So, Sebastian Vettel is on top of the world, once again. Or not?
Well, history will recall that Vettel, in 2012, became the youngest triple F1 world champion, to add to a string of other “youngest ever” records that started way back, in 2006, when he turned up as BMW Sauber’s third driver from the Turkish GP onwards, making him the youngest pilot ever to have competed in an official F1 race weekend, even to this day.
The young Seb laid down a marker almost immediately, one that bode well – though nobody knew it at the time – for Lewis Hamilton’s imminent F1 debut. For on that Friday afternoon in Istanbul the young German kid was fastest of all, see, straight away adding “the youngest to be quickest in an official F1 session” to his “youngest to compete” moniker. And if that wasn’t enough, he posted fastest laps in both Friday sessions at the very next race, at Monza, in Italy, making him the youngest to be fastest overall, on the opening day of a GP weekend.
Those were astonishing feats, but not everybody was equally excited, as reserve drivers had access, in those days, to engines that weren’t going to be used for qualifying and racing. Whereas top drivers were then hampered by self-imposed power restrictions on a Friday, a guy like Vettel could go about his business in an unfettered, flat-out fashion.
Yet, there was something else brewing at the time, too: F1 had entered a new era of drivers. As Michael Schumacher was on the brink of retiring from the sport in 2006, and as the baton had been passed to Alonso (soon to be a double world champion) and Raikkonen (considered to be the fastest driver in the world at that point and on the verge of pushing Schumacher out of Ferrari), Vettel had introduced, almost quietly, the age of the teenage F1 pilot.
Entered Hamilton in 2007, and suddenly – with Alonso – we had the strongest sharp end of the field since Senna, Prost, Mansell and Piquet used to slug it out for title honours in the late 80s and early 90s.
But could it last? Were Vettel’s fastest Friday times and Hamilton’s stellar entry into the sport flukes or not?
Well, Lewis won the title in 2008, the very same year that rewarded Vettel with three more “youngest yet” accolades: the youngest to mount a podium, take pole and win.
It all happened at Monza, of course, where – two years earlier – Seb became the youngest to be quickest during a Friday session, which was duly followed with the youngest ever to score points by finishing 8th at Indianapolis in 2007, whilst standing in for the injured Kubica.
What was interesting about the 2008 Monza victory, however, was that it was achieved in a Toro Rosso, firstly, and on a wet track, secondly.
The latter didn’t come as a massive surprise, however, Vettel having shown his potential by running third during a rain-soaked Japanese GP a year earlier already, before his Toro Rosso crashed into the back of Mark Webber’s Red Bull, behind the safety car.
The “youngest ever” assault didn’t stop with victory in the Italian GP of 2008, either. In 2009, Vettel joined Red Bull and duly won the title in 2010, making him the youngest F1 world champion yet. In 2011, he became the youngest double F1 champion and this year he replaced the late great Ayrton Senna as the sport’s youngest triple champion.
But did he really win the title?
Well, it’s official and it’s written in the record books, and nobody can now take it away from Sebastian.
Yet, he actually should not have bagged this last one. Vettel had a number of skirmishes with overtaking under yellow flags in Brazil. Officialdom cleared him of any wrong-doing at the time – but passed judgement on the wrong incident, something we’ll take a closer look at, in a next blog.
Fernando, interestingly, was also vying with Vettel and Senna for “the youngest triple world champion” moniker at the time. If Vettel had been punished as he should have been, Alonso (at age 31 and 4 months) would have beaten Senna’s record by a couple of months.
As it stands, however, the 25-year young German has bagged that one as well. And even if it did go the Spaniard’s way at the end of 2012, Vettel would have had another six years to take “the youngest triple champ” title back; Seb was born on 3 July 1987; Alonso on 29 July 1981.
But what if Ferrari dominates for the next couple of years, followed by similar stints from Mercedes and McLaren – and suddenly, six years fly by like a dream, or a nightmare . . .
Lewis and Alonso, after all, last won a titles back in 2008 and 2006 respectively! And who would have predicted that, at the time?