Schu does Vettel remind you of?
With his first win of the season firmly under his belt, young hotshot Sebastian Vettel is currently looking like the best prospect in Formula One. He is a determined German who can systematically work his way through a pack of cars and is often uncatchable
Remind you of anyone?
That’s right he’s just Michael Schumacher without the ego or the chin. If his car was more reliable Vettel would have maximum points for the season. In Bahrain he was let down when his engine exploded when he lead by miles, while in Australia his Red Bull gave up the ghost when the breaks went on lap 25. You look around the starting grid and see competitive Ferrari’s and McLarens not to mention Ross Brawn’s Mercedes and the veteran Williams side, yet Vettel keeps pulling out results in a Red Bull.
Malaysia was a clear demonstration of Vettel’s talents. The Red Bull driver secured victory with a virtuoso display showing maturity way above his years. There has been so much talk this season about the Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button rivalry at McLaren, the return to form of Ferrari and Schumacher’s comeback that Vettel has been able to fly under the radar.
On Sunday he got ahead of teammate Mark Webber on the first corner and that was it, he was gone. It was like tortoise and the hare, just without the bit where the tortoise catches up.
In the 2009 season Vettel pushed Button all the way, he was on the champion’s tale throughout the season and ended up only just being nudged out of proceedings. Frighteningly he was just 21 years old; this year he will have his sights in going one better.
Most excitingly the win keeps the top seven separated by just nine points, and it is also the third different driver to win a race this season. It looks like the disappointment of Bahrain was just a blip and now things have really shifted up a gear.
As for Vettel’s role model, Schumacher, he continued his quite frankly underwhelming return to the sport he once ruled. The German giant was felled by a mere missing wheel nut this time out and said "I lost a wheel nut basically so there was no more drive left". Clear disappointment from the veteran there.
The seven-time world champion must be asking himself why is it all going wrong, he has his perfect team, a great car but it’s just not happening. Perhaps at 41 his reactions have slowed down to more than he realised. There comes a time when all greats have to call it a day, no-one wants to see Bobby Charlton leading the line for Man Utd crumbling to pieces under a John Terry challenge, the same applies to racers. He is even being out driven by teammate Nico Rosberg, who finished a respectable third and has started to look like Mercedes No.1 driver.
All the plaudits have to go to Red Bull though. They have been quietly going about their business for a number of years now and a lot of time effort and development go into their cars and drivers. Webber took the second place spot giving them the one-two on the podium and it is the first time both cars have finished a race this season, laying to rest any fears they have about reliability.
As for Vettel he will probably run the show for years now, like Schumacher in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Vettel can win title after title. The only drawback is unlike Schumacher there is a wealth of young quality drivers itching to challenge him. Hamilton, Rosberg, Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa all represent bigger challenges to Vettel than the likes of Rubens Barrichello, David Coultard and Jacques Vileneuve did to Schumacher.
In Germany they have already labelled Vettel “Baby Shum”, all eyes will be on the young German for the next Grand Prix in Shanghai and make no mistake, he will be charging around like a Red Bull in a China shop.
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