Vettel starts from scratch and still wants more titles

With two titles under his belt and a few records to go with them, one might think Sebastian Vettel is satisfied with his laurels, but the German begins 2012 with the goal of becoming the third driver in the history of the discipline to win three consecutive titles, something only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have done so far. Often in Formula One, it is agreed that once you’ve secured your first title, you reach a milestone, enter a new category, and feel a weight lifted: “My goal has always been to be world champion, and winning the first title is a great relief because it proves to yourself that you can do it, which is more important than anything else because no one can take it away from you,” confides the double reigning world champion during a promotional event organized on the famous St. Kilda beach in Melbourne.

The German, however, does not intend to rest on his laurels: « That does not mean you don’t care about what happens next, quite the opposite: you know that everything starts again, everyone starts from scratch, and you naturally want to do it again. So I never had to ask myself if I wanted to continue or what I was doing in F1. Nothing has changed, I’m still hungry for victory, and I’m still frustrated when someone else wins, which is certainly a good thing. » Everyone will thus remember the anger the young German showed on the wheel of his RB7 returning to retire during the 2011 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, even though he was already assured of the title and satiated with victories.

However, as the 2012 season promises to be tighter than the previous year, Sebastian Vettel claims not to fear defeat: « Everyone is beaten one day or another, and it’s not so much that moment that matters but rather how you come out of it. There’s nothing wrong with losing, but there are many races, and the one who is the most consistent and steady will deserve to win the world championship » says the Red Bull driver.

While his team regularly highlights that the German has managed to keep his feet on the ground, Sebastian Vettel gives a new illustration: « It would be completely immature to believe that nothing can ever go wrong. I think, based on what I have seen and experienced so far, I should be intelligent enough to know that things don’t always go in your favor. To be honest, it hasn’t always been the case in recent years, and if you look closely, last year, of course, we had a great season, but there were also races where I think we could have done better and others where we should have done better » insists the German with this demand that has contributed to his success in the top category.

The Red Bull driver is actually very happy that not everything is predictable: « To be honest, we would be a bit bored if that were the case. I don’t think half the people would be there, that they would have made the effort to fly if everything were predetermined. » The German is actually preparing for a tight season and anticipates some surprises, especially from Lotus: « They were very strong in testing, but we still have to wait, there are only a few days left, and then we will know a bit more. »

For his part, Sebastian Vettel experienced a relatively frustrating end to the private tests as his RB8 suffered from reliability issues, which do not alarm him too much: « We would have loved to do a bit more on the last day, but I don’t think, to be honest, that our reliability is disastrous. It might seem worse than it actually is. Obviously, you have to understand that we have a new car and it is private testing, so when you encounter a problem or things start not going in the desired direction, you stop as a precaution, check the car, and it takes time. […] I think the problems we identified have been resolved and rather quickly, but obviously, you can’t react immediately. Like every year, the cars are built to the limit, and we always try to do more, especially when regulations change little. We try to push the limits a bit further, and that’s F1: cars are built to the limit, and sometimes they break. »