Sebastian Vettel is the 2010 Drivers' World Champion, winning the title driving for Red Bull Racing. Vettel is a phenomenal talent, holding several records for being the youngest driver to achieve a F1 driving feat, most notably the youngest F1 world drivers' champion, (23 years 133 days). Vettel is also the youngest Formula 1 driver to secure pole position, and the youngest F1 race winner, (2008 Italian GP).  In 2010, he (along with his teammate Webber) was arguably driving the fastest car, but reliability issues and costly driving errors plagued his season, however, he also secured ten pole positions and five wins. The 2010 season will be remembered as one of the most exciting and competitive, with four drivers still in championship contention at the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. That Vettel should emerge victorious testament to his immense talent and driving skills.

Sebastian Vettel has chosen to remain with Red Bull racing for the 2011 season.

 

Nationality & DoB	German, 03-07-87
Team	Red Bull Racing
Car Number	1
Prior Teams	Toro Rosso (08, 07)
	Sauber (07) -1 race
Championships	1 (2010)
Races	62
Wins	10
Podiums	19
Pole Positions	15
Fastest Laps	6
First Race	2007 United States Grand Prix
First Win	2008 Italian Grand Prix
Last Win	2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

Vettel in common with most F1 drivers began in Karting, winning several titles. In 2003 he raced in the German Formula BMW championship, winning the title in 2004 with 18 victories from 20 races. He moved to the Formula Three Euro series, finishing the 2005 season in fifth, and the 2006 as runner up.

In 2007 Vettel was competing in the World Series by Renault when he secured a drive in F1, (he was leading the championship at the time). Vettel had become BMW Sauber's third driver in 2006, and was confirmed as BMW's test driver for 2007. Following the serious crash of regular BMW driver Robert Kubica at the Canadian GP, Vettel substituted for him at the USA GP. Vettel qualified for his first Grand Prix in seventh and finished in eight, becoming, at the age of 19 years and 349 days, the youngest driver ever to score a point in Formula 1.
 
After the USA GP, Sauber released Vettel to join the Scuderia Toro Rosso to take a race seat from the Hungarian GP onwards. Vettel struggled with pace in his first face. In Japan he was running in third when he crashed into Webber (Red Bull) under safety car conditions taking them both out of the race. Vettel was initially given a ten-place grid penalty for the following race, but this was lifted after a spectator video showed the incident may have been caused by Hamilton's behaviour behind the safety car. Vettel demonstrated his skills in the Chinese GP, starting in seventeenth on the grid he finished in fourth;- his and Torro Rosso's best race result.
 
Vettel continued to drive for Toro Rosso in the 2008 season. The year was remarkable for its highs and lows. After the first four races Vettel had not finished a race, crashing out in three because of accidents caused by others. At the sixth and seventh races of the season, Monaco and Canada, he scored points finishing in seventh and eighth respectively. A series of encouraging drives and results followed but mechanical issues and accidents caused further retirements.

The great high of the season for both Vettel and Torro Rosso came at the Italian GP. Vettel had remarkably qualified in pole position, a fabulous achievement for the young Vettel and also a team that is the 'B' team for Red Bull. Vettel led for the majority of the race and finished 12.5 seconds ahead of the following McLaren. Team boss, Gerhard Berger said, 'As he proved today, he can win races, but he's going to win world championships. He's a cool guy'.
 
Vettel finished the season in eighth place in the drivers' championship. To put the strength of his performance in context; his team mate Sébastien Bourdais was seventeenth, Coulthard driving for the Red Bull team was sixteenth and Webber in the other Red Bull eleventh.
 
In 2009 Vettel moved to Red Bull, his team mate was Mark Webber, who Vettel had beaten in the previous year despite racing for the 'B' Red Bull team, Toro Rosso. Vettel was soon to demonstrate that he was the number 1 team driver and the much more experienced Webber number 2.

Vettel performed well in the first two races of the season but had to retire. But in China he qualified in pole and won the race. It was Red Bull's first race win. The brilliant results continued:

In the Bahrain GP, Vettel qualified in third and finished second. In Spain he qualified in second and finished the race in fourth. Vettel won the British GP after claiming pole position in qualifying. At the German GP he qualified fourth and finished second. At the Hungarian GP Vettel qualified second, but had to retire from the race on lap 30. At the European GP he qualified fourth but had to retire from the race with an engine failure. He finished third at the Belgian GP, and struggled for pace at Monza, finishing 8th at a race he previously won. He qualified 2nd at Singapore, but was given a drive-though penalty for speeding in the pit lane and damaged the diffuser on a kerb, struggling to 4th. He subsequently won the Japanese Grand Prix from pole position.

At the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix Vettel needed to finish in the top two to keep his championship hope alive. Terrible conditions in qualifying resulted in a 16th place on the start grid. Title rivals Jenson Button qualified (14th) and Rubens Barrichello (1st). He finished 4th with Button finishing 5th giving Button the Championship and moving Vettel up into 2nd place. He officially claimed 2nd place by winning the inaugural Abu Dhabi GP.
 
At the start of the 2010 season, Vettel was clearly one of the favorites; his second place in the championship in 2009 confirmed his ability. However, the grid was crowned with three former champions, Schumacher, Alonso and Hamilton as well as the current [2009] champion Jenson Button. Some also viewed Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber a strong championship contender. The pre-season testing had confirmed that Adrian Newey had once again designed a very fast car, but Red Bull were still a comparatively new team, and the dominance of Ferrari and McLaren would not be easily broken, particularly with Alonso and Hamilton driving for them.

