INTERLAGOS, Brazil- There is always a moment in sports history which all fans wish to
remember, and when they see it, they will cherish it forever.
On Sunday afternoon, Sebastian Vettel was that driver at the Formula One Grand Prix of Brazil who was selected for this moment as the four time world champion not only won over teammate Mark Webber by just over ten seconds, but tied Alberto Ascari’s 60 year old record of nine consecutive wins and in addition, equaled the
most wins in a full season at 13, set in 2004 by Michael Schumacher.
‘Today was an interesting race, and it was nice to control them.” Said Vettel about the
rest of the grid. “It was tough with the rain, but today I am very proud.”
The beginning of the race was the only time that Vettel did not lead as the German managed to lose his lead because of a bad start to countryman Nico Rosberg. However, on the second lap, Vettel wrested the lead from Rosberg and never gave it up for the rest of the race. Vettel had his biggest lead on lap 47, when he led by 12.8 seconds ahead of Webber, who was driving in his final formula one race before departing next season for Porsche in the World Endurance Championship. But while Vettel had no more trouble, others in the mid-section of the grid were having much more action as home hero Felipe Massa, running in fourth by lap 31, cut the final part of the course and ran the turn too sharp, running over a part of the pit lane that was illegal to cross and was forced to
serve a drive through penalty.
This gave fourth to Lewis Hamilton, but only 17 laps later, he was being unlapped by Finnish rookie Valterri Bottas and was struck, spinning the Williams pilot out of
the race, and having Hamilton himself serve a drive through penalty.
Besides Bottas, only two other drivers were the only retirements of the race, as Romain Grosjean had his Lotus -Renault engine let go on lap four, while fellow Frenchman Charles Pic pulled off the track late in the day, claiming something
broke in his Caterham.
Fernando Alonso took the final podium with his Ferrari in third, while Mclaren drivers Jenson Button and Sergio Perez both finished in the top ten in fourth and sixth, respectively. Rosberg ended up fifth, while Massa finished in seventh. Nico Hulkenberg had another good finish in his Sauber, taking eighth, while Hamilton ended up a disappointing ninth. Daniel Riccardo, who will replace
Webber at Red Bull alongside Vettel next season rounded up the top ten.
For Vettel, there was no doubt that out of all the championships he has won, this was the best of all of them, which made the German say what most individuals do when everything
is going successfully for them.
“I am quite
sad that this season is coming to an end.”
Mark Gero has written formula one racing stories since 2002 on the Internet for such sites as Motorsport.com, Racing Information Service News and for a brief time at the Munich Eye newspaper in Munich, Germany along with Autoweek online. Mark also has a diploma in journalism from the London School of Journalism in London, England and in addition a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Mass Communication from Ashford University in Clinton, Iowa.