If you were to build the ideal prototype driver for modern-day Formula One,
you would come up with something resembling Sebastian Vettel.
He may come across as a machine sometimes, but Vettel has a fun side as well.
He certainly ended this race in plenty of style, defying both his team’s
orders and the regulations to perform some donuts on the start-finish
straight before emerging from the smoke with his arms raised. A nice touch.
Hopping out of his RB9, Vettel then proceeded to bow down before his rocket
ship, prostrating himself on the track, before running back to the pits
where he leapt into the arms of its designer, Adrian Newey, and Horner; the
three men intertwined for a short space of time.
Red Bull’s brains trust deserve a huge amount of credit for the way they have
propelled themselves to the pinnacle of the sport in such a short space of
time, and then proceeded to stay there, as Vettel was quick to acknowledge
in his emotional radio message earlier. “You give me so much strength,”
he said. “I love you guys. I love you.”
In a performance that reflected his general dominance of the season, Vettel
started on pole and led a procession throughout a large portion of the race.
Rosberg finished second in his Mercedes, while Romain Grosjean of Lotus took
an incredible third having started 17th. Ferrrari’s Fernando Alonso, who was
the only driver still mathematically capable of catching Vettel, finished
11th after a disastrous start that saw him clip the back of Webber, causing
damage which required a pit stop for a new nose section.
Alonso’s misfortune was doubly fortunate for Vettel as it cancelled out the
early pit stop the German was required to make due to the fragility of the
soft Pirelli tyre that was brought to the race.
Alonso’s afternoon was starting to look bleak and he came on the radio to tell
his engineers: “I think I damaged something more in the car. The
steering is heavy in the right-hand corners.”
It was quickly becoming apparent that the race for victory was going to come
down to a straight fight with the Red Bull drivers, with the added spice of
the pair being on contrasting strategies.
With 20 laps gone Vettel was in the wheeltracks of Perez and preparing to pass
the McLaren, with Webber around 12 seconds down the road. Alonso, meanwhile,
had recovered to 14th.
The mid-point of the race was greeted with a rash of predicted pit stops, with
Webber pulling off on lap 29 to take on the soft tyre rather than the
medium, which ensured the Australian would be spared the frustration of
having to pit in the last couple of laps.
Vettel took his second stop on lap 32, bolting on his second set of mediums
that would carry him to the end of the race.
Webber’s brief dalliance with the fragile soft tyre was over just one lap
later as he took to the pits to take on the more durable medium, dropping
him behind his team-mate.
Vettel looked to press home his advantage over his team-mate with some searing
laps but was warned over the radio by his team to preserve his tyres.
But any threat to Vettel’s race win was eliminated on lap 40 when Webber – yet
again hit by bad luck – was forced into retirement with a gearbox problem.
“I’m overwhelmed,” Vettel concluded later. “I don’t know what
to say. It is one of the best days of my life so far. I try to think back to
when I was small. Formula One was so far away. There have been so many
people I have to thank who helped me along the way.
“I always tried to listen and learn. It has been amazing to race some of
the best drivers in the world. I think it’s a strong field at the moment. I
don’t feel old. I’m getting older but I don’t feel it yet. Every day I’m a
little bit better.”