Difference between revisions of "Sebastian Vettel"

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Sebastian Vettel (born 3rd July, 1987 in Heppenheim, West Germany) is a German Formula One driver currently driving for AT&T Caterham F1 Team. Vettel is a two-time World Champion, having won back to back world titles in 2017 and 2018, both for Caterham.

A successful graduate of the Red Bull Junior Team, Vettel is one of the most successful Formula One drivers in history.

Formula One

2007-2008: Toro Rosso

Sebastian Vettel debuted at the 2007 French Grand Prix, replacing Scott Speed after the American had a split with team management. He also was announced as one of the team's two active drivers for the 2008 season.

2010: Red Bull

By 2010, Vettel was established as team leader alongside Frenchman Sebastién Bourdais at Red Bull Racing. Despite winning the first race of the two-race era, Vettel would only win four races all season, including the season opener in Bahrain, once the Ferrari and Mercedes teams had reached their peak performance levels - taking sixth in the championship. During the season, the supreme qualifying pace of the RB6 combined with Vettel's own qualifying skills enabled Vettel to set a single-season record of 25 pole positions (which, with 36 poles available, results in a pole percentage of 70%), a record that was not matched since and is considered unbreakable, now that F1 has moved back to a single-race format, as currently the season does not possess enough races to break the record and it would take a (near-)perfect qualifying season if the calendar were to expand to 25+ races.

2011: Williams

With Vettel's Red Bull contract expiring and the Austrian team signing Jenson Button alongside Bourdais, Vettel would sign a short term contract with AT&T Williams for the 2011 season alongside Russian driver Vitaly Petrov. Frustrations remained high for Vettel at Williams, with the British team even further back the previous year's Red Bull. Vettel would only take a single win in India on his way to fourteenth in the championship.

2012-2014: McLaren

After two painfully average seasons, Vettel would sign a three year contract with the legendary British team McLaren - racing alongside Vitantonio Liuzzi. The Vettel/McLaren relationship would get off to a great start, with Vettel taking pole and a win in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. Vettel continued to rack up the wins over the course of the year - tasting the champagne seven times but he also seemed to retire often. Vettel's rival, Lewis Hamilton, capitalised on these mistakes to take the title despite having far fewer wins.

Neither of Vettel's final two seasons at Woking lived up to his first - with a serious injury suffered in the 2014 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix sealing his exit from the team early.