The Vettel enigma: Why we could have another Schumacher

Two races into the 2011 Formula One Season it is reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel who sits emphatically atop the Driver's Championship with a perfect 50 points. The signs for the rest of the year are ominous as Vettel, despite some impressive and surprising race pace from McLaren, won both the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix with relative ease. A variety of frustrations have beset his interminably unfortunate team-mate Mark Webber, who sits in a tie for 3rd with just 22 points. With the closeness at time in race pace, and Webber's struggles, one could be forgiven for thinking we have yet another exciting competitive year on our hands. There's every indication that may not be the case however. At regular vital intervals Red Bull have shown that they have easily the year's premier car, as can only be expected from master designer Adrian Newey who Martin Brundle aptly called "the Leonardo Da Vinci of Formula One."

Rumour has it that at this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, every team in the paddock except the three new boys, and Red Bull, will run with their Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems technology. This technology acts as a glorified push to pass system essentially, with a complex system of energy recovery under braking being able to transfer back into the power train for 80bhp extra power per lap, for seven seconds. The FIA introduced the scheme for the primary purpose of overtaking of course, but it is said to be worth on some circuits more than half a second per lap. Red Bull have had problems with faulty KERS since the introduction of their car and have swept to both pole positions and both victories almost entirely without the system's bonus power. The disadvantage is twofold though, as the KERS motor's 35kg weight means 35kg less ballast to move around the car, significantly limiting the potential for optimum weight distribution. If Red Bull do decide to remove the system from their car entirely in China, they will shed the one element that seems to have most affected the stability of the car. The big question at this race, especially if without KERS, is whether the RB7 will be better balanced and able to extend its already sizable gap to the rest of the field. If this happens I fear we may not see Vettel threatened on his way to an emphatic title defense.

The possibly mistaken view that 2011 is going to be thrillingly close comes from the simple fact that 2010 was also deceiving in its tightness. 2010 was really an astonishing season, with five men leading the world championship and the unprecedented scenario of four drivers still in the running at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Vettel won the title despite having not led the points standings once during the entire season before the final race. Throughout the whole season Vettel utterly dominated qualifying and always loomed as a man likely to threaten for the title, even when he was as low as fifth in the standings.

In truth Sebastian could call himself unlucky that he wasn't already a World Champion. For all of his astonishingly short career he had impressed, from scoring a point on debut at the age of 19, to shining spectacularly as a late season replacement for Toro Rosso in 2007. In 2008, after a tough start adjusting to a difficult car, Vettel was supreme, scoring a remarkable pole to flag win for the small team in driving rain at Monza. Then he came to Red Bull in 2009 and largely dominated his new team-mate Mark Webber in the process. Webber was already entrenched at the team and is not just experienced but fantastically fast. Before Vettel no-one had come close to challenging Webber's domination over all his team-mates for qualifying pace. Vettel won third time out in China and went on to win three more races on his way to second in the championship, not too far behind Jenson Button. Although few would begrudge Button his title, the truth remains that all six of his wins came in the first seven races thanks in large part to the headstart his Brawn GP team had by virtue of a loophole in the regulations. By that time Newey's RB5 had established itself as the class of the field and Button did not win again all year.

Vettel came in 2010 frustrated from being so near yet so far in 2009. His nerves and inexperience often came to the forefront, in a series of often controversial errors. In reality, Vettel's own faltering resolve, and the fallible reliability of the RB6, conspired to almost lose a championship that should gone their way in a canter.

Vettel won the 2010 World Championship with 256 points on the back of five wins. Alonso was just four points behind (seven points seperate 1st and 2nd in every race to give an idea how close that is), on 252 with Webber on 242 and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton on 240. Vettel could very easily have run away with the title by over 100 points however, but was denied liberally by car failures and brain failures. The most inopportune mechanical gremlins afflicted Vettel while leading three grands prix, two of them surely guaranteed victories. Vettel's own youthful exuberance ruined his weekend at least another four times. Here's a short summary of only those major setbacks which spring to the forefront of the mind:

Bahrain - Vettel dominated all weekend and was easily on his way to a pole-to-flag victory before a spark plug failure on the engine hamstrung the car. The Ferraris of Alonso and Massa drove past as if Vettel was standing still and finished 1-2. Even with the initially fatal-looking problem, Vettel still somehow salvaged 4th.

Australia - Once again Vettel took a dominant pole position and pulled immediately away at the front before a break failure plunged him into the gravel and out of the race. With the wet conditions Vettel was far from guaranteed victory but surely lost major points again.

Spain - Another break failure denied Vettel 2nd place and once again it was the class of the man which still salvaged 3rd (with help from Lewis Hamilton who crashed out of 2nd) when it looked as if he was set for retirement.

