Sebastian Vettel- A prodigy behind the wheel or just a lucky bloke?

Sebastian Vettel- a racing prodigy, 25 and current world champion. He’s won the F1 championship thrice on the trot viz. 2010, 2011 and 2012 and looks promising for the 4th consecutive title. So has he been just lucky (as his critics claim) or he’s a prodigy indeed?

Vettel already holds gazillion “youngest” Formula One records: the youngest driver to have taken part in an official practice session of a Grand Prix, to score championship points, to lead a race, to secure pole position, and to win a race. He is also currently 3rd in the overall tally of pole positions behind fellow German, his idol and most successful Formula 1 driver ever Michael Schumacher, and 3-time world champion Ayrton Senna.

Lets look at his head to head with other giants in the circuit. What’s astonishing from this comparison is his % race wins, where he beats Senna hands down and just marginally below Schumacher and Prost. Also, his % of pole positions; where he’s even miles ahead of Schumacher and Prost and thrice as good as Alonso. 😛 He’s joint 4th in the all time leading championship winner’s list already. He has a substantial lead in this season and stands a good chance to be at joint #3 with the legend Alain Prost at the end of this season.

Driver	Races	Podium	Wins	Pole position	Fastest Laps	Championships
Schumacher	307	155	91	68	77	7
Fangio	51	35	24	29	23	5
Prost	199	106	51	33	41	4
Vettel	108	51	29	39	18	3
Senna	161	80	41	65	19	3
Alonso	204	90	32	22	19	2

He’s often compared to his fellow veteran driver Fernando Alonso. And the latter seems to have more fans across the globe compared to Vettel. However stats clearly shows that Vettel is already miles ahead of Alonso when it comes to % of race wins and % of pole positions. Vettel’s race wins % is staggering 27% compared to Alonso’s abysmal 16%. Vettel has won 1 championship more than his counterpart. Also, he’s just 3 race wins behind and 1 fastest lap behind Alonso. Considering his good form, he should be comfortably ahead of him by the end of this season.

Vettel is often called “baby schumi” and “junior Schumacher”. They are perceived to be “master and the protégé at work.” He’s shown us a glimpse of his wizardry behind the wheels in his short stint at the circuit. Though it is difficult to say where he’d stand at the end of his tenure but rest assured, should he continue his current form its imminent that he’d pretty close to Schumacher’s all time record if not better it. He surely has prospects to be the “Sachin Tendulkar” of formula one racing 🙂