Seb’s most scintillating moments
AFP Sport selects five of Sebastian Vettel’s best races following the German’s announcement that he plans to retire from Formula 1 at the end of the season:
2010 Abu Dhabi
Vettel arrived in Abu Dhabi on the back of a Brazil win that kept him in the fight for the world title, but only just. Victory in Brazil had cut his deficit to Fernando Alonso to 15 points, with Red Bull teammate Mark Webber seven ahead. If the mountain was too tall to climb, no one told Vettel. After beating Lewis Hamilton to pole he managed to hold position into the first corner, and after plenty of pressure without results from the McLaren driver, Vettel emerged from the only pit stop still leading. Despite the size of the stakes, Vettel kept a cool head to take the checkered flag by over 10 seconds to pull off what Autosport magazine described as “one of the sport’s great upsets”. At 23 years and 143 days, his 10th win of the season made him the youngest-ever F1 world champion.
2008 Italian Grand Prix
Vettel’s debut win was, as the driver himself said, “a miracle”, achieved against all the odds. With the slowest car, the veteran of only 22 races defied tricky wet weather to silence Ferrari at Monza and secure Toro Rosso’s first and only race win. Vettel surpassed expectations by taking pole but the smart money was on his front-row companion, with Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren proving too much for the 21-year-old to handle. Despite a scare early on, when he briefly lost control, he had the measure of Kovalainen and then Lewis Hamilton in the second McLaren. Aided by tire strategy as a McLaren pit-stop gamble failed, Vettel mastered Monza to cross the line over 10 seconds up on Kovalainen. “Without Sebastian in the car, this win would not have been possible,”
said Toro Rosso’s technical director, Giorgio Ascanelli.
2013 Indian Grand Prix
This crushing near-half-a-minute victory over Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg was the work of a driver at the top of his game. After an early pit stop left the pole sitter toward the rear of the pack, he seamlessly and intelligently picked off the 16 cars ahead, choosing his moment to overtake in an unhurried, calculating manner. By lap 21, he surged past Sergio Perez’s McLaren to leave only teammate Mark Webber in his Red Bull crosshairs. With the Australian then pitting, Vettel was back where he had started, leading the field for a win that secured him his fourth consecutive drivers’ crown.
2012 Brazilian Grand Prix
Four corners into the season-ending race, Vettel’s hopes of a third straight title looked to have been fatally damaged following a collision with Bruno Senna’s Williams. But just as Hamilton thrives on adversity, Vettel emerged from this setback with all guns blazing, refusing to accept relinquishing his drivers’ crown. With his car repaired, he rejoined as the tail-ender with one lap gone. He had surged up to sixth by lap eight, the position he was in at flag fall to deny Alonso the title by three points.
2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
In only his second race since switching from Red Bull, Vettel got his first win for Ferrari on the board. Delivering Ferrari’s first success in the new hybrid era must have felt sweet after a trying final season with Red Bull. Hamilton on pole had Vettel in his slipstream at the start, but when both Mercedes pitted, Vettel was left in control. In contrast to this season when a series of questionable strategic decisions from the pit lane have derailed Ferrari’s title push, the Italian F1 giant outsmarted Mercedes with its new driver executing the plan to perfection. Sadly for Vettel, this encouraging start was not built upon to deliver his dream of a world title for the team.