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| Vettel took an incredible win at Monza in 2008, driving for Toro Rosso |
At that years Italian Grand Prix, Vettel took pole position, lead nearly every lap and took the victory, becoming the youngest ever driver to take a pole position and a race victory. It was a masterclass performance, but his future was already secure with Red Bull. At the German Grand Prix a few weeks earlier, it was announced Vettel would drive for the main Red Bull team in 2009, replacing the retiring David Coulthard and becoming Mark Webber's team mate. Little did we know it, but Vettel was soon to become a superstar, and become one of the greatest drivers of his generation.
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| Vettel in Australia for the start of the 2009 season, his first with Red Bull (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
At the first race of the new season, Vettel qualified 3rd and in the race was on course for 2nd place, but defended to hard against the BMW of Robert Kubica, putting both drivers out of the race. It was however a minor set back, Vettel recovered from the disappointment of Australia, and at China he put Red Bull and himself right into that years championship fight against Brawn GP and Jenson Button.
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| Vettel lead team-mate Mark Webber home fore a Red Bull 1-2 in China 2009 (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
In atrocious weather conditions, Vettel lead Webber home for a Red Bull 1-2, taking the first victory for the team and showing the rest of the grid what they were made off. Victories followed at Silverstone, Suzuka and Abu Dhabi, all in dominant style and the Red Bull RB5 often became the car to beat. However, mistakes in other races meant Red Bull and Vettel lost out to Button and Brawn, but they wouldn't have to wait much longer for championship success.
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| 2010 started off with 3 pole positions and 1 victory for Vettel and Red Bull (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
In 2010, the RB6 was clearly the fastest car in the field. It took pole position in all but three races, including three in a row at the start of the year, all of which Vettel should have won. However, a loss of power in Bahrain meant Vettel finished 4th and brake issues in Australia put Vettel into the gravel and retirement. However in Malaysia, after being beaten to pole by Webber, Vettel out dragged him into turn 1 and never looked back, taking his first win of the season. Vettel though so could easily have won all three. It was then that Webber stepped up a gear, taking wins in Spain, Monaco and Silverstone.
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| Webber and Vettel clashed at the Turkish Grand Prix |
However things came to a head at the Turkish Grand Prix. Vettel and Webber collided when the pair were running 1-2, putting Vettel out of the race but Webber managed to carry on to finish 3rd. The team blamed Webber, however everyone else was pointing the finger of blame at Vettel, on-board footage showing Vettel moving across slightly on Webber as he went past. The contacted gift Lewis Hamilton the win and a 1-2 for McLaren. It wasn't the only costly mistake for Vettel that year either.
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| At Spa, Vettel decided he didn't like Jenson Buttons McLaren |
Another costly mistake came at Spa, when Vettel attempted to pass the McLaren of Jenson Button into the bus stop chicane, but he got it wrong pulling out of the slipstream, smashing into the side-pod of the McLaren, putting Button out of the race and serverly hurting his own. Vettel would later on hit the Force India of Vitantonio Liuzzi, giving himself a puncture. Vettel bounced back however at Suzuka and Brazil, and was leading in Korea before his engine expired. Heading into the final round at Abu Dhabi though, Vettel was the outsider with Hamilton, and Webber and Alonso were the two they had to beat.
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| Sebastian Vettel celebrating World Title number one in Abu Dhabi (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
Sometimes though, being the outsider isn't a bad thing. Vettel took pole position and dominated the race to take the victory, and with Webber and Alonso not having clean races, Vettel had done enough to clinch the title, becoming Formula 1's youngest World Champion. It was ironic that, the two outsiders in the race, Vettel and Hamilton, finished 1st and 2nd, where as the two men who everyone thought would be the likely champions, Alonso and Webber, finished in 7th and 8th. Vettel though had truly arrived, and this started an incredible run for Vettel and Red Bull which wouldn't end until 2014.
