Sebastian Vettel, no more a ‘Baby Schumi’

Already the youngest world champion in the history of Formula One, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel just can’t stop racking up the numbers.

At Valencia, Vettel won the 16th Grand Prix of his short career, passing McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton to join Stirling Moss in 14th place on the all-time list. Last Sunday, at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, he came close to leave even ‘Mr Motor Racing’ choking on his exhaust fumes but it wasn’t to be as the German had to settle for second after a pit-stop error handed Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso his first victory of the season. 

Still, he has won six of the nine races this season and finished runner-up in rest. He leads compatriot Mark Webber by 80 points going into the German Grand Prix on Sunday at Nuerburgring. While the world is talking about the German already having sealed the championship, the man in question is taking it one race at a time. His immediate target will be to record his first win at home.

“It is always great to have the opportunity to race in your home country,” Vettel said. “Many times people talk about extra pressure...but I think it is more positive than anything else to have people in the grandstands to support you.” Vettel’s dominating performance this season has come despite renewed tension with teammate Mark Webber, who sometimes has been openly at odds with team leaders about his role.

Vettel’s domination has demoralised his opponents. One of them is Lewis Hamilton, the driver with a never-say-die attitude. The Brit all but conceded defeat, remarking that Red Bull would “need to fall off the track” for McLaren to beat them right now. Vettel’s domination has also raised the deeply unwelcome prospect that we may be dealing with the deadest of dead rubbers by the time we leave Europe for the Far East this autumn.

Slowly, inexorably, Vettel’s grip on this world championship grows ever more vice-like. Such is the German’s lead he could set off on his summer holidays now and still be leading by the time we visit Spa in late August. We are entering dangerous territory here; slow death by asphyxiation. Not since Michael Schumacher bored everyone into submission in 2004 have fans been forced to contemplate hegemony on this scale.

Schumacher won 13 of 18 races that year in his Ferrari, giving him a 72 per cent success rate. The man they call ‘Baby Schumi’ is currently ticking along at close to 70 per cent and, in any case, has an extra race in which to break his compatriot’s record.

Best ever? Alberto Ascari also had a 75 per cent win rate in 1952 but the championship was only eight races long. This season has five months to run and you would not bet against him keeping it up. But stranger things have happened. In this season of twists and turns, of Drag Reduction Systems (DRS) and fast-degrading Pirelli rubber, races are not always as straightforward as they appear.

Hamilton’s compatriot Jenson Button thinks otherwise. Button knows all the pressure that comes with big leads. It was at this point in the 2009 championship that the wheels started to fall off Button’s title bid. After winning six of the first seven races, he couldn’t win any race, though he went on to win the title. That time points system was different. Now, with a changed points system, the chances of catching up with Vettel have increased. “It is going to be bloody hard,” the McLaren driver said.

“Teams make mistakes and they might start thinking it’s easy in their position. (At Brawn) we started thinking about points too early in the season, about finishing races, and it was a mistake. Same might happen at Red Bull.”