Vettel: Baby Schumi or eternal promise?

He has an uncomfortable nickname, Baby Schumi, and has been referred to several times as F1's "promise".

Sebastian Vettel, 23 years old from Heppenheim (Germany, 3 July 1987), in the year that should have consecrated him as the new F1 phenomenon, is undergoing an involution that has made many, including professionals and fans, change their minds about him.

Promising debuts

“Seb”, since his debut in F1 in 2006 as a BMW tester, has shown an incredible growth process for a little more than a twenty-year-old.

The 2007/2008 period at the wheel of Toro Rosso confirmed the growth of what everyone immediately defined as "Baby Schumi" (also for the various karting sessions at the Kart track owned by Michael Schumacher in Kerpen).

In fact, he is currently the youngest driver to have obtained a Pole Position, the first victory in F1 and to have finished on the podium.
All this in the rain-filled race of Monza 2008, where with perfect conduct he danced on the water, leading the race from start to finish, like a true expert despite being only 21 years and 73 days old.

The excellent 2008 season in Toro Rosso thus led Red Bull to proclaim him as the 2009 starting driver in place of the excellent retired David Coulthard, alongside a Mark Webber who started with the implicit role of sidekick to the little German.

However, the first half of the year gave the impression of what would be the rest of the Championship, with a Brawn GP defending the large advantage it achieved at the beginning thanks to the double diffuser.

Even though Seb recovered several points in the second part of the season, he is only 11 points behind the champion Jenson Button. If we then take into consideration the number of retirements (only one for the Englishman compared to five for the German), with greater consistency he could have even aspired to the title.

2010, from dreams to nightmares

The new year fills Vettel's fans with expectations and the driver himself, probably, with pressure.
Sebastian starts with the underdogs, and Red Bull itself treats him as first driver.
However, living with Mark Webber is more difficult than you might think. The two belong to different generations and their "non-friendship" relationship within the Cans box clearly shines through in the interviews.

Sebastian starts very strong. He wins the first two poles of the season, but his Red Bull betrays him in both cases when he was firmly in the lead. In Bahrain a reliability problem forced him to leave positions in favor of the two Ferraris and Hamilton's Mclaren. In Australia it was the brakes that put an end to the German's race, still in the lead.
The first victory finally arrives in Malaysia, while in China Sebastian is unable to take advantage of the pole and will finish sixth in a controversial race due to the weather conditions.
In Barcelona it is still a reliability problem that denies him a comfortable second place behind Webber (with his first victory of the season), a position which however arrives in Monte Carlo, still behind his teammate who in the meantime is starting to climb the World Championship rankings and also that of consensus .

In Turkey the disagreements between the two literally explode in the Istanbul patatrac.

Vettel rails against Webber after the Istanbul crash.

Cohabitation has become total separation.

In Valencia, on the Sunday of Webber's angel flight over Kovalainen, Vettel achieved his second and final victory of the season.
In the last four races, in which Mark achieved two victories, Sebastian made too many mistakes. At Silverstone he missed the start and was forced to come back from the back due to a punctured tyre. In Hungary he was given a Drive-Through for not having respected the minimum distance from the Safety car, and in Spa he ruined his race and also that of the innocent (and gentleman) Jenson Button with a risky overtaking attempt.

Jenson Button 'thanks' Sebastian Vettel for forcing him to retire

The stewards also penalized him with the second Drive-Through in the space of two races for having caused the accident. But in this case we would like to say that, perhaps, the commissioners exaggerated. Punishing an inadvertent mistake is an incentive to not even try.

The Poles are not enough

Vettel has won 7 of the 13 poles available this year, followed by Webber with 5 and Hamilton with the only (fantastic) one in Canada.
If on Saturday Sebastian didn't seem to have any major problems, on Sunday the pressure played tricks on the German.

We don't know if the internal struggle with his teammate had an impact, but in the second part of the season (and probably from Istanbul onwards) he lost concentration. And this certainly worked in Webber's favour, who surpassed him in terms of seasonal victories (4 to 2) and after Spa, with 6 races still to go, he found himself fighting alone with Lewis Hamilton for the final classification.

Seb (and perhaps Chris Horner too) didn't expect such a season from the Australian, and he lost the tranquility typical of someone who knows he is a "safe" first driver. The fact remains that for him the season is not compromised, but almost. Just like Alonso, he is still mathematically in contention for the 2010 World Cup but he will no longer be allowed distractions. And if things don't improve already from Monza, Red Bull will be forced to sacrifice him to bet everything on Webber, for the chance of a lifetime to bring home a World Championship which, all things considered, would be deserved.

Talent is not enough

Vettel's season is indicative of the fact that talent is not the only skill needed to become a World Champion.
Speaking of pure speed, Vettel is clearly in the top group. But they lack consistency, tactics, a pinch of accounting and strong nerves.

Sebastian is no longer a promise, because he has been in the circus as a tester since 2006 and fully since the end of 2007. One wonders whether the experience of these first years will also help him mature in what he lacks to become a complete driver, move away from that uncomfortable nickname of “Baby Schumi” and be called simply Sebastian Vettel.

Alessandro Secchi