Sebastian Vettel Is FIA F1 World Champion

This weekend was the penultimate grand prix in Dubai at the Abu Dhabi track to which we saw Vettel take home the world championship.


Sebastian Vettel took the world championship by driving a fantastic race, starting in pole position and finishing in first place. With the textbook grand prix, with correct timed pit stops and a strategy that would guarantee the title. When Vettel crossed the line, you could hear the emotion as when he is confirmed as world champion, he began to cry as team boss Adrian Horner tells him he is world champion. Vettel replies:

“l love you”


Red Bull team principal Christian Horner commented:

"It's unbelievable! It's been a very emotional week for this team. It's the first time Sebastian has led the world championship and he's done it when it counted, at the last race of the year. Mark  can also be very proud of his efforts this season. We're double world champions - it's unbelievable!"


Team mate Mark Webber, started in fifth on the grid and with a poor start he was quickly overtaken by back runners, combined with questionable pit stops and a very fast Alonso and Petrov in front of him, his world championship seemed bleak.


Alonso started the race third on the grid, with close racing all the way from the beginning and with Petrov in front of him matching him move for move, Alonso struggled to pass him after the pit stops. Over the team radio, Alonso is told:

“I know you are trying your best," …"But it's critical that you pass Petrov."


Alonso had to finish in the top 4 to win the championship. He was pushing his car to the limits, making errors like running wide and carrying too much speed into the corners, he just couldn’t get past Petrov who drove a amazing defending race. After the race he commented:

"After the race it is always very easy to see the best strategy. If we didn't stop, Webber would probably overtake us, if we stop, we let Rosberg and Petrov overtake us, very difficult call,"


Button had a fantastic start and ended up in 3rd position overall at the start of the race behind team mate Hamilton and Vettel. Button, starting the race on soft tyres, did not pit until the 38th lap, after leading the race for a few laps as Vettel pitted before him, he tried to increase the time between himself and Vettel. Button commented after the race:

"It was great to be on the podium with Lewis and also the new world champion," he added

"Losing the number one from the car hurts a little bit, but it also makes you hungry. While he (Vettel) is out partying over the next few days, we will be at the factory making sure the car is quicker next year.”…"Sundays have been great for me, but Saturdays I have to work on. I know that. We will be back next year."


Hamilton had a chance at winning the championship, but only if something happened to Vettel, Webber and Alonso - there was not a chance of that happening this year. Hamilton did infact drive  a fantastic race, which he finished second overall, after starting second on the grid at the start, again with effortless pit stops from the McLaren-Mercedes teams to bring the ex-world champion back out onto the podium. He commented after the race:

"It's not been the most spectacular season for us, but we ended it on really quite a high, for us both be on the podium and to clinch second in the constructors.” he added:

"Hopefully next year our car will be even better and we'll be able to compete from the first race onwards."


Martin Whitmarsh McLaren team principal said:

"Overall we can't be too disappointed. Red Bull had a quick car all year and Sebastian has certainly done a great job of closing the season off.” he added

"This evening's podium was a significant one from a historic perspective: the three most recent world champions, standing shoulder to shoulder. It shouldn't be forgotten that we notched up 33 world championship points, which is more than any other team scored today.”

"That more than consolidated our second position in the constructors' world championship, lifting us a comfortable 58 points clear of our friends at Ferrari.

"We're delighted to have beaten them in 2010; let battle commence again in 2011."


Michael Schumacher and Liuzzi come together on turn six and Liuzzi’s car ends up on top of Schumacher missing his head by inches, the safety car comes out for five laps for the crew to clear up the mess on the track.


The top ten finishers are below:

15-Nov-2010
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