Guess I was so impressed over what had already seemed like a foregone conclusion - history in the making... That I didn’t even have the audacity to muster up a YELL at le Telescreen this morning when Master ‘Zebb broke a 19-year old record upon notching up his staggeringly amazing 15th Pole position of the season; Aye Karumba!
Having missed the Abu Dhabi GP weekend, I only became aware yesterday that Sebastian Vettel had tied BLOODY ‘NIGE’s (Mansell) single season Pole-positions record of 14 in 1992 on Yas Isle a fortnight ago...
And Nigel Mansell set his record during his thoroughly dominating ’92 season en route to his lone Formula 1 World Championship at Team ‘Willy, nee Williams Grand Prix aboard the all conquering Williams FW14-B Active Suspension chassis - ironically designed by none other then Adrian Newey.
These were the years of Newey’s crushing Renault V-10 powered cars when Mansell scored 14-poles, followed the year after by Alain Prost’s 13-poles en route to his fourth and final F1 Drivers title. And as SPEED’s Bob Varsha noted today during the Qualifying show, another Newey creation; the McLaren MP4/13 chauffeured by Mika Hakkinen was put to good use in 1998 when the Finn claimed 11-poles en route to the first of his two Formula One Driver crowns...
So while you may argue that the young German’s accomplishment isn’t as statistically impressive as the Brit’s, nonetheless Vettel is simply ‘Juan BAD Hombre! Having scored the most Pole-positions in a single season record wise ever in the history of the modern F1 series (1950-present) and I’d argue the MOST ever - period; Ja Volt! As ‘Seb surpassed the Maestro Juan Manuel Fangio for sixth place for overall Poles today with his 30th; now just three shy of ‘NIGE, Prost and Jimmy Clark! With just some Dudes named Senna and Schumacher off in the distance...