december-2012

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MAN OF MANY TALENTS
Best known for being the world’s youngest F1 champion, Sebastian Vettel
is a creative multi-tasker who spends his time off the race-course doing
photography, design and making the odd appearance in music videos
Vettel winkt seinen Fans zu, die ihn in
seiner Heimatstadt begeistert empfangen
Thousands of fans greet Vettel in his
home town of Heppenheim in 2011
He is a part-time kung fu
fi ghter, skis like a
champion, starred in a
music video, danced Gangnam
Style with PSY and has named
his cars Kate’s Dirty Sister,
Luscious Liz and Kinky Kylie. Is
this some superhero’s
irresponsible twin? Hardly.
When it comes to the world’s
youngest double F1 champion,
Sebastian Vettel, what you see is
defi nitely not what you get.
Once described by former
racing driver turned TV
commentator Martin Brundle as
‘the stringy boy in his shorts
wandering around the track’, the
man behind the visor is far
removed from the smiling
youngster often seen fooling
around in the paddock. He’s
calculated and performancedriven
and he will wring every
ounce of performance out of a
car, asking no less commitment
from his Red Bull team and
engineers. He has already
collected Germany’s highest
sports award – the Silver Bay
Laurel Leaf – and the last time
this 25-year old returned to his
hometown Heppenheim to visit
his parents, more fans turned up
to greet him than the town’s
25,000 population.
No wonder then that when I
met him trackside last summer
prior to the Belgian Grand Prix
weekend in Spa-Francorchamps,
I was handed the team’s ‘Vettel
introductory card’, which reads:
‘Not recommended for those
sensitive to extreme speeds and
excitement. Cool under
pressure.’ And it is pressure that
he is facing after a challenging
fi rst half to the season. When I
suggest that this is his toughest
F1 year, the relaxed, boyish grin
that lights up his face seems
B R U S S E L S
indicative of his ‘cool-underpressure’
demeanour. ‘I think the
pressure is always there to
deliver good results and to win
races and championships… Even
more so this season as we have
found the entire fi eld is so close.
With so many diff erent winners
this year the challenge is far
more intense.’
In a season where consistent
performances will be the key to
clinching the title, Vettel refuses
to be frustrated by his initial
lack of it. ‘Of course I would like
to have won more races but the
situation is the same for
GW—71