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| Image Courtesy - Telegraph.co.uk |
After clinching his fourth consecutive driver’s world
championship, Sebastian Vettel is undoubtedly the king of F1, at least for the
moment. There might be couple of drivers currently who are more talented than him;
however they will have to wait or come up with something out of the
extraordinary to beat him or even come closer to him.
Fernando Alonso came close last year and in 2010 with his
Ferrari, reliable but lacked the final punch which was so badly needed to beat
Vettel and his Red Bull or whatever the fancy names he calls his car. Mark
Webber his team-mate had his best chance to win in 2010 and since then he never
looked set to beat Vettel, while Raikkonen excelled in few opportunities where
Lotus looked good.
The race now shifts to the Middle Eastern world, Abu Dhabi.
A race amidst the twilight on the streets of this Emirate capital welcomes the
new world champion albeit a familiar face who previously has won this race
twice including the inaugural race in 2009. The last of his two victories is a
significant one, the one which wrote the most defining chapter in the legacy of
Vettel’s racing career and gave him the momentum to move to another level.
It was the evening of 14th November 2010; four
drivers came into this season finale having a chance, a mathematical one to win
the driver’s title. Fernando Alonso with 246 points, Mark Webber with 238
points, Vettel with 231 points and Hamilton with 222 points, which was a record
in itself. Never has F1 seen a four-way battle for the top spot. Ferrari and
Alonso were confident and so was Mark in Red Bull. It was Vettel’s second year
with the Red Bull and was not yet the senior driver of the team while Hamilton
had nothing really to lose.
In one of the pre-race press conference, Vettel was asked –
“You are leading the race, Webber is in second place, Alonso in third and the
race would be finishing. What would be your behaviour Vettel?” The wonder kid
from Germany smiled, paused and answered in a calm manner – “I was asked a
similar question at the last race. It is just Thursday guys, if we ever get to
that situation, we’ll see”
All the title contenders were placed in top five after
qualifying. Vettel and Hamilton occupied the front two positions while Alonso
and Webber were to start from second and third row respectively.
The race started and by the end of lap one safety car was
called to slow the pace while the track marshals removed the wreckage of
Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes and Liuzzi’s Force India. The race resumed its
normal and usual pace after lap five with the top five being Vettel, Hamilton,
Button, Alonso and Webber in that order. Alonso was to win the championship if
the race finished in that order. He looked set to do what ‘Raikkonen’ had done
in 2007 by winning the championship with Ferrari in his first year.
Drama unfolded on lap 11 when Mark Webber was called on to
pits. Why? He was getting stuck behind Alonso and this way he could make up
some ground and challenge for the lead or was there some other reason?
Ferrari race strategists keeping a closer eye on Webber were
planning to counter this with their own strategy. Alonso was the fastest driver
on the circuit before he was called to pit on lap 15. Was the call to pit as a
result to keep Webber in check or to replace the degradation of softer tyres on
Alonso? Did they have a good look at other drivers on track and their
strategies before calling him in? Surely, they would have factored all this
considering it was going to be a one-pit stop strategy?
Alonso re-joined the track in 12th position and
ahead of Webber and the pit strategy worked. More importantly, he was behind a
long chain of cars that had already pitted and would not be required to pit
another time. On lap 24 Vettel pitted and the pit-stop was pitch perfect,
reminiscent of Ferrari’s ruthless stop at Suzuka in 2000 which gave Michael the
championship.
Vettel came ahead of Kobayashi and Kubica with clear track
ahead of him. Hamilton overtook the Sauber and Renault in pursuit of victory
while Alonso was stuck behind the other Renault of Petrov. With each lap down,
one could see the disappointment in the faces of Ferrari fans, their crew and
Andrea Stella in particular, the race engineer for Alonso who was heard
constantly delivering motivational messages lap after lap on the radio. It was
just one of those days where things could go all wrong and it did for the team
from Marenello. Those despairing faces dressed in red appeared even more
hopeless and all they could expect was for some retirements at the front.
On the other hand, the team of Red Bull were anxious,
knowing Webber’s chance had dwindled and Vettel’s victory would mean nothing
unless Alonso finished outside of top five. They waited with fingers crossed.
Vettel crossed the line and won the race by 10 seconds. He
was not announced as the World Champion immediately and instead he was asked to
hold till they could confirm the finishing order. It was looking good and so
Vettel waited patiently while he heard out the messages from his race engineer
on the radio. “Hamilton P2, Button P3, there’s another two cars coming on turn
15 and 16, Rosberg P4, Kubica P5 and.......Der Meister”
Tears were all I could sense hearing Vettel react to being
the World Champion. Yes, he became the World Champion and it was unbelievable. He
led the championship for the first time that season and what a day to have done
that.
As the German national anthem played, my mind could only
think of that Sunday evening in Japan 10 years before this race. A German by
the name of Michael Schumacher was in tears of joy winning his 3rd
driver’s championship and the first of his five with Ferrari. His junior had
arrived on the big stage.
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| Vettel in his younger days with this hero Michael Schumacher |
In 2008, it was Hamilton who had become the youngest World
Champion and now the world was to see another youngster claim the throne. Since
that day, he has gone on to win three more titles.
On 3rd November 2013, Vettel will race as a
four-time World champion on the Yas Island track. He will be fully aware of the
day on this track which gave him the momentum to surge ahead and stamp his
authority on the track.
Next year with the rule changes, return of turbo engines and
Ferrari having a powerful driver’s line-up, it promises to be an exciting
season. Will Vettel be crowned for the five time come Abu Dhabi next year? I
don’t know and honestly even Red Bull doesn’t know. What they do know is that
it is all theirs to lose. But for now, they will race in Abu Dhabi knowing this
is where it all began, the legacy of Vettel and Red Bull in particular.
