With the start of the 2020-21 Formula 1 world championship season getting delayed due to the current Covid-19 situation all the fans were awaiting the start of the season and it seemed as if the next few months will be pretty uneventful for motorsport fans around the world but on 12th may, Sebastian Vettel one of the best drivers of all time announced that he won’t be extending his contract past the current season as he was not able to come to an agreement with the Italian team. This threw the world of racing into a frenzy. With Vettel’s future currently at a crossroads let’s take a brief look at the German’s Glorious Red Bull career with special emphasis on the 2012 Formula one season
Early Career
Torro Rosso (2007-08)
On 31st July 2007 BMW released Sebastian Vettel to Join Red Bull’s scuderia Toro Rosso team replacing Scott Speed to race alongside French driver Sebastian Bourdais.
After a bit of a rocky start to his career that included 4 consecutive DNF’s, Vettel won the 2008 Italian Grand Prix at the legendary Monza track and became the youngest driver in the history of Formula one to win a Grand Prix. He later went on to win the 2008 rookie of the year.
Red Bull Racing ( 2009-14)
The 2009 season was probably the first season in which you could see the development of one of the biggest rivalries of this decade, Sebastian Vettel vs Lewis Hamilton. Although Jenson Button won the 2009 F1 drivers championship Seb managed to finish at a respectable runners up position.
Vettel won his First driver’s championship in the 2010 season after a very closely contested season between Vettel, Alonso, Webber and Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel dominated the 2011 season and won with the difference of a whopping 122 points. He went into the 2013 season with lots of expectations of winning three Championships in a row.
2012 Formula one season
The start to the 2012-13 season was iconic as it had a revord seven different race winners in the first seven races. Despite Alonso’s clear car disadvantage he had won 3 races in the first thirteen compared to Vettel’s 1 which gave him a huge 42 point advantage over his Red Bull rival by mid season. Vettel went on a charge soon after and won four races on the trot to gain a 13 point lead on Alonso. The next two races saw no change at the top as Vettel was disqualified from the Abu Dhabi qualifying and then suffered a loss to Hamilton at the inaugural United States Grand Prix. With his 13 point advantage Vettel and Alonso were expected to battle it out on the tracks at the final race of the season, the Brazilian Grand Prix
2012 Brazil GP
Heading into the weekend Vettel knew he had to win considering it was his Idol, Michael Schumacher’s last race.
The odds were completely with the German as he began fourth place on the grid compared to Alonso’s eighth.
On the day of the race there was a slight drizzle which as we all know could lead to some serious drama and accidents.
The start to the race was very poor as teammate Mark Webber closed out Vettel which allowed the two Ferrari’s and Nico Hulkenberg to pass him around the outside. Heading into turn four he was battling with Kimi Raikkonen when William’s driver Bruno Senna tried to overtake both kimi and Vettel from the inside which led to contact with the Red Bull. Vettel ended up spinning and taking serious damage on the wing. From being the championship favourite he suddenly became the Red Bull who was facing the wrong way. As he saw 15 cars pass him but he could see his hopes of winning three titles in a row as crushed as the front wing of his.
Vettel was very lucky as he was somehow able to continue the race. When everyone was thinking it’s over, Vettel rose from the ashes once again and just like that by the eighth lap he was at P6 and with Alonso only two places ahead of him he was at a championship winning position once again.
With the rain now pouring down on them everyone knew its going to be an exhilarating race ahead.
Amid the Drama of the title race behind them, an interesting battle broke out at the front between McLaren teammates Hamilton and Button and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg. The Mclaren’s changed places at the front of the pack three times within the opening eight laps. Nico ended up overtaking Hamilton in the eighteenth lap only to lose it back to the Englishman.
The race went on with the same high intensity until the 54th lap when Hamilton and Nico ended up colliding sending Hulkenberg back to P6 and forcing Hamilton to retire and sending Alonso back to a championship position. Whilst this was occuring at the same time Vettel was having serious radio problems which resulted in a very long pitstop forcing him to drop back to P11. Sebastian Vettel once again fought back in the rainy weather to finish P6 and just ended up beating Alonso in the Driver’s championship by 3 points.
Vettel broke many records and shattered all expectations by winning the 2013 Formula one season as well winning his 4th consecutive world championship in a row before announcing his departure to Ferrari
Impact of Seb’s departure on the drivers lineup
With Vettel’s departure confirmed at the end of the ‘21 season the Italian giants decided that The Spanish McLaren driver Carlos Sainz is the correct option to partner up with the Monegasque ensation Charles Leclerc. The two youngsters will officially be Ferrari’s second youngest ever lineup. Unfortunately for all of us this move meant the breaking up of the Sainz-Lando bromance at McLaren. This vacant seat will officially be filled up by the Australian racer Daniel Ricciardo. Ricciaordo left the Red Bull racing team for Renault at the end of the 2018 season but was unable to perform upto his expectations in the 19-20 season finishing 9th in the driver standings. There is even a speculation around, It is believed that legendary retired driver Fernando Alonso may be making a comeback with Renault.
The main question remains Will Sebastian Vettel retire at the mere age of 32 or will we finally be seeing him in that beautiful silver livery alongside his famous rival Lewis Hamilton?
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