The Two Germans who championed F1

Two of the most famous champions in F1 are Germans. And that speaks something about Germany. Both drivers dominated the world of Formula1 but never with a German teams. But outside of F1, some of the world’s best cars are also made by Germans.

While Michael achieved his record of 7 championships of which 5 were back to back, Seb has 3 back to back and currently leading the championship tables by 39 points. Commendable. Sebastian had seen Schumacher as his idol while growing up and even has competed against him, a feat very few of all Schumacher admirers have achieved.

Why am I writing about Germany and F1 now? Well, in a way it has to do with Mercedes’ recent improvement in performance and me liking towards Nico Rosberg. I liked Nico ever since he was at Williams, and the reason why I paid attention to Williams F1 was in part due to Royal Bank of Scotland’s sponsorship – my then employers – and followed him to Mercedes F1 team. I also started liking another German, Nico Hulkenberg, after he raced for Force India F1 (my current favorites).

Its a funny thing, how we start associating ourselves with celebrities just because of Brands. Its even more funny that I prefer Pepsi over Coca-Cola, but never liked Sharukh Khan who promoted Pepsi. In fact, Indira Nyooi became my liked Celebrity, albeit in the business world.

Just yesterday I heard from a fellow colleague that working with Germans is a pain. I guess this may stem from their habit for Attention to details. Well, I am hearing and thinking about Germany in the last couple of weeks, especially the two world champions of the Formula1. So it was apt to choose the two celebs from a racing spectacle closer to my heart as Subjects.

Both of them have achieved tremendous amount of respect, victories and have equal amount of controversies (adjusted to the number of Championships) during their career. Both are known to dominate, throw their weight around and are believed to be making behind-the-scenes shots, sometimes unfairly however in a subtle manner. But the fact remains that both have established themselves as true competitors on the race field. You cant take that away from them.

So why is Germany producing simply brilliant folks for the F1 racing circuit? Or why are the German marquee brands like Audi, BMW and Mercedes Benz dominate the luxury + performance side of cars?

Questions like these are common place, especially among the competition. If we were in the Hitler era, he would have said because ‘we are a superior race’. Stupid.

Germans are known for their attention to detail. They want to the best, and this feeling is fed into them from their childhood. Michael, Seb and both Nicos had their stints in the local Karting championships which promote racing talent. More than that, the parents of these kids encourage kids to take such career choices, while others struggled to arrange events and lack of will by the parenting fraternity.

In India, being a racing driver is not a great thing and is seen as a waste of time and money unless the other person understands its importance or is a car/bike enthusiast.

{EAV:233f5cc7c5e94067}

F1Formula1GermanyMichael SchumacherPepsiRBSSebastian VettalWilliams
Comments (0)
Add Comment