Sebastian Vettel has a Crossbow.

Just in case being the youngest formula 1 winner, the youngest ever on pole, having most of the motoring press proclaim you heir to a seven time World Champion yet declining such silly comparisons all the while managing your own motorsports career at age 21....if all that was not cool enough, Sebastian Vettel arrived in Monza in his own KTM X-Bow!

Ultimate tracktard cool!
(photos: RedBulletin)

Not familiar with the X-bow? Imagine an Ariel Atom but with a Dallara designed carbon fiber chassis instead of two garden trestles welded together.





Vettel loves the Beatles and races with a saint's icon.
From Gazzetta Dello Sport by Marco Degl'Innocenti

It took 714 days for another German driver to win a GP after Michael Schumacher's retirement. And the morning after Sebastian Vettel's triumph at Monza Bild, the country's largest daily paper, opened with a front-page headline which left little room for doubt: "We have a new Schumi!". Meanwhile Sebastian himself has returned from Monza to Walchwil, a Swiss village of some 3000 inhabitants on Lake Zug near Zurich, where he lives in a small flat with his girlfriend Hanna.

PROTOTYPE - His voyage to Italy was made on board a showy single seat sports car, the Ktm X-Bow, perhaps the 21 year old's only extravagance. Today he set off once more for Jerez where he will be driving with Red Bull, for whom he is due to race next season. It will be hard for them to hold on to him afterwards though: Mercedes, BMW and Ferrari are already lining up to sign him.

BACKGROUND - Like Michael Schumacher, who was born at Kerpen, he is from a small provincial town in Germany: Heppenheim has only 25,000 inhabitants and is 60km south of Frankfurt. His father Norbert is a 40 year old carpenter specialising in interior furnishings, while his mother Heike is a housewife and mother to three other children: Stefanie (25), Melanie (23) and Fabian (9).

GO-KART - Norbert Vettel used to race for fun, and he gave his son his first kart when he was three years old. For serious go-karting there was only one track: the already famous Kerpen-Manheim, where the Schumacher brothers also began racing. And in 1994 it was Michael himself who awarded Sebastian a cup, albeit for second place, in his first real race. Sebastian was just seven years old. Since then, Schumi's poster has stayed fixed to his wall, and he has maintained a friendship with his idol: "I am honoured to know him, but enough with the comparisons!", repeats Sebastian.

PATRONS - On the track at Kerpen, Vettel also met Gerhard Noack, who had been Schumi's first mentor. He also took an interest in Vettel along with Norbert, who recalls: "The first season karting wasn't too expensive, it was about 7,000 marks in those days, but then I had to sell my racing car and stop competing myself in order to support Sebastian." The rest is history: his single-seater debut with Formula BMW and the patronage of Red Bull who now have him under contract.

SCHOOL - Vettel completed his secondary education at one of Germany's prestigious Gymnasium schools. His passions include the Beatles (he collects their work on original vinyl) and doing imitations of German celebrities: Beckenbauer is his speciality. He is also a fitness fanatic, as his friend physiotherapist and regular tennis partner Raniero Giannotti confirms. One of the driver's few real investments so far has been an €8,000 exercise bike for training at home. Sebastian is also superstitious: allegedly he crosses the street to avoid a black cat crossing his path. And when he races, he keeps a small talisman inside his right shoe: a medal of drivers' patron Saint Christopher, which his grandmother Margarete brought him from Lourdes. Currently including prize money he earns €1.5 million a year, which will increase substantially at Red Bull. Vettel has no manager, but Willi Weber, who created a genuine cash factory around Michael Schumacher, has declared his interest: "Seb is a nice boy, I'd enjoy working with him." Can he really be the new Schumi?