In the run-up to the start of pre-season testing Motorsport Week brings you left-field reflections and stories of teams, drivers and reserves that will be part of the Formula 1 paddock in 2019.
In 2005 Sebastian Vettel was backed by both Red Bull and German manufacturer BMW, which at that stage was in the final year of its partnership with Williams in Formula 1.
Vettel had risen to prominence during an outstanding 2004 campaign in the Formula BMW ADAC Championship in his native Germany, sweeping to 18 wins from 20 races.
For 2005 Vettel stepped up to the Formula 3 Euroseries, where he encountered future Formula 1 title rival Lewis Hamilton, who was in his second campaign.
Hamilton emphatically dominated the year but rookie Vettel put in a handful of eye-catching runs, including a fierce scrap with the Briton at the Lausitzring, and wound up fifth overall.
BMW had been suitably impressed by Vettel’s performances to award him a Formula 1 test run with Williams, which took place in September at Jerez.
Vettel, then aged 18, completed 25 laps in the FW27 on a day in which only Williams competed, during the era of unlimited testing, with Vettel’s team-mates that day being then-Williams racer Mark Webber and reserve Nico Rosberg.
The conclusion of the Williams/BMW partnership at the end of 2005 meant Vettel's Jerez run was his only Williams outing, but he retained his BMW association and in 2006 made several test and practice appearances with the manufacturer as part of its new alignment with Sauber.
Vettel made his Grand Prix debut for BMW-Sauber at Indianapolis in 2007 in place of the injured Robert Kubica, scoring a point, and soon after was whisked into Toro Rosso by Red Bull, kick-starting his esteemed career in the championship for good.
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