Vettel wins third consecutive F1 title

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel celebrates with his team after sealing his third successive F1 championship. Picture: Reuters/Sergio Moraes

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel celebrates with his team after sealing his third successive F1 championship. Picture: Reuters/Sergio Moraes

Published Nov 25, 2012

Share

London – Germany's Sebastian Vettel won his third successive Formula One title for Red Bull at the season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday, becoming the sport's youngest triple champion at the age of 25 and in his 101st race.

Vettel is only the third driver to win three championships in a row and the ninth triple champion. The others are Argentina's Juan Manuel Fangio and Germany's Michael Schumacher.

The race on Sunday was won by Jenson Button of McLaren, with Ferrari taking second and third through Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa respectively.

VETTEL FACTS

* Vettel was born in Heppenheim, a town surrounded by vineyards between Heidelberg and Darmstadt, on July 3, 1987. He started out racing karts at the age of eight.

* The German won 18 of 20 races in the 2004 German Formula BMW championship. The following year he was top rookie in the Formula Three Euroseries, won by Britain's Lewis Hamilton.

*He became the youngest driver to take part in a grand prix weekend when he drove for BMW-Sauber in Friday practice in Turkey in 2006, aged 19 and 53 days.

*In 2007 Vettel made his Formula One race debut with BMW-Sauber at Indianapolis, replacing the injured Robert Kubica, and finished eighth – making him the youngest F1 driver to score a point aged 19 and 349 days.

*Vettel started seven races with Toro Rosso in 2007 and all of the 2008 season, when he set more records. His win at the Italian Grand Prix at Monza from pole position made him the youngest driver to start on pole (21 years and 72 days) and youngest ever winner (21 years and 73 days).

* Vettel switched to Red Bull for 2009 after Britain's David Coulthard retired. He took the team's first victory at the Chinese Grand Prix, where he also handed Red Bull a first pole and led their first one-two finish. He ended that season as overall runner-up to Briton Jenson Button.

* In 2010, he became Formula One's youngest champion at the age of 23 and 135 days. The previous youngest was McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in 2008, aged 23 and 301 days. Vettel is Germany's second F1 world champion, after Schumacher. The younger German was nicknamed 'Baby Schumi' in his early days.

*Known as a bit of a joker, with a love of British humour and the Beatles, Vettel has no manager but is close to Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, with whom he occasionally plays backgammon. He lives in Switzerland.

*The German has won five races this season. In 2011 he won 11 grands prix with a record 15 poles.

DRIVER STANDINGS

1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) Red Bull 281

2. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 278

3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Lotus 207

4. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 190

5. Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 188

6. Mark Webber (Australia) Red Bull 179

7. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 122

8. Romain Grosjean (France) Lotus 96

9. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes GP 93

10. Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 66

11. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 63

12. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 60

13. Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes GP 49

14. Paul Di Resta (Britain) Force India 46

15. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 45

16. Bruno Senna (Brazil) Williams 31

17. Jean-Eric Vergne (France) Toro Rosso 16

18. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 10

19. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) Caterham 0

19. Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Caterham 0

19. Pedro de la Rosa (Spain) HRT 0

19. Narain Karthikeyan (India) HRT 0

19. Timo Glock (Germany) Marussia 0

19. Charles Pic (France) Marussia 0

19. Jerome d'Ambrosio (Belgium) Lotus 0

Constructors Points

1. RedBull - Renault 460

2. Ferrari 400

3. McLaren - Mercedes 378

4. Lotus - Renault 303

5. Mercedes 142

6. Sauber - Ferrari 126

7. Force India - Mercedes 109

8. Williams - Renault 76

9. Toro Rosso - Ferrari 26

10. Caterham - Renault 0

11. Marussia - Cosworth 0

12. HRT - Cosworth 0 – Reuters

Related Topics: