The Devil In Herr Vettel

By  Peter Orosz

Surprised about Sebastian Vettel's stunning performance at last Sunday's British Grand Prix? Be surprised no more: he has signed a hefty pact with the devil.

New to the informational deluge of Formula One this season is a table of pre-race car weights published on the official Formula One website. The published weights include car, driver and fuel, helping the erudite and mathematically inclined viewer separate a car's performance from the hydrocarbons and the sole human sloshing inside.

Here is the table for last Sunday's British Grand Prix, expressed in kilograms (multiply by 2.2 to get pounds):

  1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 666.5

  2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 657.5

  3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 659.5

  4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 658

  5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 652.5

  6. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 657.5

  7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 661.5

  8. Timo Glock, Toyota, 660

  9. Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari, 654

  10. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 654

  11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 675

  12. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 689.5

  13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 695.5

  14. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 682.5

  15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 665.5

  16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 668

  17. Sébastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 687.5

  18. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 692

  19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 666

  20. Sébastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 672.5

As the combined weight of Sebastian Vettel, his load of fuel and his Red Bull RB5 race car is within rounding error of the Number of the Beast, one cannot help but wonder whether his hat trick of pole position, fastest lap and race win were achieved with netherworldly help.

He certainly looked like a man who had borrowed Lucifer's great leather wings for the last sixty laps of F1 racing Silverstone will witness for the foreseeable future.

You will also notice that down at the bottom of the grid, BMW's Nick Heidfeld and McLaren's defending champion Lewis Hamilton share Vettel's hexakosioihexekontahexaphilic heft. It only goes to show that a pact with the devil is never as simple as is looks.

Source: The Official Formula 1 Website. Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images

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