How the last 12 months have matured Vettel

"It's just a good job it happened this year as opposed to last!"

Those were the words of Red Bull team principal Christian Horner as he contemplated Sebastian Vettel's first retirement of 2011 at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Horner thought it was cruel for Vettel's challenge to end the way it did after such a superlative qualifying lap, which he rated as one of the German's very best.

It was a shame that we were robbed of a showdown between Lewis Hamilton and Vettel, but Red Bull made it fairly clear that without the problem, its man would have had Hamilton handled.

Casting your mind back to Yas Marina last year brings sharply into focus the extraordinary level Vettel has reached. Yes, he's had the best car, but ever since he stepped out of Red Bull's RB6 as world champion a year ago, he has, if anything, become even hungrier.

"I remember thinking," said Martin Brundle, "that once he'd won the title last year he would just take off, but I had no idea by just how much. He stopped the petulant mistakes he was making previously and turned that into a confidence.

Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix © LAT

"If the car was that dominant, then every time Vettel hasn't won this year Mark Webber should have, and when he did win Mark should have finished second. But Mark has finished second to him just twice [Istanbul and Spa], and I think Sebastian has been absolutely extraordinary. He's set a whole new benchmark for how a Formula 1 driver should go about his trade."

Despite the fact that there was nothing riding on Abu Dhabi this time, Vettel's intensity and focus on the continued task of winning grands prix is clear to see. There was no masking his abject disappointment at the manner in which he ended his race with an instant tyre deflation on lap one.

"There aren't enough superlatives to describe how well he's performed this year," Horner said. "After winning in Abu Dhabi last year he raised his game. Of all the races he's won this year, not many of them have been straightforward. You think back to Monaco and Barcelona, where the McLarens were giving us a very hard time.

"Last year was a tough year for him because he got some criticism. He won five races and was in a position to win another three had it not been for reliability issues. It was testimony to his commitment that, having just won the world championship and gone back to Europe after Abu Dhabi to do what was required of him in the media, he got straight back on a plane to come back out to do the test in Abu Dhabi.

"It demonstrated his eagerness and commitment to understand at an early stage what the Pirelli tyres [new for 2011] were like and what was required. He went and visited Pirelli because he wanted to speak to the technicians and understand how the tyres were made. That's the kind of preparation he puts in."

Post-retirement, Vettel was straight to the pitwall... © LAT

There was more evidence of it last Sunday. Vettel did not sulk or stomp off - he immediately started examining the back of the Red Bull with his chief mechanic Kenny Handkammer. Once he'd understood the suspension damage, he didn't head off to change into civvies; he went straight to the pit wall, where he remained until five minutes before race's end.

"He joined us to offer the benefit of his experience and to try and help Mark's strategy," Horner said. "It demonstrated what a team player he is. He was also interested to see how the strategy unfolded. It's part of who he is.

"He's like a sponge for information, and I think he saw an opportunity not only to help his team-mate but also to experience what the pitwall was like and to see how we make decisions in the race."

After the chequered flag had fallen Vettel was still not heading home. He was out on the circuit with the Pirelli technicians, looking for answers to his tyre deflation.

"We've just been out there with Seb having a walk around to see if there's any debris on the circuit," explained Pirelli motorsport boss Paul Hembery. "To be honest we can't find anything. We're chatting to Red Bull now and working together to try to understand what happened and give Seb some explanation."

Vettel doesn't like mysteries. He doesn't get angry, but he likes to have answers. And the commitment he shows makes people want to go the extra mile to provide them.

"We'll work late tonight and, if we haven't got the equipment here to analyse it properly, we'll send our bag of bits to Milan to try to get him some explanation," Hembery added.

... then he and Pirelli's Mario Isola headed down to Turn 1 to look for clues © LAT

Vettel is also a laid-back guy with a great sense of humour and a lot of humility - a fine ambassador.

He had received a nice letter from Nigel Mansell after beating the Briton's laps led in a season record, wishing him luck in beating the pole record too (he needs to head the pack at Interlagos to do it).

Vettel then mentioned that he'd first met Mansell as a child - in Madame Tussauds!

Asked whether he thought they'd do a Vettel waxwork, he thought for a few moments.

"I shouldn't think so," he said. "They've got one German in there already, and I gather he's not very popular." He meant Adolf Hitler, not Michael Schumacher, incidentally.

He also said, and meant, that he was more honoured to get the letter from Mansell than to break the record. The manner in which he conducts himself, on and off the track, is putting him on course to be one of the sport's true greats.