He always pushes the limits, always wants to know, his drive to win knows no bounds, he doesn't shy away from any risk, he's a real hotshot. No wonder the ever-glowing Heppenheimer already has four world championship titles under his belt; in view of his numerous successes, he really does have good reason to beam. Since he joined Ferrari, the Reds have also been on a steep upward trend! Is this the Vettel effect?
by Rolf Fleckenstein
No sooner has Sebastian Vettel switched sides and made his dream - to drive for Ferrari - a reality than Ferrari is on the up as never before. He obviously wants to build on the great successes of compatriot Michael Schumacher, who is his great role model and whose ambition he has always greatly admired. And the two found each other when the timing was right. Now Vettel is once again on course for success, and is on course for his next title win. Will he be world champion in 2016?
Early started
The man always looks so young and fresh with his radiance, and at 28 years old he is. But who would have thought that he has been racing for no less than 20 years? In 1995, at the tender age of 8, it all started with karting, of course, what else. This is where the young "Seb", as his friends call him, did his first laps and years of racing. It was here that he gained the experience he needed to later win the championship titles for which everyone knows him. The big wins began in the new century. In 2001, he won the national title "Champion of the German Junior Championship" and the international title "Champion of the European Junior Championship" in karting for the first time. In 2003 he started for the first time in the German Formula BMW ADAC and took five victories, the runner-up title and the title "Rookie Champion", a typical characteristic of Sebastian, he is often not only the first, but also the youngest. In 2004, he doubled up furiously and took the Formula BMW ADAC championship title with 18 out of a possible 20 victories. In 2005, he moved up to Formula 3 and, as you might have guessed, he was again rookie champion thanks to six podium finishes! And for the first time he was also allowed behind the wheel of a Formula 1 car, namely as a test driver for BMW in Jerez. As he obviously did a good job, he was also allowed to do his laps as a BMW Formula 1 test driver in Monaco the following year. With four victories, he also took the runner-up title in Formula 3 (Euro Series). This set the course for him to gain a foothold in Formula 1. In 2007, he started out with the BMW Sauber team and then switched to Toro Rosso. By winning the 2008 Italian Grand Prix, Vettel claimed the title of "youngest ever winner of an F1 Grand Prix" and scored 35 points in the same year. For the 2009 season, Vettel switched to Red Bull Racing, beginning an unprecedented winning streak. While Vettel was still taking measurements in 2009, the German Formula 1 driver won the world title in 2010 thanks to his five victories, five additional podium finishes and 256 points. This made him the youngest Formula 1 world champion of all time. Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel dominated Formula 1 unchallenged. It therefore comes as no surprise that Vettel was crowned Formula 1's youngest double world champion in 2011 after 11 victories and with 392 points. In 2012, the third accolade followed, third world title in a row and youngest ever triple world champion, on Red Bull of course, "because Red Bull gives you wings", you know, obviously Sebastian Vettel too. In 2013, with 13 wins and 397 points, Sebastian Vettel claimed his 4th World Championship title and the title of "Youngest 4-time World Champion of all time". With this 4th world championship title, he catapulted himself into the Formula 1 Olympus, as he thus drew level with Formula 1 legend Alain Prost (also 4 world championship titles) and left driving legends such as Niki Lauda (3 world championship titles), Jackie Stewart (3 world championship titles) or Ayrton Senna (3 world championship titles) behind him. Only the Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio with five world championship titles in the 50's and Michael Schumacher with 7 world championship titles (1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004) have achieved more in the world championship title history. And Vettel has two big plus points: he's still young and he drives Ferrari, so further world championship titles are definitely within the realm of possibility and feasibility.
Frustration also has something good
After many years of unchallenged victories, he had to bite hard on the steering wheel in 2014. His successful crew at Red Bull could no longer do anything against the vastly superior Mercedes, and even Sebastian with all his driving skills could not change that. Massive frustration was the result. In the end, he only scored 167 points and finished in 5th place - a total disaster for the ambitious Formula 1 driver who was used to success. At the same time, former world champion Fernando Alonso was struggling with frustration at Ferrari. The Spaniard vented his displeasure about the problems with Ferrari more than once in public, which led to tough confrontations with Ferrari management. Ferrari could not and would not let Alonso show him up in public like that. After all, Ferrari wasn't happy about the points score at the time and the constant standstill in the standings either. It was therefore only a matter of time before the collaboration between Alonso and Ferrari came to an end. In this time of crisis, the two found each other, Ferrari and Vettel, the first talks took place until shortly before the end of the season it was announced that Vettel was to move to Ferrari in 2015 and Alonso was shown the door. For Vettel, an absolute moment of happiness.
Ferrari back on the road to success
Since the two found each other, both Vettel on the one hand and Ferrari on the other have been unleashed. They want to get to the top unconditionally and are pulling out all the stops to get on the podium. And lo and behold, it works. After years of a podium absence for world championship record holder Ferrari - Ferrari fans had already wondered whether the Reds had forgotten how to win and how long the period of suffering would last, because after all the Ferraristi have been waiting for a new title since 2008 - Vettel is driving his red devil back into the top three and has already lifted the trophy three times in 2015 and stood on the podium a further seven times. On his way he is accompanied by many people, family, friends, team and sponsors, who support him and make it possible that Sebastian Vettel could and can achieve this career so far. Among his past and current supporters are Red Bull, Braun Rasierer or the Tirendo Tire portal. Sebastian Vettel has now clearly broken Mercedes' clear dominance. Will the breakthrough come in 2016, followed by the 5th world championship title? The young German Formula 1 driver would be lucky to win, and we're keeping our fingers crossed for him on his mission to win again.
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