2010 – I fitted his first HANS®in Formula BMW. Talking about safety is almost taboo with many drivers but occasionally drivers write their feelings down.

2011 – Seems I must have done something right when I was doing the F1 driver safety work.

Photos

2008 – Italian Grand Prix – Sebastian wins his first Grand Prix – you can see the delight in his eyes. A new champion is on his way.
(Photo James Penrose)

Article

I think the first time I met Sebastian Vettel was probably during 2003. I’d worked with Gerhard Berger to persuade BMW that it would be a good thing if they made HANS® mandatory in the Formula BMW series.

The reason was that with drivers as young as 14 years old (becoming 15 in their first year of racing the Formula BMW car was, I think, the criteria) it was completely unacceptable for a company such as BMW not to be able to show it had done absolutely everything for the safety of their young racers.

So I ended up at a Formula BMW test with all the young drivers having to be fitted with HANS®. It was a total nightmare. I’ve never worked in karting but many people have told me about the nightmare parents fighting about their precious kids to make sure their kids got the best of everything. Sulks, tantrums even fist fights and so on. Until this Formula BMW test I never believed this sort of behavior at a racing event was possible.

It was complete mayhem, parents virtually coming to blows to get my attention for their child first! I survived but it has definitely not given me a lot of enthusiasm for karting – if it really is like that! I don’t remember all the drivers that day but there were others who ended up in F1 as well as Sebastian.

Sebastian’s father Norbert was the quietest, most polite and decent man I met that day. Needless to say fitting a HANS® for Seb was not a problem, as he has shown since that day in his career, he is a driver that both listens and learns. Sure he has some tantrums now and then, but unlike many other drivers who have done the same, he apologises when he’s cooled down.

In the years following I fitted a good number of HANS® and helmets for Sebastian at the Mucke team in Formula BMW and in Formula 3 too. Always a pleasure to see his father often helping other young drivers in Formula BMW once Seb had moved up to F3 and F1, very unlike so many other parents around racing.

Sebastian is a driver who has remained himself throughout his career, not forgetting the people he’s worked with. I helped him at Toro Rosso in F1 (still have his HANS® from that year) and at Red Bull. A good guy.