Four-time F1 World Champion, Sebastian Vettel announced his retirement from the sport at the end of the current season. In his years with F1, Vettel has picked up 53 race wins while featuring on the podium 112 times. The German driver also holds the record of being the youngest pole sitter and the youngest world champion that he achieved in 2008 and 2010 respectively. With Vettel’s days driving an F1 car coming to an end, let’s take a look at five of the best races of his Formula 1 career.
After switching sides from Red Bull to Ferrari, Vettel got his first Ferrari win in only his second race with the Scuderia. Vettel started the race from the front row and took the lead of the race when both Mercedes pitted. Since then, the German driver was in complete control of the race and despite Ferrari’s questionable strategic decision, Vettel pulled through to pick up his first victory with the team in Red.
Vettel’s hope for a third straight title looked over when he had a collision with Bruno Senna’s Williams. But Vettel emerged from his set-back, refusing to accept his title loss. With his car repaired, he rejoined as the last driver on track after lap one. From there on, we saw a champion ride with him surging up to P6 on lap eight itself. Vettel then continued to push and finished P6 to deny Fernando Alonso the World Championship by just three points.
In the 2013 Indian Grand Prix, Vettel had an early pitstop which dropped the pole sitter towards the rear of the pack but that wasn’t a problem for the 4-time World Champion as he charged down the pack and by Lap 21, he was left with only his teammate Max Webber in his Red Bull crosshair. The following lap, Webber pitted that gave Vettel his position back for a win that secured his fourth consecutive World Championship.
With the slowest car on the grid, Vettel picked up what was “a miracle” victory in the 2008 Italian Grand Prix in Monza. The German driver surpassed all expectations by taking pole in Monza’s wet conditions. It was obvious that competitors will put the youngster under pressure going into turn one of the race but Vettel kept his cool and managed to stay in front for the entire race. In the second half of the race, McLaren made a pit stop and their gamble to catch Vettel failed as he picked up his first Formula 1 victory.
The 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix was described as one of the sport’s greatest upsets – courtesy of Sebastian Vettel. GOing into the final race of the 2010 season, Vettel was 15 points behind Alonso and 7 behind his teammate Mark Webber. After beating Lewis Hamilton to pole, he managed to hold that position and kept his cool despite the continuous pressure from the McLaren’s. In the end, he took the checkered flag by over 10 seconds to win his 10th race of the season that made him the Youngest Formula 1 World Champion (23 years 143 days).
[Featured Image Credit: Sebastian Vettel]
Shashank Iyer