At the season opener in Bahrain, Vettel produced a fabulous qualifying lap to claim pole and was in a commanding lead in the race when his car developed spark plug problems, causing him to slow and allowing him to be passed by the Ferrari's and Hamilton. Fourth place was a reasonable result, but without the reliability issue, he was the likely winner. Vettel was unlucky again in Australia, having qualified in pole and when leading the race he span off the track due to a loose wheel nut.   

Vettels fortunes improved in Malaysia, taking his first win of the season in a Red Bull one two. Despite gaining another pole in China, the race strategy in the wet was poor and he finished in a disappointing sixth place.

Mark Webber emerged from Vettel's shadow in Spain and out qualified the young German, Vettel's problems escalated with brake issues, but he managed to finish third. Surprisingly, Webber's good form continued and Vettel was again out-qualified by the older Australian who went on to win the race with Vettel a creditable second. The real surprise was that Webber was now leading the championship, and his title credentials were been taken seriously by some pundits.

The Turkish GP was a fascinating insight into the two Red Bull protagonists and the team leadership. Until Turkey, Webber and Vettel maintained a facade of friendliness and camaraderie, however such never seemed anything other than waver thin. Webber seemed ill at ease with the presence of the far more talented younger German driver, and Vettel personality effortlessly played to Webber's insecurities.

The first rule in any of the teams is that you don't take your team mate out of the race, however, such was forgotten in Turkey as Vettel attempted to overtake Webber who were running fist and second. The nose of Vettel's car was ahead of Webber but neither would yield, and the two collided causing Vettel's immediate retirement. Webber was able to finish the race in third place, behind the two McLarens. Both drivers claimed they were not at fault, and the team management seemed to vacillate, however the team owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, strongly implied that Webber was at fault, and in so doing exposed the underlying tensions in the team. Importantly, the incident had derailed Vettel's championship chances as he was now in fifth place in the standings.

A fourth place finish in Canada kept him in contention and a pole and win at the European GP restored the momentum in his title fight.

The tensions at Red Bull and team believe in Vettel was once a exposed at the British GP. The car's front wing was upgraded, but Vettel damaged his new part in the third practice session. Team principle Horner instructed that the new wing be removed from Webber's car and fitted to Vettel's.  Webber reacted in his typical style, publically voicing his displeasure at the team decision.  Vettel qualified once again on pole, but suffered a puncture on the first lap. Vettel demonstrated great skill in moving through the field and eventually claimed a hard fought seventh place. Webber won the race, and then chimed like a small hurt child, that his performance wasn't bad for a number two driver. (The irony was lost on Webber, indeed he had driven well, and he was the number two driver, beating a teammate who had a puncture not exactly the greatest racing achievement).

A third place in Germany was a little disappointing in front of his home fans, he had very narrowly qualified on pole but had a poor start and lost out to a Ferrari one two. The third place in Hungary a result of inexperience when Vettel infringed the safety car rules and allowed a greater than ten car length to develop and had to serve a drive through penalty.

Belgium was a poor race for Vettel, he was reckless in attempting to overtake Jenson Button and the collision resulted in Button's immediate retirement. Vettel had to pit but was able to continue to race, however, he was latter to puncture a tyre and finished outside of the points in 15th place. At Monza Vettel once again had car troubles, but was still able to finish in fourth and in Singapore a second place finish ensured that he moved from fifth to fourth in the championship standings. However, to most his chances of securing the world championship seemed small. A win in Japan ensured that Vettel maintained the pressure on the other contenders, but in particular, Vettel's success under pressure seemed to further evidence his teammate's lack of grit.

Korea was a disaster for Red Bull, Mark Webber made a silly mistake that resulted in a big crash and immediate retirement, Vettel looked set to win, having started on pole, however, on lap 45 his engine failed and Fernando Alonso claimed an easy win. The blow to Webber's confidence was visible; if he had kept his nerve in Korea, he could well have won the championship. Vettel won the penultimate race of the season in Brazil, to set up a fabulous battle in the last race in Abu Dhabi. He went into the final race with a 15-point deficit to Alonso, and a 7-point gap to Webber. A win was a must for Vettel, but he also need Webber and Alonso to have a poor day. Remarkably, Alonso who had had a fabulous second half of the season was poorly managed by the support crew and was pitted far too soon, emerging in a long procession of slow cars. Alonso was 'marking' Webber, but it was to be Vettel's day, winning the race and with Alonso finishing in seventh and Webber in 8th he became the F1 drivers' world champion.

Sebastian Vettel will be driving for Red Bull in 2011, if the cars reliability is improved they will once again be difficult to beat.
 

F1 record

Season	Team	Races	Wins	Poles	F/Laps	Podiums	Points	Position
2007	Sauber	1	0	0	0	0	6	14th
2007	Toro Rosso	7	0	0	0	0
2008	Toro Rosso	18	1	1	0	1	35	8th
2009	Red Bull	17	4	4	3	8	84	2nd
2010	Red Bull	19	5	10	3	10	256	1st

As at the end of the 2010 Season, Vettel holds the following F1 Records:

Youngest driver to drive at a GP meeting	2006 Turkish GP (Aged 19 years, 53 days)
Youngest driver to set fastest time in GP session	2006 Turkish GP (Aged 19 years, 53 days)
Youngest driver to score points in F1	2007 United States GP (Aged 19 years, 349 days)
Youngest race leader in F1, for at least one lap	2007 Japanese GP (Aged 20 years, 89 days)
Youngest GP pole position winner	2008 Italian GP (Aged 21 years, 73 days)
Youngest driver to score a podium position	2008 Italian GP (Aged 21 years, 73 days)
Youngest GP Winner	2008 Italian GP (Aged 21 years, 73 days)
Youngest F1 World Drivers' Champion	2010 season (Aged 23 years, 134 days)