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| 2011 saw Vettel and Red Bull dominate, their season opening with pole position and victory in Australia (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
In 2011, Red Bull and Vettel stepped it up a gear. Out of 19 races, Vettel took 15 pole positions and won 11 races. He completely outclassed Webber, who only managed 3 pole positions and 1 race win, which didn't come until the season finale in Brazil. By then, the title fight was already over.
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| 3rd place at Suzuka clinched the 2011 World Title for Vettel (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
Suzuka had seen many title deciders, and 2011 was no exception. Vettel took pole position, but a classy drive by Jenson Button meant he was denied victory, and he didn't finish 2nd either, Fernando Alonso putting in a gutsy performance, and almost getting Button. Vettel though came home on the podium for 3rd place to take his second World Championship. It had been a dominant year for the team. 2012 though, would be much, much tougher...
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| Vettel cuts the grass during the 2012 Australian Grand Prix, where he nearly lost the place to the car behind, the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
The opening races of the season were tough. Thanks to changes to the technical regulations, Red Bull were having to chase the pack and not lead it in what turned out to be one of the greatest seasons the sport has ever seen. Seven different winners won the first seven races, McLaren, Ferrari, Williams, Lotus and Red Bull all took to the top step of the podium across the season (Lotus not until Abu race 18 in Dhabi however), but Red Bull were lagging behind McLaren, who had the fastest car that year. Vettel took 2nd in Australia, splitting the McLarens but a puncture in Malaysia and a poor qualifying in China compromised the next two races. Bahrain however would see a reversal of fortunes.
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| Vettel holds off Kimi Raikkonen for the win in Bahrain (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
In Bahrain, Vettel took pole position and the victory, but the race wasn't easy. Kimi Raikkonen had returned to F1 after being ousted by Ferrari in 2009. Now with Lotus, he pushed Vettel hard, very hard. He almost took the lead into turn 1 in the penultimate stint but couldn't quite manage it, and Vettel held on to take his first win of the season. That however, was as good as it got for a while. Podiums came along but he wouldn't win again until Singapore, having retired in Valencia with an alternator problem and not having the best of luck. Webber looked to be a serious title challenger, with wins in Monaco and Silverstone launching him into the title battle.
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| The RB8 of Vettel is lit up in Singapore, as the champion headed towards his second win of 2012 (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
That victory in Singapore however, reignited Vettel's season. Webber had slipped behind in the fight by then, and wins in Japan, Korea and India followed the one in Singapore. In Japan, championship leader Fernando Alonso spun out with a puncture and that, coupled with an earlier retirement for the Spaniard thanks to a crazy crash caused by Romain Grosjean at Spa, meant Vettel now lead the championship by four points. However, after extending his lead, it so easily could evaporated in Abu Dhabi.
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| Button and Vettel do battle in the closing laps at Abu Dhabi, Vettel getting past for 3rd place (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
In qualifying, Vettel's car stopped out on track, after he qualified 3rd. Thanks to not having the required 1 litre sample of fuel post-qualifying for the FIA, Vettel was sent to the back of the grid, and he started the race from the pit-lane. However, a brilliant recovery drive meant he finished in 3rd place, only one place behind Alonso, who finished 2nd to Raikkonen. Vettel had lost only three points in the championship.
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| Title number 3 came in Brazil 2012, after a dramatic race (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
Vettel lost out to Hamilton in the USA, but in Brazil, after recovering from a first lap incident that put him last, and one of the most thrilling title deciders in recent times, Vettel finished 6th and with Alonso 2nd, it clinched him the world championship, his third in a row. Only Schumacher and Fangio had previously achieved that. Sebastian Vettel was becoming an all time great.
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| At the Nurburgring, Vettel took his first victory on home soil (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
As 2013 dawned, it looked like it would be another close championship. Ferrari, Red Bull and Lotus all looked to be in contention, with Mercedes starting to enjoy more success to. However, Vettel took four wins in the opening half of the season, including his first home Grand Prix victory and a controversial win in Malaysia, defying team orders and passing team mate Mark Webber for the. He was on the podium in all bar two of the opening races (4th in Spain and a retirement at Silverstone). Come the second half of the season though, and Vettel had left them all trailing in his wake.
