‘I’d pay to compete in Formula One’

Reigning champion Vettel keen to stay with Red Bull.

PARIS:

World champion and this season’s runaway leader Sebastian Vettel says he loves his chosen sport so much that he would pay to compete in Formula One.

The Red Bull driver told F1.com that he considered himself “hugely privileged” at having found a career that gives him so much satisfaction.

“Based on that view, I probably would even pay to drive a Formula One car,” the German ace said.

Vettel, reflecting on his triumphant 2010 season, said winning the championship in Abu Dhabi last year had left him feeling “empty and lost”.

“I hadn’t really realised what had just happened.

“It was a dream come true to test a Formula One car, then the dream got bigger when I was driving one and making it onto the podium and winning a race, so when the title was mine it was almost a bit too much for me.

“But instinctively I knew that it was very addictive — I want more of the same!”

Vettel said that despite the historic links of Ferrari and McLaren with Formula One he was happy at Red Bull, with whom he is under contract until 2014.

Vettel leads the 2011 drivers’ title race with a gaping 77 point advantage after an unparalleled run of six wins and two second places in the opening eight races.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2011.