The Young One: Interview with Sebastian Vettel

It's amazing to think that this year McLaren are employing two drivers who have only a season apiece in Formula One behind them, a situation that would have seemed impossible not so long ago. But Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen are just two of the guys who are spearheading a youthful invasion, as the sport escapes from the long shadow cast by Michael Schumacher.

Sebastian Vettel is one of a talented group of German youngsters who are vying for the attention of their country's public, and in 2007 he went a long way to proving that he might one day replace Schumacher in their affections. The talent that both Red Bull and BMW saw at a very early stage was evident even to those who were not convinced that he was worthy of the attentions of two major organisations.

It was a strange year, to say the least. Vettel started the season as BMW's Friday driver, was 'rested' when the team realised that they had to concentrate on their race drivers, and then unexpectedly had an opportunity to prove himself when he stepped into Robert Kubica's shoes at Indianapolis. He nearly blew it by going off at the first turn, but recovered to take eighth place. It was enough to convince his mentors that he was ready for the big time.

As soon as Scott Speed was shuffled out of Scuderia Toro Rosso, Vettel got his chance. The early outings were unspectacular - hardly surprising, given his lack of mileage - but then came Japan, where he did a stellar job in the rain until his unfortunate clash with the sister car of Mark Webber. That gave the critics plenty of ammunition, although attempts to deflect the blame on to Hamilton's shoulders went some way to redeeming him.

Astonishingly, just a week later he was again in the thick of the action in China, and this time he made it count, riding his luck on a unique one-stop schedule and emerging with a fourth place. Now there was no denying that he had arrived.

Last month Vettel once again showed that he is the anointed successor, teaming up with Schumacher at the Race of Champions, and doing a good job in unfamiliar surroundings. Of course the event doesn't have a lot in common with driving an F1 car on the limit, but that's the whole point - a truly talented driver can transfer his skills to a new environment.

This year he stays on at Toro Rosso, where there will be a fascinating comparison with new teammate Sebastien Bourdais, a man with thousands more racing miles under his belt, but none of them thus far in an F1 car. It remains to be seen how strong the STR package is, because clearly the budget is tight, and the team will start the season with proven equipment.

Longer term, we have to assume that Red Bull have plans to upgrade Vettel to RBR, while BMW are also keeping a close watch, having had to let him go. Depending on how this season unfolds, the Munich manufacturer may have to join the queue...

Q: The 2007 season was an amazing one for you, since you started as a third driver for BMW and ended it scoring points for Toro Rosso. Did you enjoy it?

Vettel: "Definitely! Some quite unexpected things happened, but it was nice. I wasn't happy at the start of the season - at first you get told that you are going to do all the Fridays, and then all of a sudden it stops! I mean, I can understand the decision that was made at that stage, because obviously they were doing very well, and you want to do everything possible to improve the performance over the weekend, and obviously that was another step to achieve that, me not driving any more on Fridays. I wasn't happy, but there was nothing I could change."

Q: The race at Indianapolis was a real bonus, though

Vettel: "Definitely. The first corner was a little bit of a mess, and without that with the race pace and so on we were able to fight for fifth and sixth place. Even the eighth place was a good result, and it was good that everybody could see that it was quite OK.

"There was some bad press going around, which for me was not much of a problem, because I didn't care or I don't care. But you have a lot of people believing everything that's written in the press, and it was going around that I was too slow, not experienced enough, and blah, blah, blah. And therefore it was good to have the race in Indianapolis to show everybody."

Q: It wasn't easy, because you hadn't done a lot of testing.

Vettel: "No, the last time I was in the car was in Malaysia. So you can imagine, three months later you get in the car, and also physically it's quite tough, because the best preparation is driving the car, and when you don't have this, and then on top you don't know the car and you don't know the latest set-up and so on, it's not easy to step straight in. But obviously it was a good weekend."

Q: The timing was perfect, in that you finished the race and had both BMW and Red Bull thinking, 'He's ready."

Vettel: "Yes, it happened at the right time, and the right thing happened as well."

Q: When the Toro Rosso deal was first mentioned, did you immediately say it's a race seat, let's go for it, or were you thinking that going into a smaller team might not be the right direction for you?

Vettel: "I wanted to drive, I wanted to race, and as there was an opportunity with Toro Rosso, I wasn't thinking about it too much, I just grabbed it. In the end I'm quite happy with the choice I've made, getting more and more experienced, driving the races. Of course, it's a smaller team, and if you just look at the results, it's less successful than BMW is now. But obviously you have to give a bit of time to the team. We are a small team, we are growing, and on the other hand I am a young driver, and I need to learn a lot as well. It just needs a bit of time."

Q: How was that first weekend in Hungary, without any testing?

