Baby Shumi And The Path To Glory: Part 2

This is the second article in a two-part series. The first is reprised below.

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British F1 fans have a small army of F1 World Champions in the national pride locker, the Germans have only one. So it was probably inevitable that the German media would seize on Sebastian Vettel as heir-apparent to Michael Schumacher's crown, but I think it is unfair.

It is unfair because Vettel is an individual in his own right, and entitled to create his own legend, and also because the circumstances that enabled Schumacher to record seven World Championships are unlikely to be repeated. In any Shumacher/Vettel comparison, Sebastian is unlikely to ever match up, and neither is anyone else.

In writing the above I am not attempting to answer the 'who was the greatest F1 driver' question; I view it as unanswerable. But determining who was the most successful is a simple matter of consulting the cold and impartial statistics; they tell us that Schumacher scored the most poles, wins, and championships.

I do not think 'Baby Schumi' Sebastian Vettel will be able to bust the records set by his predecessor because the Schumacher-centred mini-team that moved from Benneton to Ferrari was a unique creation. It put MS is a position where he was able to deploy his undoubted talent as the team's undisputed top driver, with all effort focused on putting him in a position to achieve wins.

To be in a position to match Schumacher, Vettel would have to be in a similar position of being the spearpoint of a massively talented squad, and I just cannot see that situation arising again.

In this 2009 season the obvious obstacle to Vettel's ambitions is the Brawn GP pairing of Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello.

Barichello is a constant reminder that the Schumacher coterie permitted no in-team rivalries, only a supporting cast. Button is making a very strong thrust for the championship, but I have heard no suggestion that Barichello would not be allowed to score his own wins, and if he does so that would clearly undermine his team-mate's bid for glory.

Similarly, Vettel has been out-performing his team-mate, which is always a sure sign of quality. But the team seems to be genuinely even-handed between their drivers, and while that is very fair to Mark Webber, it could have consequences for Vettel's title ambitions this year.

My tentative conclusion at this stage of the season is that 2009 will not see Vettel crowned as champion; Brawn are still very quick and Ferrari's Massa is looking a real threat.

For 2010 and onwards, Vettel will surely still have to contend with Button, Massa, and (I strongly suspect) Alonso. Possibly BMW will get their act together, maybe Toyota will stick around and really start to deliver; those are big unknowns.

There could also be menacing newcomers, but there would be no point in me speculating about them.

As I consider the present and likely future F1 fields, I see one big rival to Sebastian Vettel.

Lewis Hamilton.Well hey, I said you might not agree with me.

Assuming that Mercedes stay in F1 with McLaren, and that the team does not melt-down in some horrendous scandal, Hamilton should be well-placed to succeed in the next few years. McLaren may loudly claim that they treat their drivers as equals, I do not believe them, and it is clear that nobody in F1 believes them.

As the focus of the second most experienced team in F1, Hamilton will benefit from what is a rare luxury in the sport, being undisputed top dog. While Ferrari and other teams throw two spears at the driver title, McLaren put all their muscle into launching Hamilton at the target. For precisely that reason, no other top driver would consider joining the team while Hamilton is there; the situation is self-sustaining.

McLaren are currently having a bad year. That means nothing, it happens to all top teams. When they recover, and they will recover, it is my hope and belief that we will see Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton as the two titans of the sport. When that happens, either Vettel will be the sole focus of his team's efforts, or he will be seriously disadvantaged.

However Vettel progresses, and I admit my record as a seer if not good, it can only be good for F1 to have this talented and likeable young driver in the sport. Expectation is a heavy burden to carry, yet I cannot doubt Vettel has the gifts to support it, and like every F1 fan I will be watching with great interest.

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Baby Schumi And The Path To Glory part 1

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 embarrassing 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?

In the next and final part of this article, to be published before the Spanish Grand Prix, I will be considering who might stand in Sebastian Vettel's path to glory.

You may not agree with me.