Turkey - The famous collision, as Vettel threw away a guaranteed 18 points and possible 25 with an ill-advised move on team-mate Mark Webber to take the lead. The move handed victory to McLaren but while Webber recovered to 3rd, it was DNF for Vettel.

 Great Britain - After racing to his now customary pole position, Vettel got a poor start and then an over-aggressive squeeze on team-mate Webber to try and hold the lead left Vettel off the track and with a puncture that sent him to dead last. He recovered to finish 7th but with Red Bull's dominant pace it should have been at least 2nd.

Germany - Yet again Vettel fluffed the start from pole, losing out to both Ferrari's, and that's where he stayed all day.

Hungary - Another pole, another solid lead. Then an obscure safety-car rule cost Vettel of all things, as he failed to stay within 10 car lengths of the safety-car in front and was given a drive-through penalty that dropped him to 3rd.

Belgium - Like Australia, the race at Spa was wet and wild with no guarantees, but Vettel made extra sure he wouldn't score points with an amateurish crash into Jenson Button that broke his front wing and earned him a drive-through penalty. This was compounded by a puncture later in the race and Vettel finished 15th.

Korea - For the 3rd time, and most heartbreaking, Vettel's RB6 gave up the ghost while he led convincingly. This time there was just 10 laps to go and Vettel was well clear of Fernando Alonso when his engine gave way spectacularly, seemingly ending his championship chances.


Obviously mistakes can happen, even more assuredly will reliability strike at inopportune moments. But there is much to read from Vettel and Red Bull's near-self destruction in 2010. What must be remembered is that Vettel is just 23 years of age, comfortably the sport's youngest ever World Champion. Furthermore, his Red Bull team are also babies in the grand scheme of things, having entered F1 in 2005 and only become competitive in 2009 as Adrian Newey's influence took over. Neither team or driver could be expected to possess the kind of battle-hardened consistent acumen to get the job done as the old hands at Ferrari and McLaren might have.

The fact is that Vettel and Red Bull were unlucky not to be champions in 2009, and 2010 should have been a walk in the park. The reason it was not was because neither party had ever reached these heights before. Now the job is done, the ambition is achieved, and the pressure which seemed to utterly overwhelm anyone near Vettel, has been lifted. Since it debuted in testing this year, Newey's RB7 has looked as fast as can ever be expected, but also possessing of nearly flawless reliability. More importantly, Sebastian looks to have followed the same path. There is an aura of calm contentment around Vettel these days which belies his age, and clearly not by coincidence, he has looked ominously metronomic on track.

Sebastian Vettel is clearly one of a handful of truly special drivers in the world today, surely matched only by Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. At his best it is arguable he is unmatched even by those peers. Adrian Newey IS unmatched at what he does, that bears no cause for argument. Vettel has shown signs in the two races so far in 2011, that he can match the uncanny speed he was born with, to the kind of inch-perfect precision that made the only other German World Champion Michael Schumacher so unbeatable at times. If Adrian Newey can give him the car to match for years to come, who's to say there won't be another German dynasty?

Famous (and not so famous) sporting birthdays: March 1-7

March 1, 1956 - Balwinder Singh Sandhu (Cricket)

BS Sandhu was a useful (if unspectacular) medium pace bowler for India over the course of an International career lasting barely two years. Sandhu played just eight tests, without any major success. He possessed no great arsenal of pace or variation, but could swing the ball mildly in both directions. He qualifies unequivocally as one of the not-so-famous birthdays this week to most, yet any Indian cricket fan over the age of 30 must surely remember his name for a single delivery. In the 1983 World Cup final India had been bowled out for a paltry 183 by the mighty West Indians, who had won both World Cups to date. Early on in what seemed like a regulation run-chase, legendary West Indies opener Gordon Greenidge shouldered arms to what looked like another innocuous delivery from Sandhu. But the ball nipped back off-the seam just enough to take out Greenidge's off-stump. To the surprise of no-one, Sandhu didn't take another wicket or have any great impact on the rest of the match, but that famous ball will live on in the annals of Indian Cricket. It sparked a collapse that saw the West Indies all out for 140 and crowned India world champions for the only time to date.

March 2, 1982 - Ben Roethlisberger (American Football)

Compared to other contact sports around the world (except perhaps Ice Hockey), the average age of professional American Footballers is notably high. It is a measure of the man's greatness that even isolated from the sport to the extent we are in Australia, sports fans have known Roethlisberger's name for so long and yet he has only just turned 28. The quarter-back for the Pittsburgh Steelers, Roethlisberger is one of those few names like 'Manning', 'Brady' and 'Favre' who casual Australians can turn to when trying to fake a credible knowledge of the States' most quintessentially American sport. Roethlisberger has also achieved more in the sport than any of his contemporaries could manage by such a young age, most notably becoming the all time youngest Super Bowl winning Quarter-back with the Steelers in February 2006.

