On November 14, 2010, Sebastian Vettel became the youngest Formula 1 world champion of all time. The omens before the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi were extremely bad. In the end, the young Red Bull driver was able to thank a “braking block” from Russia that he was able to win the title.
From Sebastian Vettel’s point of view, the initial situation before the last race of the 2010 Formula 1 season was very simple: based on human judgment, the then 23-year-old simply had no chance of winning the title.
With 231 points, the German was seven points behind teammate Mark Webber (238) and a whopping 15 points behind World Championship leader Fernando Alonso (246).
Vettel’s only remotely realistic chance of winning the world championship was a victory. At the same time, he had to hope that Alonso would finish sixth at the most. And if Vettel doesn’t win, Webber would suddenly play a role in the calculations again. A seemingly hopeless undertaking for the young man from Heppenheim.
Formula 1: Ferrari’s big mistake helps Sebastian Vettel
The youngster fulfilled his duty in qualifying on Saturday. Vettel raced to pole and left Alonso (3rd) in his Ferrari and Webber (5th) behind him. The most important start of the season followed 24 hours later.
While pole-sitter Vettel got away well, Alonso was overtaken by McLaren driver Jenson Button and fell back to fourth place. In the Ferrari garage everyone remained quiet, as the focus was primarily on World Championship runner-up Mark Webber. The Scuderia also based its tactics on him – a serious mistake, as it turned out.
Vitantonio Liuzzi took Michael Schumacher on his horns
An accident occurred a few seconds after takeoff. Michael Schumacher was pushed off the ideal line and spun. Vitantonio Liuzzi crashed into the record world champion and missed his helmet by just centimeters.
The safety car came onto the track and some backbenchers took the opportunity to get new tires with which they wanted to finish the race. The Russian Vitaly Petrov, who drove his first season in Formula 1, was also there.
Meanwhile, the top drivers all stayed outside. On lap eleven, Red Bull first called Mark Webber into the pits, and four laps later Fernando Alonso also came to change tires. Ferrari hoped Alonso would get back on track before Webber – one of the few plans that worked for the Scuderia that day.
“Use your whole class, do it!”
After leaving the pits, Alonso sat ahead of the Australian, but was behind Vitaly Petrov. The Ferrari engineers were sure that the Spaniard would overtake the young Russian. But they were very mistaken. Petrov then blocked the World Cup leader using every trick in the book.
Vitaly Petrov drove Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber to despair
Alonso looked for a gap lap after lap. But no matter what the Spaniard tried, Petrov found an answer to every attack. At the Ferrari pits, the concern grew with every kilometer. “Ok, I know and see that you are doing your best, but you absolutely have to get past him. Use your whole class, do it!”, Alonso was asked by his engineer via radio. It didn’t help.
Meanwhile, things were going like clockwork for Sebastian Vettel at the top. When the Heppenheimer returned to the track after his stop on lap 24, he was just a hair ahead of Kamui Kobayashi and Robert Kubica, meaning the path to victory was clear.
Triumph of Sebastian Vettel: “You are WORLD CHAMPION”
In the end, Vettel confidently crossed the finish line in first place. After anxious seconds of waiting, the relieving radio message came: “Ok, Sebastian, good job. I have to wait until everyone is over the line. I have to wait, but it looks good…Hamilton P2, Button P3, Rosberg P4 , Kubica P5, you are WORLD CHAMPION!”
While tears of joy flowed in Sebastian Vettel’s cockpit, Alonso took out his anger on Vitaly Petrov. Waving and cursing wildly, the Spaniard sat down next to the Russian on the run-off lap, who was greeted with frenetic applause by the Red Bull mechanics after the race.
Vitaly Petrov was celebrated by the Red Bull team after the race in Abu Dhabi
“I tried to overtake him, but he defended himself very aggressively against two people who are fighting for the world championship,” Alonso said after the race that he didn’t think much of Petrov’s interference in the world championship fight .
And what did the Russian say who helped make Sebastian Vettel the youngest world champion ever? “I was just defending my position. I don’t make it easy for anyone to overtake me. I’m not here for fun. I didn’t do it for him (Vettel; editor’s note). I didn’t want Fernando either destroy the race. I was just doing my job.”
Source: www.sport.de
