Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest triple World Champion

After twenty races of pure adrenaline, entertainment and unpredictability, Sebastian Vettel has clinched his third successive World Drivers’ Championship in superlative style. The season was not easy, and presented the German with an endless amount of obstacles to overcome, but he overcame them tremendously throughout the season.

After dominating the 2011 season in a style reminiscent of fellow countryman Michael Schumacher, the competitiveness of the Championship was increased over the winter period with a drastic change in regulations and the introduction of several highly controversial Pirelli tyre compounds. All these ingredients presented us with a mouthwatering season, and it didn’t disappoint.

Sebastian Vettel’s dominance was instantly thwarted in the opening race of the season, as the McLaren duo dominated the race weekend. Jenson Button took a commanding victory, however Sebastian Vettel gate-crashed the McLaren party with 2nd, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 3rd. The second of the season was a wet affair at Kuala Lumpur’s Sepang circuit for the Malaysian Grand Prix, which was a tough race for the reigning World Champion. The German could only manage 5th in qualifying, and struggled during the race after a collision with HRT’s Narain Karthikeyan. Vettel could only manage 11th in the race, which yielded no points for the German.

The Chinese Grand Prix was equally frustrating for Sebastian Vettel, who struggled immensely during qualifying after being eliminated in Q2 and qualifying only 11th for the race. The race itself was won by Nico Rosberg, as Vettel progressed up to 5th position during the race. However, the German driver returned to his former glories at the Bahrain Grand Prix as he stormed to a superlative race victory after securing pole position. Vettel was followed home by the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen.

If Sebastian Vettel fans thought his Bahrain victory was the return of his dominance at the front, they were disappointed at the next race around Barcelona’s Circuit de Catalunya, where Sebastian Vettel could only manage 6th during the race. The Monaco Grand Prix next time out was marginally better with 4th, but the results were still not as promising as the previous season. Mark Webber took victory at Monaco, clearly stating that Red Bull could win races.

The next two races for Sebastian Vettel were extremely bittersweet for the German, who managed to secure pole at both the Canadian and European Grands Prix. However, a mixture of tyre issues and the return of the dreaded alternator failure saw the Red Bull driver fail to even finish on the podium at either races. At Montreal, Vettel struggled throughout the latter stages of the race with his tyres and could only manage 4th. At Valencia, a sudden alternator failure on his car saw him suffer his first retirement of the year.

The next two races once again failed to produce the sort of results Sebastian Vettel was after, with 3rd at the British Grand Prix and 5th at the German Grand Prix. At Hockenheim, the German controversially overtook Jenson Button for 2nd in the closing stages of the race after taking to the run-off area at the hairpin. This demoted him to 5th after a post-race time penalty was issued by the race stewards.

McLaren emerged as a very competitive outfit throughout the middle of the season, as Lewis Hamilton took victories at the Hungarian and Italian Grands Prix, whereas Jenson Button won at Belgium. During this three race period, Sebastian Vettel endured a roller-coaster of results which consisted of 4th at Hungary, 2nd at Belgium and another frustrating alternator-related retirement at Monza.

However, Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull’s season picked up greatly from the Singapore Grand Prix onwards. After Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead at Singapore, Vettel stormed to an all-important race victory. This victory was replicated at the next three races in Japan, Korea and India as Red Bull rediscovered their competitiveness and returned to their 2011 dominance. This run of competitiveness was almost ended at Abu Dhabi after a controversial disqualification from qualifying saw the German start from the pit-lane instead of 3rd on the grid. This failed to deter him, however, as he completed an absolutely barnstorming race to eventually finish 3rd.

This meant Vettel could clinch the Championship in Austin at the return of the United States Grand Prix, however a superlative drive from Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso denied the German this luxury, as the Championship decider moved to the season-finale at Brazil. After 71-lap tense a slippery laps around the Interlagos circuit, Sebastian Vettel prevailed as he retained his Championship crown in stupendous fashion by finishing 6th and thwarting Fernando Alonso by only three points.

The question now is can Sebastian Vettel win the Championship for a fourth successive time next season, as more spills and thrills are created throughout the 2013 season. Sebastian Vettel most certainly earned his third Championship crown, and will undeniably be after more in the future as Germany bids farewell to one master of the sport, and warmly welcomes another.

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