Ecclestone: Staying grounded is Vettel's key to success

Sep 28, 2011, 10:45 GMT

Berlin - Designated back-to-back world champion Sebastian Vettel is so successful in Formula One because he is grounded, F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said in an interview published on Wednesday.

'Sebastian has an absolute will to succeed but has stayed very grounded. No win, however big, will stop him being grounded. That is immensely important in this business,' Ecclestone said in the interview published among others by the official Formula One website and Germany's Sport Bild weekly.

'Seb is relaxed and will always remain true to himself - that is why things come easy ... There is still a lot to come from him.'

Coming off a ninth victory in 14 season races on Sunday in Singapore, the Red Bull driver Vettel needs just one more point to be assured of the title. The only rival is McLaren's Jenson Button, who would need to win the remaining five races and have Vettel not finish in the points in all of them.

Vettel has completed every race in not worse than fourth place in 2011 and Ecclestone said that 'even if he decided to go on his holidays for the rest of the season there would be no one to take it away from him.'

Ecclestone heaped praise on the whole England-based Red Bull team in the interview, which also included Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.

'With Adrian Newey they obviously have a design whiz, but it also has something to do with the mentality of the whole team. Everybody there desperately wants to win - and win more. They are true to the motto 'show me a happy loser and I'll show you a loser,'' he said.

Horner said: 'We've grown as a team and have learnt from our mistakes from last year, and ... the title win boosted Sebastian's self-confidence significantly. He knows now what he is capable of and builds on that.'

Read more about Ecclestone

Read more about RedBull