March 2 1988 - Matthew Mitcham (Diving)

Australian Matthew Mitcham dived into the public consciousness with one number: 112.80. This was the Olympic record smashing single dive Mitcham pulled out, when needing a mammoth 107.30 to beat China's Xhuo Luxin to gold in the 10m Platform Diving event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Mitcham is the latest in a long line of Australian divers who have given the sport a resurgence in the country over the past ten years. Mitcham participated without major fanfare in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games of 2006 at the not particularly young (for diving) age of 18, and had a similar lack of impact in the 3m Springboard event at Beijing. But an inspired set of dives off the 10m platform set off whisperings of one final Australian medal on the closing night of the games, but surely no-one including Mitcham thought it was going to be gold until that final magic dive.

March 4 1936 - Jim Clark (Motor Racing)

The story of Formula 1 driver Jim Clark is one of the great tragedies of motor racing. He was a freakish talent matched by few before or since, yet is often never remembered in quite the same breath as other all time greats like Fangio, Stewart, Lauda, Senna and Schumacher. Without a doubt his lack of due credit comes about because of the unreliability of the cars he drove, and his untimely death at the age of 32 denied Clark the chance to build an unprecedented legacy. Clark formed 50% of a legendary partnership with engineering legend Colin Chapman, whose pioneering Lotuses took Clark to the World Championship by huge margins in 1963 and 1965. A mere two titles does a great injustice to the man. Chapman's penchant for spectacular revolutionary designs inevitably meant that each year the Lotus was easily the fastest car, with easily the world's fastest driver, but had horrible reliability. If the cars had been able to make the finish line more often, Clark could easily have won every championship from 1962 to 1968.

Clark even took on and conquered the greatest American race the Indiannapolis 500. Clark was a close 2nd on debut in 1963, was denied victory by a characteristic mechanical gremlin in 1964, and then thoroughly dominated the all-American field to win in 1965, midway through his F1 title-winning year. In the modern professional era of motor racing, such a feat is even more astounding. More World Championships would surely have come after 1968 had he not been killed when a tyre de-laminated during a Formula 2 race at Hockenheim in 1968, sending him into the trees at high speed.

March 5 1963 - Eddo Brandes (Cricket)

Zimbabwe's Eddo Brandes is not a cricketer who should ever come across as particularly threatening, yet his name would make the blood of many an Englishman boil. He was one of a handful of hard working medium pace bowlers of the late 1980s and 1990s, as Zimbabwe struggled for recognition or success on the world stage. In an otherwise inauspicious part-time career, the chicken farmer dominated England's batting line-up on more than one occasion. Most notable was his 4 for 21 in the 1992 World Cup which inspired Zimbabwe to an amazing 9 run win, after they'd been bundled out for 134 batting first. In 1997 Brandes also managed a One-Day International hat-trick against England, dismissing three far from shabby batsmen, Nick Knight, John Crawley and Nasser Hussain. The cherry on top of course is his famous exchange with Glenn McGrath, where Brandes explained the source of his somewhat portly mass.

March 5 1975 - Luciano Burti (Motor Racing)

Few people other than dedicated Formula 1 enthusiasts would remember Brazilian Luciano Burti, other than his immediate family and friends. His primary claims to fame are two spectacular accidents at the end of his Formula 1 career. Although he achieved little international stardom, Burti was an impressive talent. He outperformed future F1  champion Jenson Button to be runner-up in the 1999 British Formula 3 championship. His performances impressed three-time world champion Jackie Stewart. In 2000, Stewart's team became Jaguar Racing and Burti was employed as the team's test and reserve driver, getting an unexpected debut when Eddie Irvine missed the Austrian Grand Prix with illness. In 2001 he became Irvine's permanent team-mate but fell out with the team after just four races and moved to fellow back-markers Prost. It was with Prost that he had the accidents which came to define his career. First he spectacularly vaulted the slow-starting Michael Schumacher at the start of the German Grand Prix, then two races later was lucky to survive a high speed accident at the Belgian Grand Prix. He never drove in F1 again.

March 6 1947 - Dick Fosbury (Athletics)

American Dick Fosbury became Olympic High Jump champion when he cleared an Olympic record 2.24 metres at the Mexico City games of 1968. But it was his revolutionary new jumping technique for which he is world famous. In the 1960s the prevailing method for High Jump was the straddle technique, a diving-like motion where a jumper would throw themselves over the bar facing forward and down, and then pull their legs individually over. The teenage Fosbury found this technique difficult and throughout his High School years slowly began to hone his own technique of running in at an angle and then leaping backwards, facing skyward as he arched his back and legs over the bar. His method came to be known, disparagingly, as the Fosbury flop. Fortuitously, the cushioning mats used today became standard issue around the time of Fosbury's rise. As he mastered the technique Fosbury swept all before him, and it is now the default technique for all High Jump.