Indian Grand Prix: A Champion is crowned!

The almighty young German has done it and becomes the youngest Formula One driver to win four World Championships and, perhaps even more impressively, back to back. He did it in style, his race engineers selecting an unconventional and, for all appearances, very risky strategy. At the end of only two laps, Seb was in to change his tyres from the quick-to-degrade soft tyre, to the far longer lasting hard tyre. It put him back in seventeenth place, with a large proportion of the field to pass. He managed it and ended up first, with only his teammate to challenge him. That challenge immediately evaporated, when Mark Webber's Red Bull was damaged to the extent that he was forced to stop.

Vettel made his championship win all the more special by adding a touch of the historic and emotional showmanship that we all love in Formula One. He has been fined €25,000 for his exuberant antics on the start/finish straight, but let us be grateful that we spectate on Formula One at a time when drivers are willing to incur some discipline for the sake of creating iconic footage and memories. Sebastian doing donuts, waving to the crowd and bowing down to his superior machine, will resonate for years to come.

Now, let me try and resolve some of the debate regarding whether Sebastian Vettel is one of the greats. I've heard people, TV pundits and the like, discussing whether greatness comes with merit and achievement or moments and instances of supreme performance. Also, whether the car does the winning, or the driver. When considering these questions, the same two names pop up, Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher. Senna, despite achieving relatively few accolades, did things that were unconventional, memorable and at times downright scary. He was the man who, before pit lane speed limits were introduced, shot through the pits at racing speed, at Donington Raceway, to gain a handful of places. On another occasion, during qualifying for the French Grand Prix, he threw his racecar in to the wall on the start/finish straight, just so that he could exit the corner and cross the line a split second faster than everyone else. Alternatively, Michael Schumacher has achieved what almost everybody would agree is greatness, by winning seven world titles, five of which were consecutive.

The point is, do we have to pick one definition? Why can we not place them all under the same umbrella of 'Great'? As for the question of the car or the driver, it has always been the same throughout the history of Formula One. Some doubt Vettel's quality, claiming that he is in the fastest car. Interestingly, Schumacher was in a vastly superior racecar when he dominated for five years. That was clear, because his teammates, Rubens Barrichello and Eddie Irvine, were both ahead of the rest of the field, albeit still in Michael's shadow. In contrast, Sebastian Vettel's teammate, Mark Webber, regularly finishes outside of the top three, so its fair to say that he isn't getting anywhere near the superiority out of the car that Seb is. In my view Sebastian Vettel is one of the best there has ever been and it will only be a matter of time until that is the common consensus.

The Indian Grand Prix was chaotic, mainly as a result of the very poor soft tyre, which scattered the strategies all over the place. It meant that, by around lap ten, the only people that could have predicted the outcome were the strategists. There were some good fights in the final few laps, although none involved the four time world champion. He was well out in front and cruising to victory. The remaining races are sure to feature even more nail biting action. But the top prize has been claimed and has gone to a worthy winner.

Korean Grand Prix: Sparks flying in Korea...

The Korean Grand Prix started with a bang as cars ran wheel to wheel, four and sometimes five abreast. There was contact in to the second corner, as Filipe Massa locked up on the approach and lost the back end of his Ferrari. He appeared to clip his team mate, Fernando Alonso, but fortunately both drivers were able to continue and the race progressed with a complete field.

The racing was some of the best we've seen all season, with cars sometimes jostling for four or five positions at the same time and on the same piece of track. One of those notable instances came near the end of the Grand Prix, when Maldonado, Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg and Guttierez were jostling for the fourth spot. At one point it was extremely difficult to follow who was in what position and you found yourself gasping and yelping at the TV.

It was Sebastien Vettel's weekend once again, as he cruised to yet another victory and made it possible for him to take the World Championship next weekend in Japan. That result requires a couple of technicalities, mainly revolving around Fernando Alonso's performance, however it is appearing more and more likely that he will become World Champion for the fourth time.

Alternately, Vettel's team mate, running in his final season in Formula One, was having a torrid time. Right at the beginning of the race, it looked as though Mark Webber's strategy was going to put him in good stead for the end of the race. It quickly became apparent that this wasn't going to be the case and shortly after the first safety car period, he was T-boned, as Di Resta found himself in a spin in to the second corner. The impact against the side of pod of Webber's car ruptured an oil or fuel line and the car dramatically burst in to flames. He casually abandoned his car and so commenced the second safety car period, ludicrously led by an AWOL Fire Marshall car.