Vettel: "I did nothing and I didn't know the car at all, but it was good. Of course, when you have a race like Japan or China, everyone gives you much more attention. But when we finish in P18 or P16 we are fighting as hard as if we finish fourth. It took some time in the beginning I think to just get confident with the car and the team, and basically to understand them better. Each race has its own story.

"Hungary was the first race and we finished, and that was good. The race after was Istanbul, which was quite a mess. We had quite a few problems all weekend long and everything was going wrong, especially in qualifying I had bad traffic on the warm-up lap and lost half a second at the first corner because of cold tyres. Then the whole weekend is kind of destroyed. In the race there was a sensor on the steering wheel that broke, so I was on the wrong engine map for about 15 laps, and I lost a lot. In the pit stop the car stalled and the engine died! Each race has its own story.

"Then we went to Monza. Unfortunately I had an incident in the first corner with Anthony Davidson, I touched him and destroyed my front wing. From then on it was quite difficult to come back. In Spa the steering rack broke. Then you know what happened in Japan and China! A lot of people said the first races were shit, and now you're getting there, but each race had its own story, and you have to look at exactly what happened."

Q: Fuji was an amazing weekend, a real emotional roller coaster...

Vettel: "Obviously I was quite sad in Fuji because we were up for a podium finish, and the more positive thing is that we would have finished on the podium, not because of everybody retiring, but just because we had the pace. That was the biggest plus. Then I had the incident with the safety car, and I came back to the pits and I was crying. Obviously I'd worked very hard in my life to achieve more or less this, to finish on the podium in a Grand Prix."

Q: Did it make it even worse that it was a Red Bull car that you hit?

Vettel: "I didn't want to screw anybody's race, and at the same time I screwed mine. The other thing was Mark would have had a good finish as well, so it was a bit of a shame."

Q: China was the perfect time to hit back and get a result in a really positive way.

Vettel: "The fourth place in China was a kind of revenge! We were in P17, so we were able to play with the fuel. But still it was a risk, because on Sunday morning it wasn't clear if the race was wet or dry. I had a very heavy car in the beginning, so I knew that the better you can keep up with the cars in front, the better will be the result at the end of the race. Therefore I was just pushing to the maximum in the first stint.

"We stopped when it was faster on dry tyres already, so we were a bit on the safe side, but then we went back on the circuit and there was rain coming again. We were on a one-stopper, we were filled to the end, there was no point to come back in and put intermediates on. The weather seemed to be getting better again, so it was stay out and try to be as quick as possible and stay on the circuit, which is basically what I did."

Q: Did that result completely eradicate what happened the week before in China?

Vettel: "Yes and no. It took one or two days to get over it, but on the other hand it was good to have a race like China to help you forget."

Q: Any regrets about giving up the Renault World series title when you went to STR?

Vettel: "Definitely, I would have liked to have won the championship, I was in a good position."

Q: Didn't splitting your efforts with F1 also cost you the F3 Euroseries title in 2005?

Vettel: "There were more things than the F1 activities. Each race again has its own story. You're fighting for a championship and you push, sometimes you push a bit too much and you lose it. But the most important thing was that we were competitive and we were able to fight for the title. I was not fifth in the championship or something."

Q: What's your general feeling about 2008?

Vettel: "It would be wrong to say that no we've finished P4, we can finish P4 in every race. It's a tough business. The others are not sleeping, and obviously we are trying to catch up, which isn't easy. But I think we are doing a great job so far. We need some time, and then we will see. Hopefully there will be a steady improvement through the testing and into the season."

Q: You have a new team mate. It's going to be a bit confusing on the pit wall with two 'Seb' signs!

Vettel: "Yeah, but I was here first, so he has to adapt!"

Q: It's going to be interesting, because you've actually had more miles in F1

Vettel: "Yes, but he's more experienced, he did I don't know how many years in Champcar, he won a lot of titles. I hope I can learn something from him. We will see."

Q: Wouldn't it help you to have a more experienced F1 guy in the other car?

Vettel: "It's difficult to say. We will see how fast he is. It's kind of the wrong time now to judge things."

Q: Overall, has F1 been everything you expected it to be?

Vettel: "Driving the car is still much more than I ever expected, it's so nice, it's such a good feeling. I really enjoy it."

Q: What about the rest of it?

Vettel: "Let's say it's a big business, there's a lot of money involved. You have to learn a lot, especially when you are very young, but you just have to get kid of used to it. Some things might never seem normal, but that's the way they go."

Q: Do you feel that you still might have a future with BMW in a few years?

Vettel: "I didn't leave BMW saying, 'You idiots, now I'm off !' You never know if you will work together in the future or not."

Q: Do you still have a relationship with them?

Vettel: "No, there's nothing that says in two years or three years there's an option or whatever. I'm kind of an ambassador outside F1, and that's it."

Q: So if Ferrari or McLaren come looking for you, you will potentially be available?

Vettel: "If the package is attractive, then we'll see! First I'm focussed on next season, there's quite a tough job to do..."

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