Souvenir Press are releasing this book “Meet Sebastian Vettel” just in time for the start of the season – it’s the first English-language Vettel ‘biography’ and here’s our review…
ideal for the younger generation of fan
Unfortunately, it isn’t as it reads on the tin. Not once did I feel I was meeting the real double World Champion, merely having a pleasant chat with some people that have spent some time with him. A bit.
There is an interview with the German wunderkind, albeit it’s a bit dated, with talk about the much vaunted Silverstone changes being a big giveaway. That was two years ago, before World Titles were even in the picture.
Skip past the initial interview and we’re thrust back further into the past and how the younger Vettel worked his way through the lower formula into a race seat at BMW during the 2007 season. It then leaps to Monza 2008, a race that defined Vettel’s career, the reaction to the victory, then into the 2009 season with Red Bull.
The culmination of this young man’s journey, all the way to Abu Dhabi 2010 and that win under the lights, should finish the book. But, we get a quick fire question and answer with team mate Mark Webber, popping the balloon of elation suddenly.
It just feels disjointed and irrelevant, unfortunately, and that’s a reflection of how the book is laid out. The chronology of it all just seems a little jumbled, like a hastily written Tarantino movie.
Converted from the Italian version, scripted by journalists Andrea Cremonesi and Marco Degl’Innocenti, is seems that a lot of the points were maybe lost in translation. Indeed, the Italian title was originally “Sebastian Vettel: la storia e la carriera del pui giovane vincitore di un Gran Premio del Formula Uno”, a mouthful in it’s own right.
War and Peace it is not, which is probably a good thing to be fair, but what it does do is wrap tidbits and nuggets of information in the distracting sheen of high resolution glossy photographs. But, in essence, that’s where it comes into it’s own.
Yes, it doesn’t give us any new insight on the man that will probably keep snatching records as his career progresses, just rehashed stories of his feats so far. And if you know them already, why would you be purchasing this book?
If you were to buy this book, either for yourself or a friend/family member, then it would be for an F1 fan that would just be starting out. It’s ideal for the younger generation of fan who are just starting to find their way through the ins-and-outs of Grand Prix racing, and for them Sebastian Vettel is their poster boy of the new generation.
WIN A COPY OF THIS BOOK!
If you fancy a copy of “Meet Sebastian Vettel” for your coffee table, book case or for your younger F1 fan son, daughter, brother then simply comment below on what you’d ask Sebastian Vettel if you met him.
The best question (decided by us) wins a copy of the book. You can enter via Twitter (use hashtag #askSeb) and Facebook (comment on the Facebook page) too
