wing when he made contact with the Williams of Bruno Senna.

He decided not to pit as the damage was minimal. The safety car was out on lap 9 after an accident involving Nico Rosberg and Narain Karthikeyan and Vettel was running behind Daniel Riccardo. On lap 12 while warming up his tyres, Vettel had swerve out of the way of the Australian hitting the DRS sign and damaging his front wing. He came in and went onto the soft tyres once again. Vettel continued to make progress through the field, the safety car made another two appearances but Vettel unbelievably was fighting for a podium finish. With only a handful of laps to go he made his move on Jenson Button into turn 11 using the DRS and he made it round the outside. The comeback was complete, Alonso finished 2nd, the gap was 10 points.

For the first time since 2007, F1 would race in America. Indianapolis was long gone, Austin, Texas was ready to take centre stage and fly the flag for USA. Qualifying was all about Vettel pole position with championship rival Fernando Alonso qualifying 9th. However, Romain Grosjean had been given a 5 place grid penalty for a gearbox change. And then the controversy of Formula 1 came into play. Ferrari deliberately broke the seal on Felipe Massa's gearbox meaning he also had a 5 place grid penalty. This meant that Alonso would start 7th on the clean side of the grid.

Celebrating his third world championship

Vettel drove a good race despite pressure from Lewis Hamilton he was managing the gap perfectly. However near the end of the race he was blocked by Narain Kartikeyan into turn 8 and Lewis Hamilton was within one second of the German. And so the DRS worked like a dream, Hamilton took the lead and didn't look back taking the win, Vettel settled for 2nd. Alonso finished third meaning Brazil would decide the who would be champion, the gap stood at 13 points. So this what it the championship would be decided right here. After qualifying it was advantage Vettel with the reigning champion in 4th and Alonso back in 7th. 

Vettel made a rare bad start and dropped to 7th into turn 1, meanwhile Alonso moved up to 5th.  However going into turn 4 suddenly he was hit by Bruno Senna turning 180 degrees and facing the rest of the pack. He carried on but their was considerable damage to the car but Vettel reluctantly carried on, meanwhile Alonso was up to 3rd meaning he would take the title if it stayed like that. The weather was becoming unpredictable with light rain falling and then the next minute it would be dry, you really did need to be on the correct tyres. Debris was on the track from Nico Rosberg's Mercedes which brought out the safety car on lap 23. At this point Alonso and Vettel were running in fourth and fifth place. 

At the restart Vettel lost a position to Kamui Kobasyshi and it got worse when Felipe Massa got passed using DRS. Meanwhile the race was got even more thrilling at the front of the field between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkeneberg. Nico braked late into turn 1 but couldn't slow down in time and hit the McLaren causing him to spin, Hamilton retired with broken right front suspension in his last race for the team. When the rain started again, Vettel was one of the first to pit for intermediates, but since his radio had failed the team was not ready for him, causing a long delay. Ferrari timed Massa's pit stop perfectly, letting Alonso take second position from him. 

However it looked like the title had been decided when Michael Schumacher driving in his last race moved aside to let Vettel move into 6th place. The race then ended quite underwhelmingly when Paul Di Resta crashed on the start/finish straight, bringing out the safety car once again until the conclusion of the race. Fernando Alonso had done all he could finishing 2nd behind race winner Jenson Button but with 6th place Sebastian Vettel was crowned the 2012 world Formula One champion. This meant he was the youngest triple world champion and joined Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio in being the only drivers to have won three back to back titles.

I hoped you have enjoyed the journey as much as i've enjoyed writing it, Sebastian Vettel has clearly assured himself of a place in the hall of fame. We have seen him grow from a young boy and into a mature driver and there is no doubt his quest to become the best ever will still go on until he breaks even more records and more titles. There is no doubt he can break any record you throw at him and win more titles in the future. Sebastian Vettel from BMW Sauber to a triple world champion.

©HLG_F1