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- Sebastian Vettel is a German racing driver and four-time Formula One World Champion who has scored a total of 57 pole positions in his career and is currently ranked fourth in the all-time list of Formula One polesitters. He took his maiden pole position at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix in just his 22nd race start, driving for midfield team Toro Rosso by outqualifying Heikki Kovalainen by just 0.076 seconds. He then went on to convert pole into his maiden victory in wet conditions, giving himself and his team their first pole position and race victory respectively and became the youngest Grand Prix winner that has started a race from pole position – a record, that still stands. His most glorious period was about to come when he joined Red Bull the following year. At his time driving for the Austrian manufacturer, he scored a total of 44 poles, 39 Grand Prix victories and four World Drivers' Championship titles before joining Ferrari. He scored his 57th and last pole position at the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix when he outqualified then-teammate Charles Leclerc by 0.189 seconds. Vettel is only the fourth driver in Formula One history after Ayrton Senna, Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton to score more than 50 pole positions in his career. In all, Vettel converted 31 of his 57 pole positions into race victories, among them his maiden win in Monza 2008. He was most successful at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and Suzuka Circuit by taking five pole positions each on both occasions. Vettel also currently holds the record for the most pole positions in a single season by scoring 15 at his championship-winning 2011 season. His largest pole margin was at the 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix, where he outqualified Felipe Massa by 0.913 seconds. His closest pole margin was on home soil in Germany in 2010 by outqualifying championship rival Fernando Alonso by just 0.002 seconds, which is considered as one of the closest qualifying margins in Formula One history. (en)
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