Baby Schumi and the Path to Glory

Considering the rave reviews and near-universal acclaim Sebastian Vettel attracts now, it is somewhat strange to reflect that less than two years ago BMW released him from his contract with them.

At that time, July 1997, BMW F1 boss Mario Thiessen said "....the current testing rules mean that he barely gets a chance to drive for us. Now he has been offered the opportunity to get inside a Toro Rosso cockpit. We have sponsored and coached Sebastian over a number of years. To place obstacles in his career path now would go against our concept of talent promotion."

Good call, Mario. You're a genius.

So Vettel replaced the sacked Scott Speed at Torro Rosso, his first drive for them being the Hungarian Grand Prix. The team had cruelly announced that Vettel would partner Sébastien Bourdais in 2008, leaving Tonio Luizzi to drive the last seven races of 2007 under sentence of departure.

For most of the final phase of the 1997 season, Luizzi pretty much kicked Vettel's arse. But when rain came to the Japanese Grand Prix the young German made his way up to fourth position before being taken out of the race by a collision with Mark Webber. And at the following race in China, Vettel finished fourth. In both of those races, Vettel had shown his special ability in the wet.

He was on his way.

The 2008 season started very badly for Vettel. A series of bumps and scrapes saw him fail to complete even the first lap in the opening three races. By Monaco, and again in wet conditions, he was able to finish a very respectable fifth, and went on to score his and Torro Rosso's first win in the rain at Monza.

Because he is a German driver who is particularly excellent in wet conditions, the German media have nicknamed Vettel 'Baby Schumi', because they see him as the heir to 'rainmaster'

Michael Schumacher.

Vettel finished the 2008 season with 35 championship points, comprehensively defeating his team-mate Sébastien Bourdais, who scored an embarassing 4 points.

When it was announced that Vettel would drive for Red Bull in 2009, many of us were concerned that it would not be a good career move for him. We need not have worried.

Having already scored a first and a second place in 2009, Sebastian Vettel is now very much a star. Barring some horrible calamity, he should be a star of the future as well, and with every chance of world championships to his name.

At the moment Vettel holds the records for being the youngest driver to score F1 points, the youngest to take pole position, and the youngest to win a grand prix. To grab Lewis Hamilton's record of being the youngest winner of the drivers' title he will have to win it in 2009 or 2010; to an outsider that looks far from impossible.

Who then, could stop Vettel becoming one of the greats, a multiple world champion?