21/11/2010
NEWS STORY
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Thousands of locals braved the cold November air in Heppenheim to welcome home their local hero, 2010 Formula One World Champion Sebastian Vettel.
It's estimated that as many as 10,000 turned out to greet the youngster just one week after he famously secured the title. Sine last Sunday's race in Abu Dhabi, the German has attended functions at Red Bull's HQ in Salzburg and the team's base in Milton Keynes, in addition to two days tyre testing back at Yas Island. However, today, it was Vettel's turn to return to where his story began, Heppenheim, around 40 miles from Frankfurt.
Fans started arriving in the town centre from 7am, greeting their hero, when he arrived later in the morning, with cries of "Sebastian, Sebastian!"
Taking a photo of the scene Vettel said he would place the picture in his bedroom. "This makes me really proud as a Heppenheim boy," he told reporters. "I have goose pimples, this is better than Abu Dhabi, because there weren't so many people there.
"It's all a bit unreal for me," he added, "it seems my face was on the front page of every German newspaper. I find it all a bit hard to take in, because at the end of the day, I am just a normal boy."
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