Vettel defies the odds to take F1 Title

Sebastian Vettel successfully defied the bookmakers odds on Sunday in the evening desert of Abu Dhabi to become the world’s youngest F1 champion. 

While all eyes seemed to be concentrating on Mark Webber - with Fernando Alonso receiving the bookmakers’ blessing - it was Vettel who got on with the job. Qualifying in pole position, he held his nerve only to have to wait to see whether Alonso had finished in the top four to snatch victory from him. 

Vettel said that he didn’t know anything about the result as his Red Bull crew had deliberately kept him in the dark about developments in order to keep the pressure off him. It wasn’t until his engineers came on the radio screaming “we have won the championship” that Vettel knew his fate. 

The young German came out of the shadows to take the title after a turbulent season, where despite taking 10 pole positions, only managed to win five times. He also had to deal with reliability issues with his car. After Webber’s great start and subsequent fade, Alonso’s late recovery and Hamilton always in close contention, the title could have gone anywhere. Hamilton and Button finished on a high, coming second and third respectively, but the Spaniard and Australian failed to deliver. 

Ferrari seemed to have targeted Webber as the main threat and shadowed his moves, leaving Vettel to concentrate on his own driving and complete a relatively unhindered race. Button kept up the suspense before his tyre change, but once the pit stops had all been completed there was no doubt about the outcome.