AUSTIN, Tex. — Nobody in Formula One racing is in a bigger rush than Sebastian Vettel, known for his blistering starts on the track and in his race to the record books.

Vettel, a 26-year-old German, is the youngest driver to score points in Formula One, the youngest Grand Prix winner and the youngest world champion. He has already clinched this year’s world championship, his fourth in a row, with a record-tying 11 victories, including one in which the nearest competitor finished 30 seconds behind. In 118 Grand Prix starts, he has won 37 times, bettering even Tiger Woods, who won 34 of 130 PGA Tour starts before turning 27.

Vettel wastes no time in his car, but away from the cockpit he is constantly running behind. On Thursday, three days before the United States Grand Prix, Vettel lost so much ground in his morning appearances that at the stroke of noon his handlers’ smartphones began to ping with alarms.

The same intellectual curiosity that drives his success on the track impedes his progress off it. His television interviews exceeded their allotted time because he asked so many questions, a quick meet-and-greet with a contest winner turned into another unhurried exchange, and a photo shoot that was scheduled to last 10 minutes took almost an hour because Vettel was not wired to be a passive participant.