Home » Sports » Motor Racing
Vettel becomes F1's youngest triple champ
Source: Agencies |
November 27, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
RED Bull's Sebastian Vettel became Formula One's youngest triple world champion at the age of 25 after a wet and chaotic Brazilian Grand Prix rollercoaster won by McLaren's Jenson Button behind the safety car on Sunday.
The German, needing only a fourth place to join the greats as the first driver to win his first three titles consecutively, finished sixth after fighting back with a damaged car from last on the opening lap.
It proved enough after his sole rival Fernando Alonso, needing victory, crossed the line in his Ferrari in second place with Brazilian Felipe Massa third.
"You're a triple world champion. You're the man. You are a triple world champion," shouted team principal Christian Horner over the team radio as Vettel crossed the finish line after what he said later was the toughest race of his career.
The team could not hear his reply, or his choked sobs of joy, because the radio was faulty for most of an afternoon that threw one obstacle after another at the champion.
Vettel ended the season with 281 points to 278 for Alonso, who would have been the youngest triple champion at 31 had results fallen his way.
Kimi Raikkonen was third overall for Lotus on 207 in his comeback year.
Red Bull had already won the constructors' title for the third year in a row.
"It's very difficult to find the right words, especially after the race today," said Vettel. "I think everything that could go wrong, went wrong. To limp home, underneath the safety car (conditions), I didn't know if it was enough...we had to really fight until the end."
On a day when the Brazilian weather produced a thriller to stand the test of time against some of the sport's great races, it seemed the gods were on Alonso's side almost as soon as the starting lights went out.
Vettel was squeezed from fourth place, fell back into the pack and was caught in a collision with Brazilian Bruno Senna's Williams that spun him around helplessly facing his speeding rivals. "There is visible damage, it is not the front wing, we cannot fix it," he was told as he rejoined the chase.
Alonso, Vettel's only title rival who had 13 points to make up, looked like he could steal it as the championship pendulum swung both ways over the 71 laps at Interlagos.
The safety car was deployed twice, there were crashes, collisions, botched pitstops and constant uncertainty about the weather with black clouds overhead, occasional rain but not the torrential downpour many had feared.
"We lost the championship before today, not in Brazil," said Alonso. "It was a lot of risk every lap to crash and have an accident. We could not afford that for sure because we needed a podium finish to have any chance so it was a very delicate situation."
Button, who also won the first race of the season in Australia, took his career tally to 15 wins. Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber finished fourth.
The German, needing only a fourth place to join the greats as the first driver to win his first three titles consecutively, finished sixth after fighting back with a damaged car from last on the opening lap.
It proved enough after his sole rival Fernando Alonso, needing victory, crossed the line in his Ferrari in second place with Brazilian Felipe Massa third.
"You're a triple world champion. You're the man. You are a triple world champion," shouted team principal Christian Horner over the team radio as Vettel crossed the finish line after what he said later was the toughest race of his career.
The team could not hear his reply, or his choked sobs of joy, because the radio was faulty for most of an afternoon that threw one obstacle after another at the champion.
Vettel ended the season with 281 points to 278 for Alonso, who would have been the youngest triple champion at 31 had results fallen his way.
Kimi Raikkonen was third overall for Lotus on 207 in his comeback year.
Red Bull had already won the constructors' title for the third year in a row.
"It's very difficult to find the right words, especially after the race today," said Vettel. "I think everything that could go wrong, went wrong. To limp home, underneath the safety car (conditions), I didn't know if it was enough...we had to really fight until the end."
On a day when the Brazilian weather produced a thriller to stand the test of time against some of the sport's great races, it seemed the gods were on Alonso's side almost as soon as the starting lights went out.
Vettel was squeezed from fourth place, fell back into the pack and was caught in a collision with Brazilian Bruno Senna's Williams that spun him around helplessly facing his speeding rivals. "There is visible damage, it is not the front wing, we cannot fix it," he was told as he rejoined the chase.
Alonso, Vettel's only title rival who had 13 points to make up, looked like he could steal it as the championship pendulum swung both ways over the 71 laps at Interlagos.
The safety car was deployed twice, there were crashes, collisions, botched pitstops and constant uncertainty about the weather with black clouds overhead, occasional rain but not the torrential downpour many had feared.
"We lost the championship before today, not in Brazil," said Alonso. "It was a lot of risk every lap to crash and have an accident. We could not afford that for sure because we needed a podium finish to have any chance so it was a very delicate situation."
Button, who also won the first race of the season in Australia, took his career tally to 15 wins. Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber finished fourth.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
