Finnish trainer Tommi Pärmäkoski is tuning WDC Sebastian Vettel for the third year just like the German star tunes his own RB7-car. The demands grow year by year because the 23-year old German F1-star might want to drive until he is 40.
Is the trainer's job easier when he works with such a young man instead of lets say a 42-year old man like Vettel's former idol Michael Schumacher?
– I'm sure his youth is an advantage. I can put strain on Sebastian in a different way because a young person recovers much more faster and he can train in a different way. We can do everything more diversely and we don't have to think as much at the relation between recovering and training like the case with a more experienced man would be, Pärmäkoski says.
– In a way youth is an advantage but on the other hand it requires more work because the goal is to drive for a long time. That's why you have to proceed systematically.
Then what does a job as a WDC's physical trainer mean?
– It's a big unity. All the nutrition, food and liquids, rest and strain, all training, what we do and when we do it. I'm like a helper who at times runs with his hair standing up straight from one place to another.
– On the other hand I'm the person who Sebastian works with most closely. I'm sort of his mental support every moment. I'm also in charge of when we fly to the race locations, when we leave them and what we will do in the meantime. It's a big part of mental wellbeing.
Tough season educated even more
Pärmäkoski chews a while on the question if he is in his dream work.
– Of course this is a very interesting job. There are many kinds of sports and different kinds of sportsmen. I'm sure that I have time to experience something else too. At the moment I'm happy that I got a ride with the reigning WDC and got to see from close just how tough his mental state was in such tough places. I don't think many can say that they have watched on a daily basis from close how a championship like this has been won.
– Of course it requires a good car but when you have a good car all the other blocks also have to be in place in order to win.
How different is Vettel now mentally and physically?
– Last season was difficult and it educated him a lot. He had different troubles and different mistakes starting from crashing into his team mate. The championship really didn't come easily. If possible it strenghtens Sebastian mentally even more now that he knows he is good enough to win the championship.
– Physically I think that he is pretty much on the same level. We started training later because first he had to calm down and rest after different championship-festivities. When Bahrain was cancelled we got an extra time of two weeks that again was nothing but training.
Picked up more Finnish
Pärmäkoski and Vettel talk English with each other. Yet they haven't forgotten Finnish.
– He has picked up a few new words again, the trainer smiles.
Pärmäkoski has also cleared up how Vettel was able to ask in Finnish where his invitation to the castle is when he was interviewed right after becoming WDC.
– I asked about it and Sebastian had learned that word from me. Yet it came to his mind because Kimi Räikkönen had told him at one time that if you win the championship then you get an invitation to the castle. Yet it was unbelievable how he remembered it at that exact moment, Pärmäkoski laughs.
Turun Sanomat
HEIKKI KULTA
Courtesy: Nicole