As trackside marshalls tried to extinguish the flaming Red Bull car, the camera cut to the second straight and, notably, the second DRS zone. In the foreground a Fire Marshall jeep was cruising toward Webber's stricken car, whilst in the background the train of race cars was streaming around the first corner and heading on to the same high speed straight. It was a surreal sight and the drivers did well to understand the situation and slow down together.

It was a great race, packed with incident and, although not great for Perez and McLaren fans, who witnessed their man suffer a massive tyre delamination incident, or Nico Rosberg fans who saw their driver lose his nose, spraying sparks everywhere, it was a wonderful spectacle for the neutral viewer. Despite things being a bit of a foregone conclusion, right at the top of the standings, it is important to recognise that the drivers are desperately fighting for every position in the championship, making every race extremely exciting.

The Result:

Pos	#	Driver	Car	Laps	Gap	Difference	Reason
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	55
2	7	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus-Renault	55	4.224	4.224
3	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	55	4.927	0.703
4	11	Nico Hulkenberg	Sauber-Ferrari	55	24.114	19.187
5	10	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	55	25.255	1.141
6	3	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	55	26.189	0.934
7	9	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	55	26.698	0.509
8	5	Jenson Button	McLaren	55	32.262	5.564
9	4	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	55	34.390	2.128
10	6	Sergio Perez	McLaren	55	35.155	0.765
11	12	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	55	35.990	0.835
12	17	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Renault	55	47.049	11.059
13	16	Pastor Maldonado	Williams-Renault	55	50.013	2.964
14	20	Charles Pic	Caterham-Renault	55	63.578	13.565
15	21	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham-Renault	55	64.501	0.923
16	22	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Cosworth	55	67.970	3.469
17	23	Max Chilton	Marussia-Cosworth	55	72.898	4.928
18	18	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	53	2 laps	2 laps
19	19	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	52	3 laps	1 lap
20	15	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	50	5 laps	2 laps
Not classified
	2	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	36	19 laps	14 laps	Accident
	14	Paul di Resta	Force India-Mercedes	24	31 laps	12 laps	Accident

Italian Grand Prix: A race of two halves...

It wasn't the most exciting of races in Monza. The race started well, with no shortage of excitement as drivers jostled for position, some making contact. Hamilton's race was damaged even more than by qualifying, as he went through the first corner. He drove over a couple of bits of carbon fibre and in a few laps was suffering with a slow puncture. After an early pitstop he was down to nineteenth and watching his race and Championship challenge disappearing.

It was a race for Red Bull to simply scoop up and chalk up as another first and second, however Sebastian Vettel could be seen to have damaged Mark's race, right at the start. Webber had one of his best starts in a long time, finally managing to get away from the grid faster than his teammate. The problem for Mark was Sebastian's aggressive defence, which allowed Felipe Massa to hurtle up the outside and take the second place. As they went through the first chicane Vettel was leading, with Massa following up in second and Webber having to defend against Alonso.

Vettel's win was well deserved, since there were times when he had to preserve the engine and gearbox by short shifting and easing off. Webber was unfortunate not to be able to beat Alonso to second place and it is worth considering that if Sebastian hadn't held him up he may well have made Red Bull's result a clean sweep.

After the start, the race settled in to a processional affair, with the threat of rain bringing a little hope that things might get mixed up. Rain stayed away and it took until around the forty-third lap of fifty-three for excitement to be injected back in to the event. Kimi Raikonnen and Lewis Hamilton, despite fighting it out for eleventh place, were fighting like their careers depended on it. Lewis eventually got past Kimi and then began forging his through the pack in the final laps to finish ninth and pick up some points.

The driver that suffered the most this weekend was quite obviously Paul Di Resta. After everything else that he had to deal with during practice and then qualifying, his race was over very quickly. He was involved in an incident, approaching the second chicane, in which he found himself in a tight spot, squeezed to the point that he lost his front wing and left front wheel. A torrid weekend for some, but a great weekend for Red Bull Racing, who may well have just about sealed the Championship.

