Sebastian Vettel had a back-to-the-future moment when he thrilled racing fans by doing laps in his 2011 Formula 1 World Championship-winning Red Bull RB7 - aka Kinky Kylie - at Nurburgring's legendary Nordschleife.
Retired from F1 at the end of last season, after a final stint in the top flight with Aston Martin. He has since then become embroiled in several environmentally friendly projects, while popping into the F1 paddock on occasion, and testing iconic F1 cars, run on sustainable fuel.
All sure to give the four-time F1 World Champion with Red Bull, a reason to smile daily. But none bigger or comparable to the one he wore as he hovered around the Adrian Newey-designed RB7 during his time in at Nurby. Also on hand was RBR stalwart David Coulthard at the wheel of an RB8.
Speaking to reporters during the event attended by over 30,000 fans, Vettel said with an ear-to-ear grin: “Sitting in the car now feels like a time capsule. Memories come back. There are even a few guys from the crew from back then.”
Kinky Kylie started from pole 15 times and was an 11 time GP winner in Seb's hands
"Back then" the mighty RB7 aka Kinky Kylie, won 11 times in Vettel's hands, taking him to his second of what would be four F1 titles by the time his career ended in Abu Dhabi last year.
Vettel added: "It felt like I should have been on the grid for the start of a race. It was very nice. The seat still fits and the pedals were still in the right position and part of the crew from back then was now also there for these runs.
"Moreover, the sound of these cars is very different and everything together stirs up a lot of memories," mused Vettel, whose Red Bull RB7 at Saturday's event ran on sustainable fuel. In line with the German's crusade to transform motorsport to use sustainable fuel, in an effort to keep combustion engines relevant, in motorsport at least, as the auto industry supposedly electrifies for the future.
Back in 2011 when the F1 cars ran on very enviro-unfriendly jungle juice, Mark Webber was Vettel's teammate at the time. In the 19 races of the 2011 F1 season, the Red Bull RB7 only failed to finish in the top five twice, when Webber crashed out of that year's Italian Grand Prix and when Vettel retired from the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix at the end of the season.
Notably, The RB7 was also the first-ever KERS-equipped F1 car to win the Constructors' title. And, perhaps not to the extent of Max Verstappen's current Red Bull RB19, the car was dominant to the extent that it started from pole 18 times and won 12 of 19 races in 2011, Vettel bagging all but one of those. Webber the other.
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