Sebastian Vettel is the youngest triple world champion in
Formula 1 history, and certainly after this race no one can deny that he richly
deserves it. It was an incredible come back drive after everything had looked
lost for him in the tricky condition at Interlagos.
After being squeezed towards the wall off the start line
from 4th, he backed off and ended up in the pack as they approached turn 4. First
of all he owes Kimi Raikkonen a debt of gratitude who left his braking late and
jinked out onto the run off to avoid hitting the back of the Red Bull.
If you look at the replays, Vettel was so close to disaster,
his rear wing would have been ripped off and it would’ve been race over. As it
was he went into a different accident.
He went to the apex of turn 4 but Bruno Senna’s Williams was
already there tipping Vettel round which launched Senna over his right rear
wheel. Ordinarily that could have been wheel off, but not this time, this was
Vettel’s day.
As the rest of the field found their way by, Vettel kept the
car straight as he continued backwards. Quickly flicking his Red Bull round, he
got back on it and soon attached himself to the back of the pack again.
He was in devastating form and carved his way back into the
top 10 in no time. In fact as the conditions worsened and cars were stopping
for intermediate tyres on lap 11 Vettel had Alonso in his sights.
On lap 22 the safety car was called to clear a lot of debris
from the track, it closed the pack up, but Vettel was already fairly close to
Alonso, if anything it hindered him as Kamui Kobayashi managed to squeeze by
followed a few laps later by a brave move from Alonso’s team mate Felipe Massa
to come round the outside into turn 4. He now was 7th, but it was
still good.
As everyone switched back to dry tyres, the rain began to
fall again, Vettel’s radio was malfunctioning and he came into the pits and got
dries put on again instead of inters. He had to come back in, but yet again he
made the progress he needed and was soon back ahead of the likes of Kobayashi
and Michael Schumacher as the weather continued to add spice to the action.
Alonso was now in second, but it made no difference to Vettel,
he had the position in 6th and on lap 69 as Paul di Resta smashed
into the wall just before the finishing straight, the safety car was called and
that was it. Sebastian Vettel cruised over the line in now soaking conditions
to confirm his third consecutive driver’s title.
A fantastic recovery when it had all looked so bad an hour
and a half earlier. A lot has been said already about Vettel only winning
because of Red Bull having the faster car at the end of the season. But that’s just
to simplify things really.
Vettel was up near the front all year and when the
opportunity came, as perhaps only he can, he exploited it fully. I’m not sure
anyone can drive quite as fast as Sebastian when the car is perfect.
And let’s not forget his lost win in Valencia when he was
dominating or the lost points in Italy through alternator failures or the
fantastic recovery drives in Abu Dhabi and here in Brazil. Vettel is a truly
deserving three time world champion.
It could have all
been so different
Fernando Alonso will look back at this season, and I hope he
believes like most others that it was one of the great demonstrations of how to
go about constructing an almost perfect year of motor racing.
Yet again he qualified poorly, but that’s all the car has
allowed him to do for most of the year. But as always he targeted the podium
and very rarely does he not succeed in getting there. At the beginning of lap
2, Alonso was in world championship winning position; Vettel was nowhere and
the Spaniard had already worked his way up to third with a nice double overtake
on Webber and Massa into turn 1.
It could have been his, but as the rain continued to fall he
ran wide at turn 1 to let Nico Hulkenberg through into third, and Vettel was
already slicing his way into the points. By lap 11 as they changed tyres it was
already looking too much, but as always this year he was there picking up the
pieces and it so almost came off.
After Hulkenberg and Lewis Hamilton collided and Massa let
him through, he was into 2nd, but it just wasn’t enough. I think Fernando
has looked a little tentative over the last two races, he’s been out paced by
Massa and I think he knew it was going away from him when for so long he really
believed it was his.
And it could have been, but for two crashes at the start of
the Belgian and Japanese races he would be world champion, but Vettel can point
to races where he lost points too, as can Hamilton. This is motor racing. We
also should not forget that despite the desperate image built up this year,
Ferrari have actually finished second in the constructors, and their car was podium
capable from a quarter of the way through.
That takes nothing away from Alonso though, he would have
truly deserved his third title; he’s scored 13 podiums, more than anyone else
and he has galvanised the team like no one else has. They’re all behind him and
working for him because he’s a truly inspirational figure head for the team and
I’ve no doubt that Alonso’s day will come again sooner rather than later.
Jenson Button
bookends 2012
Even without the drama of the title decider this race was a
real thriller in the rain. It was a proper epic with drama all the way down the
field and the battle for the lead typified this. The McLaren’s had locked out
the front row with Hamilton on pole by less than a tenth.
They got away well at the start and there followed a hard
battle between them as Button tracked Lewis, passed him, was re-passed then
finally stayed ahead. Catching them steadily though was Hulkenberg who looked
like he was about to produce a giant killing act.
