Maybe we should have seen this coming. A guy doesn’t win the Formula One drivers championship three consecutive years by being a milquetoast.

But that didn’t keep those of us who follow F1 — which is most of world aside from North America — from having a general idea of Sebastian Vettel, the German driver for Red Bull Racing, as a fairly polite, consensus-seeking guy who was just really, really good at his job.

That all changed today at the Malaysian Grand Prix, where babyface Seb, all well-scrubbed and earnest … seized the more controversial (and often more interesting) role of heel.

Boooooo!

(And thanks, for those terms, to pro wrestling, which rarely deserves credit for anything beyond taking money from rubes, at which they are highly skilled.)

Turns out, going “heel” is very easy to do. Vettel could tell you about it. And so could his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who was distracted on the podium afterwards by having to stand next to Vettel, who won the race, and by trying to extract the knife from his back — the one Vettel had plunged there.

This happened almost in a blink of an eye. For the full recounting of what happened, read Gary Meenaghan’s report for The National, filed from the track in Sepang, Malaysia.

To recap, the final laps were being counted off at the Malaysian GP, the second race of the season. Webber was in first place, as he had been most of the race. Vettel, his teammate and brother in arms (in theory) was second. No one else is close.

Tire wear was an issue for everyone, so the Red Bull team told Webber and Vettel to slow down, ease off, make sure they don’t have a tire go “pfft!” on them — and parade on home.

It was clear the team intended for Webber to win the race, and Vettel to finish second. Which would have been fair, given their performances to that point.

Vettel, however, complained via radio that Webber was going too slow, and sped up and passed the unsuspecting/disbelieving Webber — in direct contravention of team orders — to seize the victory for himself.

Meenaghan suggested Vettel had shown himself to be an “unscrupulous pickpocket”.

Now, any notion of babyface Seb being basically a good guy … is pretty much out the window. Now he is, in fact, “Baby Schumi” — referring to the former F1 assassin/dominator Michael Schumacher, who dominated the sport in the first decade of the century

Vettel’s apparently overpowering impulse to be first — even when it caused instant division in Red Bull Racing — showed that the team has no control over him and that he has no respect for his teammate, the Australian who is well-liked by both fans and media.

Now, Vettel and Red Bull and Webber somehow have to get through 17 more races this year without it all blowing up in spectacular fashion. The short-term gain of eight points (first verses second) may be something later remembered as a turning point, and not in a good way, for Vettel and Red Bull.

“Babyface Seb” lets Webber win.

“Vettel the heel” sees what he wants and takes it.

Hisssss!

We may have suspected Babyface Seb was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Today, we saw his fangs.