Germany’s Sebastian Vettel became Formula One’s youngest back-to-back world champion when he finished third in the Japanese Grand Prix behind Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso.
The 24-year-old Red Bull driver, who needed just one point to clinch the title, joins Juan Manuel Fangio, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher as one of only nine drivers to successfully defend the world title.
Red Bull celebrate
He ran down the pit lane to celebrate with his mechanics after the race, which sealed the championship with four grands prix remaining following a dominant season with nine wins in 15 outings.
“There are so many things you want to say, but it’s hard to remember all of them,” said Vettel.“I’m thankful to everyone in the team, pushing hard to build those two cars. It’s great to achieve the goal we set ourselves this year already.”
At just 24 years and 98 days, Vettel outstrips fellow consecutive winners Alberto Ascari, Fangio, Jack Brabham, Alain Prost, Senna, Schumacher, Mika Hakkinen and Fernando Alonso as the youngest driver to achieve the feat.
Button’s victory, which came after he passed Vettel in the second round of pit stops on lap 21, was his third of the season. The McLaren driver finished 1.1 seconds ahead of Spain’s Alonso of Ferrari, with Vettel’s third place enough to secure the world title.
Australian Mark Webber was fourth for Red Bull while Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren had another controversial race, crashing again with Felipe Massa of Ferrari en route to finishing fifth.
Schumacher was sixth for Mercedes, briefly leading the race after the final round of pit stops, while Massa was seventh. Mexican Sergio Perez took eighth for Sauber while German Nico Rosberg drove his Mercedes to finish 10th.
Vettel did not lead last year’s world championship until after the final race in Abu Dhabi, but this season he has never been headed in the standings.
However, Button said the victory showed Vettel’s competitors were closing the gap on dominant Red Bull.
“This circuit is special to all of us, so to get a victory here in front of this Japanese crowd means a lot,” said Button.
“This gives us motivation. To see three cars within a few seconds [at the finish] shows how competitive it is right now.”
Sea-saw race
Button made a strong start, shaping up to pass Vettel into the first corner. But the German defended robustly, prompting Button to tell his McLaren team over the radio that “he’s got to get a penalty for that”. But stewards decided to take no further action.
Vettel led the race through the first set of pit stops, but after re-passing Hamilton on lap eight, Button narrowed the gap and finally passed the German as he returned to the track following his tyre-change on lap 21.
Vettel’s 2011 season
Australia 1st
Malaysia 1st
China 2nd
Turkey 1st
Spain 1st
Monaco 1st
Canada 2nd
Europe 1st
Britain 2nd
Germany 4th
Hungary 2nd
Belgium 1st
Italy 1st
Singapore 1st
Japan 3rd
Published in The Express Tribune, October 10th, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