The Result:

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull	1:18:33.352
2.	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	+5.467
3.	Mark Webber	Red Bull	+6.350
4.	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	+9.361
5.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber	+10.355
6.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	+10.999
7.	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	+32.329
8.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus	+33.130
9.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	+33.527
10.	Jenson Button	McLaren	+38.327
11.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus	+38.695
12.	Sergio Perez	McLaren	+39.765
13.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber	+40.880
14.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	+49.085
15.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams	+56.827
16.	Adrian Sutil	Force India	+1 Lap
17.	Charles Pic	Caterham	+1 Lap
18.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham	+1 Lap
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia	+1 Lap
20.	Max Chilton	Marussia	+1 Lap
Did not finish
21.	Jean-Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	+39 Laps
22.	Paul di Resta	Force India	+53 Laps

The final act...

So, the season is over, and what an ending! As the beginning of the Brazilian Grand Prix approached, it threatened to be a bit of a foregone conclusion. However, that threat was rather weak, as the misty rain refused to abate and more rain was forecast for the rest of the Grand Prix. Everybody knew what was required of them if they were to achieve their various goals, but all of that seemed to be dropped by the wayside, as the cars exited the fourth corner, leaving the reigning World Champion facing the wrong way.

Vettel went in to the race with very little to do, relatively speaking. He was leading the championship by fifteen points and his race should have been straight forward. Alonso, on the other hand, had a far more difficult prospect ahead of him. Sat on the grid, he was aware that he needed at least a third place finish, with Sebastian finishing out of the points, if he was to take the championship.

When the red lights went out, Vettel was sluggish getting away, whilst Alonso had his usual storming start and found himself up in third, exactly where he needed to be if he was to take the title. Then, the unthinkable happened for Red Bull, as Bruno Senna ploughed in to the side of Vettel, on the fourth corner, spinning him round and resulting in half a dozen cars appearing to hit each other and Sebastian. To everyone, including the Red Bull team and Vettel himself, it looked like the young German was out of the race. Seb's race engineer was heard saying, over the team radio, "stay out to see how the car behaves, we cannot fix it". Unbelievably, a few minutes later, Vettel was banging in fastest laps and the damage, although extensive, appeared to be cosmetic only.

As the race progressed, rain, safety cars and pit stops continuously mixed up the pack and it became difficult to judge how the final positions would shake out. Many drivers had excursions off the black stuff. Kimi Raikonnen bounced through the mud, in true Finnish rally style, whilst Alonso, overran the first corner more than once. Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button looked like they might cap off the season with a truly inspired result, until Lewis and Niko Hulkenberg had an unfortunate coming together on the first corner. Hamilton's race, season, and time at McLaren were brought to an abrupt end.

It was Jenson who managed to take one final win for McLaren, which was sort of poetic, since he is the driver that is staying with the British based team. Alonso did everything that could have been expected of him, and similarly Massa was resilient and ever the team player. His reaction on the podium summed up his sheer gratitude at being gifted another shot after the accident that saw him suffer a traumatic head injury a couple of years ago. Fernando was exceptionally graceful in defeat. He looked, understandably, disappointed but full of thanks for the efforts of his Ferrari team. All of the drivers were fantastic ambassadors of the sport in Brazil, but the worthy world champion was Sebastian Vettel.

It was a tense final few laps, that saw Sebastian climb to the required position and Alonso struggle to come near to a flying Button. It was nail-bitingly obvious that a failure or a mistake, from almost any of the cars in the top ten, could have swung the championship outcome in one or other's favour. However, Vettel was the deserving winner. The Brazilian Grand Prix made it two races in which Sebastian had found himself plumb last, for whatever reason, and had then worked his way up to the front of the pack to take valuable points.

This season has been record-breaking, unpredictable and utterly, utterly thrilling. Nobody would have guessed that this season could be as good as last season and yet it was arguably better. Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel have done it again, despite having a relatively poor start to the championship fight. Congratulations to them and thank you to all the people who have followed my blog throughout the season. I wish the racing could continue right on through the winter, and for us, the spectators, we have to wait till next March. However, for the teams, the race does continue, seamlessly on, as they strive to design, develop and innovate faster than their rivals, all in preparation for the 2013 season...