Sebastian Vettel was in tears when his Red Bull Racing team congratulated him over the radio for winning the Formula One championship.
“Weltmeister!” they screamed during Vettel’s cool-down lap, using the German word for world champion. Vettel’s answer was barely audible.
“Unbelievable,” he said. “Thank you.”
At 23, Vettel is the youngest world champion in Formula One. Lewis Hamilton was six months older when he won the title in 2008. Vettel also never led the championship until he won the final race, in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.
He was third entering Abu Dhabi. He needed not only to win the race, but to have Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finish fifth or worse. It was a dismal prospect after Alonso qualified third. But Ferrari made a crucial mistake in pitting Alonso early in the race, a move that slotted Alonso behind several slower cars, especially the Renault of Vitaly Petrov. Alonso would never pass Petrov and finished in seventh.
“To be honest I did not know anything,” Vettel said. “I wondered. In the last 10 laps, my engineer Rocky [Guillaume Rocquelin] was giving me advice to help me get the car home. I wondered why he was so nervous.
“I thought we must be in a good position, then he said, ‘It’s looking good.’ I didn’t know what he meant. I just focused on myself, and they came on the radio and screamed that we have won the world championship.” (The New York Times and Autosport)
Formula One: Fernando Alonso Defends Early Pit? Stop
“I lost a position at the start and then when the first safety car came out, Petrov and Rosberg came in so … we saw some problems with the soft tires, Webber pitted and then we tried to cover from him,” said Alonso, referring to being stuck behind Vitaly Petrov and Nico Rosberg. “When you cover someone, probably you give something away to the others. So it was then a choice between covering Vettel or [racing] Petrov and Rosberg, so we covered Webber and then it was difficult to overtake Petrov.” (BBC Sport)
Formula One: How Did Ferrari Mess Up?
Alonso needed only to finish fourth or better to win the championship, and somehow he ended up in seventh after an early pit stop. James Allen seeks to understand how Ferrari could have made such a dreadful error. “The reason they made the mistake was because they were too concerned with what Mark Webber was doing and failed to see the bigger picture,” writes Mr. Allen. (James Allen on F1)
Formula One: Nico Hulkenberg Leaving Williams
Nico Hulkenberg is out at Williams. The rookie driver finished the season in 14th, but a surprising pole position at the Brazilian Grand Prix last week really bolstered his stock. “I heavily regret that, because I would have been happy to stay with Williams,” Hulkenberg wrote on his Web site. His manager, Willi Weber, said he was negotiating with other teams. (F1 Fanatic)
Nascar: Sprint Cup Will Come Down to the Wire
Denny Hamlin had a chance to stretch his lead in the Sprint Cup at Phoenix International Raceway. He led for 190 laps and dominated the race. But he was just short on fuel and had to pit with 14 laps to go. Carl Edwards took the victory, breaking a 70-race winless streak. Hamlin finished 12th and his closest rival, Jimmie Johnson, was fifth. Hamlin leads Johnson by 15 points going into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway next Sunday. “It’s tough to not be happy having the point lead going into the last race, but we were sitting pretty,” Hamlin said. “I hate that it boils down to the final race.” (The Associated Press)
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