As everyone including Lewis dived for the pits to switch to
inters when the rain began to fall, Button and Hulkenberg continued to fight it
out on slicks and actually built up a 40 second lead over the rest of the
field. On lap 18 Nico made his move, exiting the final corner he used all his
KERs energy to slipstream Button and pass him into turn 1.
Their lonely battle at the front was brought to an end when
the safety car came out. Hamilton was back in contention and soon got ahead of
Button, and began to hunt Hulkenberg, much as he did to Vettel last week.
Lap 48 and Hulkenberg slipped up, catching a damp white line
into turn 7 and half spinning. He caught it well but it was enough for Hamilton
to get by. It didn’t end there though, Hulkenberg was in great form and clung
onto Lewis as they approached backmarkers 7 laps later.
The Force India dived down the inside into turn 1 but was on
the wet, the back end got away from him and slid into the side of the McLaren
destroying Lewis’ left front. He was out, Nico who had driven heroically
dropped down the field, amplified by the stewards handing him a drive through
penalty, he still managed to finish 5th but it could have been so
much more. Hamilton was out, his McLaren career over.
Jenson Button had been hovering not far behind and picked up
the lead, he cruised to the finish to earn his third win of the year. If there
had been no safety car it would have been interesting to see if Button could
have got back past Hulkenberg, but whatever all three of them drove a great
final race of 2012.
Another lost win for Hamilton
Lewis Hamilton can justifiably claim to have driven a
fantastic season. He’s lost a lot of points, mostly through no fault of his own,
something which perhaps influenced his decision to leave McLaren to join
Mercedes for next season.
Whatever the circumstances though he wanted to leave McLaren
on a high, this is a team which have nurtured him since he was 11, they brought
him into Formula 1 and took him to world championship glory.
It was a sad way to end, but he got a standing ovation when
he returned to the pits and it was no less than he deserved. I think he’s
driven one of his best years, especially after the shambles that 2011 was.
Lewis deserved more than he got out of 2012, but I believe
he’ll win races for Mercedes next year. He’s that kind of driver. Whether he
can get the team around him in the way Alonso has with Ferrari is another
matter. We’ll see how that plays out over the coming seasons, and how he
handles the situation if the team can’t deliver.
Schumacher’s final
hurrah
A special mention to the legend that is Michael Schumacher
who drove a fine final race to score Mercedes first points in 6 races.
Qualifying 13th he suffered a puncture and was lapped but the safety
car allowed him back onto the lead lap.
From then on as the rain intensified he found himself
fighting for points and eventually claimed 7th as he showed his
fighting spirit one last time. As ever with Schuey, he never gave up. It wasn’t
the end many had hoped for and obviously his years at Mercedes weren’t the
success they might have been.
But he showed enough speed and fight to show that despite
his 43 years, he could mix it with this generation of stars and if he’d been
given the opportunity would easily have taken another win and it certainly takes
nothing away from the success he had in his first career.
Rest of the top 10
Felipe Massa came home third after juggling going fast, then
slow, then holding up people and passing people in aid of his team mate. He’s
been faster than Alonso over the last two weekends and he’ll certainly want to
take that form into next year. He’s finally looking like the driver before his
accident, if he can keep this up it’ll be interesting to see how Alonso takes
it. One of the stars of the race.
Mark Webber had an eventful race to fourth, falling off and
fighting back a few times. Squeezed Vettel at the
start and tried to pass him
at the restart which must have made uncomfortable viewing for the Red Bull hierarchy.
Jean-Eric Vergne had a fine race to finish 8th.
He battled with the best of them and was closing down Schumacher towards the
end.
Kamui Kobayashi felt the final shove of Schumacher’s career
as he tried to pass the Mercedes for 7th. It spun him round but he
kept going for 2 points. Earlier he’d been giving Vettel a hard time so not the
result he was looking for in potentially his final race in Formula 1. It really
shouldn’t be, he deserves a seat next year.
Kimi Raikkonen picked up the final point and learnt a
valuable lesson, always make sure escape roads have their gates open. In one of
several time he left the track, he tried to go round the back at turn 11 only
to discover his way blocked off. A quick spin turn and a grass cutting exercise
and he was back on track. He did however get lapped meaning he was one lap short of
having completed every single lap this year.
Finally Caterham took an 11th place with Vitaly
Petrov meaning they passed Marussia in the constructors championship to earn
valuable extra money and free travel.
So that was that then
The 2012 Formula 1 season is over, and wasn’t it just great?
The majority of the races were fantastic, the championship went down to the
wire and we have a great three time world champion with Sebastian Vettel after
Fernando Alonso was an absolute hero for Ferrari to drag his car into
contention.
Next year the regulations remain mostly the same, Pirelli
are bringing new softer compounds, theirs plenty of driver changes, Alonso and
Vettel will continue to lead their teams, Lotus and Kimi should progress and
Lewis will win for Mercedes. It’s going to be even closer in 2013.
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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