Team Vettel - Module 10

C1 Advanced · Multiple Matching · Advanced Expert Coursebook, Pearson Education

You are going to read a magazine article about the team which supports the Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel. For questions 1–10, choose from the sections of the article (A-D). The sections may be chosen more than once.

A The special adviser

‘It wasn’t until 2004 that I nailed down seventeen-year-old Sebastian with a contract and went on to guide his career. In his first year at Formula BMW, he won 18 out of 20 races before going into Formula 3. He had a difficult first half-season, but the second half was good after we’d made quite big changes in the team on Sebastian’s insistence. He can be extremely determined when he feels he needs to be. Sebastian always knew that driving is only a part of motor racing and that if you don’t have the right knowledge and the right support, then you won’t be a regular winner. Over the years, I’ve had to slow him down a bit because he’s wanted to do too much too soon. But we’ve always had a very good working relationship and I’m a great admirer of his courage and powers of concentration, which are unbelievable.’

B The race engineer

‘They call me his “second brain”. At the track, I’m the team’s “face” for him. During a race weekend, essentially I make sure the car is set up to his liking. There’s also the human dimension, as I help him with motivation and how to deal with the inevitable ups and downs. When his car blew up while he was leading in the final stages, he was able to deal with it because we’d rehearsed exactly that type of scenario. To do my job, you have to be as unflappable and confident as possible. If the highs are too high and the lows are too low, then it can become difficult. Generally an understanding of the phrase “There’s only so much you can control,” and an ability to rationalise things, only comes with age, but Seb has that already. It helps that we talk a lot; what you see at a race track is the putting into place of everything we’ve discussed by phone and email since the last race.’

C The technical director

‘Nobody made Vettel. He made himself. But I remember when I was watching him once, I saw him do a lap which was extraordinarily fast even with worn tyres and a heavy fuel load. When we spoke about it and he looked at the data, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d done this, so I told him to go away and give it some thought. The next day he told me “I know what I did.” But I didn’t ask him exactly what that was. That’s for him to know. It’s his secret of being fast, if you like. I just wanted him to think about how he actually did it and register it mentally. Something else that we gave him as a team was our complete trust, and that enabled him to trust us too. In his first race for us, he made a mistake in qualifying and immediately said, “I made a mistake.” Normally, the racing driver’s book of excuses is longer than War and Peace, so this was refreshing.’

D The mentor

‘He caught my attention even as a toddler on my go-kart track because he was very good at what he was doing. The Vettel family wasn’t awash in cash – quite the contrary – and I felt I had to try and prevent his career from stalling in the event of him running out of money, so I helped find him sponsors. I rented out my go-kart business so I could have time to fully support his career, when he was only 10. When he entered Formula 3, I realised it was time for me to step aside. As soon as he got involved in bigger teams, I wasn’t able to actively contribute anymore so I went back to karts. I knew he was in good hands. When he took his first Formula 1 title, it was the greatest gift to me I could think of because it was the perfect acknowledgement that I hadn’t been wrong about him.’

Team Vettel

Even a racing driver as talented as Sebastian Vettel has to learn and be nurtured. We talk to members of Sebastian Vettel’s support team.

admits getting a sense of personal satisfaction from Vettel’s success

appreciates Vettel’s unusual willingness to be honest

feels he occasionally needs to restrain Vettel from being over-ambitious

has encouraged Vettel to analyse his own performance

appreciates Vettel’s mental strength

admits that there was only a limited amount he could teach Vettel

mentions how crucial it was to generate funds for Vettel

sees one of his roles as preparing Vettel for sudden emergencies

believes Vettel is aware of how vital teamwork is to achieving victory

praises Vettel’s emotional maturity

Available as a free printable PDF worksheet with an optional answer key.

More C1 Advanced Multiple Matching practice · All C1 Advanced practice