“You join the greats,” blared out Sebastian Vettel’s team radio as he coasted past the chequered flag at the Buddh International Circuit on Sunday. He had done more than that. With his fourth drivers’ championship, he had left behind the likes of Jackie Stewart, Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and Jack Brabham on the list of most successful drivers ever. Sebastian Vettel had eclipsed the greats!
Vettel’s win at the Indian Grand Prix was perhaps one of the more predictable events in F1 history. No other car had come close to matching the performance of the RB9 all season, while no other driver had led a lap at the BIC before Vettel dived into the pits during the second lap and emerged 17th. But the Indian Grand Prix was far from being a one-man show. A number of other men had parts to play in a race filled with intricate subplots and they played them to perfection.
Chief amongst them were Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Vettel’s teammate Mark Webber. The Spaniard, who needed to finish at least second here to prolong the title battle, went into the race with a drastically different strategy. He had qualified on the slower, but longer-lasting medium tyres and his strategy was simple — stay out longer than Vettel and take advantage when he went into the pit. But all that went out of the window seconds after the start when he made contact with Webber and damaged his wing. And as Alonso went into the pit to get his wing changed on Lap 2, Vettel dived in right after him to exchange his worn-out soft tyres for mediums.
The move effectively put Alonso out of the race while Vettel rejoined in 17th place, though with many cars in front of him running on softs and yet to make their pit stops. Webber, running on medium tyres, soon emerged leader and Vettel’s job was all but simple – negotiate his way through the crowd in front of him.
What followed showed why, at just 26, Vettel is already considered a legend. The German overtook the cars in front of him, one by one, while actually going faster than Webber, who was in a similar car and had a free track in front of him. By Lap 9, Vettel was sixth. In the next three laps, he jumped to third.
But the race was soon in for another series of twists. Webber, on lap 29, came into the pit and came out on the softer tyres. He rejoined in second but was soon handed back the lead. On lap 32, Vettel went in for his second pit stop. Just one lap later, Webber’s soft tyres started blistering and the Australian went in for his third pit stop. He came out 12.5 seconds behind the champion. The race was effectively over.
Vettel got out, kissed the ground before his car and ran over to the barricade and threw his gloves into the crowd. His efforts earned him a fine of 25,000 euros and a reprimand from the stewards. But he had just eclipsed the greats!
Vettel paid tribute to his team of mechanics. “It’s a team effort at the end of the day. I am not selfish and I am not taking all the credit myself. The guys, if you look at their paychecks at the end of the month, it’s incredible for the hours they put in. they could probably make more money working at McDonalds. They love their jobs, they love the fact that they are working on a F1 car.”
He added he was still to come to terms with the fact that he was now the joint third most successful driver in the history of Formula One. “It is too much for me to comprehend now. I think I am too young to think about what I have done. Maybe when I retire and I am 60, I will think about that. People might not care then but it will matter to me.”