All the (super)Numbers of Sebastian Vettel in RedBull

They have made the history of Formula 1 over the last 5 years, and now they part ways, one to follow his dream, the other to raise other champions of the future. We are talking about Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Everyone knew that Vettel's arrival in red would only be a matter of time, and in fact the moment has arrived. Abu Dhabi was the German champion's last race with the team that provided him with a space car for four years, with which he amassed successes and records. In these 6 years spent at Red Bull Vettel has achieved the beauty of 1.577 points, for an average of 14 per race, as if he had consistently finished third and fourth every two races. If this wasn't enough to convey the power expressed by the Vettel RedBull duo, the time has come to report the raw numbers of this extraordinary couple.

38 victories in 103 Grands Prix. More than one GP out of three won on average.

44 Pole Positions. More than one every three grand prix on average.

66 Podiums. That is two races out of 3 in the first three places.

Record 18 front row starts in 19 races in the extraordinary 2011 season.

Record of greatest number of victories starting from Pole position: 9 in the 2011 season, as did Nigel Mansell in 1992.

Highest number of Pole Positions in a single season, with 15 in 2011.

Greater number of circuits on which he obtained Pole Position, 20 like Alain Prost.

Record of the highest number of points won in a single season with 397 in 2013, beating the record already held by himself of 392 in 2011.

Most consecutive victories, 9 from the 2013 Belgian GP to the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Most wins in a single season tied with Michael Schumacher: 13 in 2013.

The youngest driver to win a world championship.

The only and youngest rider to win his first three and four world titles consecutively.

In reality, these numbers have never made Formula 1 fans completely love Sebastian. Very often all the credit for his successes has been traced back to the extraordinary qualities of the RedBull cars designed by Adrian Newey.

Since 2010, the Redbull was the best car on the track, but the talent of the very young German driver was not yet fully mature, in fact he made numerous mistakes during the season, such as at the Turkish Grand Prix, where he put himself out of action ruining Mark Webber's race, or in Belgium, where he rammed Button's car, causing him to retire and having to lose a lot of time himself, finishing the race fifteenth. However, these vicissitudes, including the engine failure in Korea when he was leading the race, did not prevent him from obtaining five victories in that season, and from incredibly winning the title at the last race in Abu Dhabi where he was the his teammate to be the favorite and further ahead in the standings.

The five victories in 2010 were added to the four obtained with Redbull the previous year, that of the Brawn GP domination, forming a very rich haul of nine victories in just two seasons.

But the best was yet to come.

The 2011 season opened amid renewed controversy over the Austrian team's wings that flexed too much, but the real secret of that year was the blowing exhausts, the real winning weapon of Adrian Newey and his entourage. The six victories and three second places that the German driver managed to achieve in the first nine races of the season immediately declared the team the moral and de facto winner of that season. Ruining the statistics of a perfect season came a "miserable" fourth place in Germany and the retirement due to a mysterious puncture in Abu Dhabi, and for the rest there were only podiums and victories. 2011 was undoubtedly the best season for the Vettel-Red Bull duo, as their dominance extended throughout the season, from the first to the last race, without any car or driver being able to really worry anyone at home. RedBull.

The 2012 season seemed to mark the end of the Austrian team's dominance in Formula 1. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Sebastian's results in the first part of the season were certainly good, but certainly not up to expectations considering the season that has just ended. Until the Italian event he achieved a single victory in Bahrain, and on the eve of Singapore his gap to the championship leader was thirty-nine points. However, the Asian circuits greatly favored Red Bull, which with Sebastian achieved four consecutive victories, taking the lead again in the world championship, also thanks to Alonso's retirement in Suzuka. The last three races were head to head with the Spanish driver. In Abu Dhabi Vettel made a splendid comeback that took him from last place to third, just behind his rival. In the United States he managed to stay ahead of Alonso but was overtaken by Hamilton who went on to win. In the last race he only managed a sixth place in one of the most chaotic and, from his point of view, luckiest races of his career. At turn 4 he was rear-ended by Bruno Senna but incredibly his car emerged without a scratch. Sebastian got back on track after the spin and went on to get enough points to win his fourth world championship.

2013 was the turn of another extraordinary car by Andian Newey &Co. The good results were visible right away, however the fight for the world championship remained open at least until mid-season. The victories obtained in the first ten races were four, not few, but not too many to be a RB. The domination began in Belgium, ending in Brazil three months later. Nine games in a row won, as no one had ever done in the top flight. The fourth world title was taken home hands down in India, complete with a donut show on the main straight. “Thank you guys, let's enjoy these moments because we don't know how long they can last”. An extremely prophetic phrase uttered many times by Vettel at the end of the races he dominated in 2013.

In 2014, in fact, the dominance of the Austrian manufacturer was abruptly interrupted and, to rather annoy Sebastian, the new protégé Daniel Ricciardo arrived. Another driver born and raised in the RedBull growth program. During this last season Vettel was beaten several times both in qualifying and in the race by his new teammate, who managed to win three races, interrupting Mercedes' undisputed dominance. In the end the desire to seek new challenges and a new environment prevailed, and already in Japan the announcement arrived that he was saying goodbye to the team that had given him all the success during the previous four years. This was the first season since Sebastian has raced for Red Bull in which he has not won a single grand prix, and this coincides with the same bad luck as his next team. Vettel will have to live up to Ferrari to take Fernando Alonso's place, a place that will not be easy to conquer, especially in the hearts of the fans. But nothing is impossible.

Matteo Bramati.