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| Vettel leads Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen in Korea, just one victory in his run of nine towards the end of 2013 (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
At Spa he took his fifth victory of the year, and went on to win every single race after that. Red Bull hadn't done anything majorly different to the car, but the switch to the 2012 tyre construction, thanks to a series of tyre failures at the British Grand Prix, meant that Red Bull could unleash the full potential of the RB9. After six consecutive wins, the championship was over...
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| World Title number 4 in India. A happy Vettel celebrates with his RB9 (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
Vettel clinched the title in India, celebrating in fine style with some donuts on the start/finish straight. It earned him a 35,000 euro fine, but he didn't care. He then won the remaining three races of the season, making it nine in a row, something never done in one season. 2013 however, would be his final title with Red Bull.
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| Vettel with Dr Helmut Marko in Monaco 2014. 2014 was Vettel's final year at Red Bull (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
The regulations that arrived in 2014 which shook up the grid are well documented. Vettel never clicked with that years RB10, and the Renault power unit at the back didn't have the grunt to keep up with the Mercedes powered teams. Mark Webber had left F1 to join Porsche's LMP1 program in the WEC, and with new team mate Daniel Ricciardo picking up 3 wins against the might of Mercedes, It wasn't before Vettel began to get frustrated.
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| Vettel leads Raikkonen in Japan, the man that would become his Ferrari team-mate (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
By the Japanese Grand Prix, Vettel had made up his mind about his future. On the Saturday morning, Red Bull shocked the paddock by announcing that Vettel was to leave Red Bull at the end of the year and at Abu Dhabi, it was announced by Ferrari that Vettel would partner Kimi Raikkonen in 2015. Vettel didn't win a race in 2014, his best result being a 2nd place finish in Singapore. He lost some of his passion and motivation in 2014, but a new start with Ferrari would revitalize him, and it wasn't long before he took victory again.
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| 3rd place in Australia was a good start to Vettel's Ferrari career |
At the opening round of 2015, Vettel qualified his Ferrai in 4th place and, thanks to a great strategic call by his team and a great drive from himself, he beat Williams Felipe Massa to 3rd place behind the dominant Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, taking a podium on his Ferrari debut. But things were going to get even better for Vettel.
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| Vettel leads old team-mate Daniel Ricciardo during the wet qualifying in Malaysia...Ricciardo is probably wondering at how the tables have turned from 2014 (Copyright: Infiniti Red Bull Racing) |
Practice sessions at the next race in Malaysia suggested Ferrari might just have the pace to challenge Mercedes. then in a soaking wet qualifying, Vettel split the Mercedes and put his Ferrari on the front row for the race. He had been 0.074s slower than Hamilton's pole lap time. Vettel said he would need a wet race to fight for the win, but as it turned out, he didn't!
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| Vettel has just passed Rosberg for 2nd in Malaysia. A few laps later, Hamilton would fall victim to the Ferrari |
Thanks to a strategic masterstroke, a car that was great on its tyres and an incredible drive from the 4-time Wold Champion, Sebastian Vettel took his first victory since the 2013 season finale in Brazil and Ferrari's first since Alonso took victory in that years Spanish Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was back!
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| Vettel almost took 2nd place in Spain, being outdone in the end by Hamilton's Mercedes |
Vettel followed his victory up with 3rd in China, a 5th place in Bahrain after having to change his front wing and 3rd again in Spain, almost beating Hamilton for 2nd place. His new chapter at Ferrari has started well and no doubt it will carry on that way. When he made his debut with BMW in 2007, little did we know what a superstar he would become, that he would win 4 consecutive World Championships and become one of the greatest drivers of his generation. What is almost scary is that, Vettel is only 27 and has already won four championships, and he has a long career still ahead of him. What can he achieve in the next few years? Can he and Ferrari stop the might of Mercedes? Only time will tell. Until next time folks. Ciao.
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| Vettel becomes a winner for Ferrari...his first win since Brazil 2013 |
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