Mario Theissen: “Vettel can break Schumacher’s records”

By winning his third consecutive title at Interlagos, Sebastian Vettel made history in Formula 1 by joining Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only other drivers to have claimed the world crown three times in a row. This list also includes Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet Sr, Niki Lauda, Jack Brabham, and Sir Jackie Stewart, who have won three titles or more over their entire careers. Quite the illustrious company.

At only 25 years old, the young German driver already holds numerous precocity records: youngest driver to score a point, youngest pole sitter, youngest winner, and now the youngest triple world champion. And with a long career still ahead of him, he might not stop there. That is, in any case, the opinion of Mario Theissen, the man who enabled Vettel to make his F1 debut, which was in 2007 in Indianapolis: « Fangio dominated his era, Schumacher did the same, and now I think that after his performance, Sebastian has a good chance of becoming one of those drivers who truly dominate, not just for a season but over 4 or 5 years. He certainly has a chance to do it [to break Schumacher’s records, ed.]. Anything can happen. He is one of the big names in the discipline. If everything goes well, Sebastian has another 10 years ahead of him, » reports Theissen to the BBC.

The first meeting between Theissen and the young German dates back to the time when Vettel, then 13 years old, was about to make his debut in Formula BMW. « He was different from the other boys. When he arrived, it was clear that he was very talented but also more mature, more focused, and determined than other boys his age, » recalls Theissen, who does not hesitate to compare him to Michael Schumacher: « He has the work ethic and determination of Michael Schumacher and that is something he has had throughout his career. »

After dominating the German Formula BMW championship in 2004, winning 18 out of 20 races, Vettel continued his ascent to F1 through the Formula 3 Euroseries and then the World Series by Renault. But he didn’t find the same success there. « He didn’t achieve good results, and it was different from what we expected. But seeing him stay focused and think about the next step was impressive, » recalls Mario Theissen.

Impressive, that’s also what Bertrand Baguette, Formula Renault 3.5 champion in 2009, remembers, who made his debut in the discipline in 2007 before Vettel made the big leap to F1. “When I raced against him [in Formula Renault 3.5], he was already a bit of a star. He was already in F1, so we liked to compare ourselves to him, see how he behaved. Even back then, he was very fast in qualifying, often getting poles. When he left our championship to go to F1, he was leading the standings,” recalls the Belgian on the RTBF broadcast.

The trust placed in him by Theissen to compensate for Kubica’s absence will be a good choice as he finishes 8th in the event, thus scoring his first points in Formula 1: « When we put him in the car, he immediately proved he could do a good job. Putting him in the race car was a risk, but we weren’t fighting for the championship, so we didn’t put too much pressure on him. We told him to take it easy and that’s what he did. At the start, you could see he lacked experience, he was very cautious. He tried not to damage the car and lost a few places, but afterward, he was very solid. For me, it was a turning point. You could see he would be a very good Formula 1 driver, » says Theissen.

The rest is history, Red Bull takes him back into its fold by placing him with Toro Rosso for the remainder of the season. In 2008, he secures his first pole position followed by his first victory at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, under the rain, before moving to the A team of the energy drink brand and fighting for the championship starting in 2009 and then winning the next three in 2010, 2011, and 2012.