Sebastian Vettel will end his Formula 1 career at the end of the season. The four-time world champion turned 35 just over a month ago, and he spent his first Grand Prix in June 2007 as part of BMW Sauber and immediately earned a bonus point for 8th place.
Otmar Szafnauer is one of the people who invited Vettel to the Aston Martin team, which the German driver is now ahead of, but it turns out this was not his first attempt to sign a contract with Sebastian.
“I’ve known him since he was 18 or 19 years old,” said the American manager, who was once vice president of Honda Racing Developments, the racing division of the Japanese company. “I was with Honda Racing at the time and Seb came up to me and said, ‘I now have a two week period where I am not under contract with Red Bull or BMW. Maybe you are interested in working with me?’
What Vettel was capable of was not yet known at the time, but I still thought: “Yes, this man is good. And he is off for two weeks!.” So I went to Gilles de Ferrand (then sporting director of Honda) and said: “We have two weeks to sign a contract with Sebastian Vettel”.
According to the German edition of Auto-Bild, this conversation took place in 2007 after Vettel’s debut in the US Grand Prix and before his first race for Toro Rosso, the podium in Hungary. But in the end Sebastian chose to work with Red Bull. As you know, the composition of the Honda factory team, then raced by Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, remained unchanged in 2008.
But Vettel managed to make a good impression on Safnauer and the current head of the Alpine team has not changed him over the years: “He’s a great guy. When he announced his impending resignation, I called him and told him best wishes for the future let him finish his career now but i am sure he will find a worthy profession for himself as you get to know Sebastian better you will understand what a wonderful and kind person he is.
I can tell you that during the pandemic he didn’t want to stay in hotels where the risk of contamination was high. That is why, when he was in England, he stayed at our house and always brought us bread, which he himself bakes in Switzerland.
I still remember the first time my children met him. They liked Sebastian’s homemade bread the most and he has been bringing us fresh ever since. This is amazing! Who else can do this? ..”
Source: F1 News
I’m Todderic Kirkman, a journalist and author for athletistic. I specialize in covering all news related to sports, ranging from basketball to football and everything in between. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, I have become an invaluable asset to my team. My ambition is to bring the most up-to-date information on sports topics around the world.
