SÃO PAULO — The Formula One season ended at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Sunday in a mad race from beginning to end, in which the two duelists for the drivers' title faced numerous challenges and setbacks that would have eliminated lesser drivers.
But through constantly changing track and weather conditions Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, the two double world champions, kept on track for one of them to become the youngest triple world champion in history.
In the end, although Alonso finished second and Vettel finished sixth, it was the latter who became the youngest triple world champion in history at age 25, as he had begun the race with 13 points more than Alonso. He won the season with 281 points, to 278 for Alonso.
Vettel also became only the third driver in Formula One history — after Juan Manuel Fangio in the 1950s and Michael Schumacher last decade — to win three titles in a row.
Although it was Jenson Button in a McLaren Mercedes who won the race, his day was completely overshadowed by the battle between the title contenders.
In the sporting equivalent of a trial sent from the heavens, after both drivers qualified poorly for the race — Vettel fourth and Alonso seventh — they then found themselves battling the elements as a light rain turned the difficult, winding track in Interlagos into a fun park slide. Slipping, sliding and dodging cars, the drivers were challenged from start to finish.
Despite being run into from behind at the start of the race by the local driver, Bruno Senna in a Williams, Vettel managed to rise up from the back of the pack after the first lap to finish high enough to beat Alonso.
"It is very difficult to find the words after the race today: Everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Vettel said.
"To win that third title here, where one of my greatest idols Ayrton Senna was from, it is very difficult to imagine I join him and other great names by winning three successive titles," he said. "My radio was not working, I was crying and you didn't hear that and I am very happy about that. I just can't find the right words to describe how I feel right now."
Alonso looked shocked for several minutes after the race, keeping his helmet on and staring into space, but he collected his emotions, knowing he had done all he could.
"First of all I feel very proud of my team, and very proud of the position we did. We didn't lose it here in Brazil," said Alonso, referring to races earlier in the season where he was knocked off the track by other drivers and scored no points. "But this is a sport and when you do something with your heart, you have to be proud."
The race was a battle of the heart for all drivers, often running two and three cars abreast in slippery conditions. Vettel's car was damaged from the accident at the start, but it did not prevent him from climbing up the pack from very last place after the first lap.
"It was one of the most difficult races we have driven, with those conditions," Alonso added. "You feel as if you are with the wrong tire on every lap."
After the wild start, the whole pack of 24 cars was suddenly tightened up again after 22 laps when the safety car was called in to allow marshals to win to clean the track from an accident.
At that point it was again a new start and Vettel attacked Alonso for fourth, as Nico Hulkenberg in a Force India sped off in the lead. At the halfway point of the 71-lap race, after Lap 35, Hulkenberg led by 2.3 seconds on Lewis Hamilton in a McLaren, while Button was third at 1.6 seconds and Alonso fourth at 1.8, while Vettel was seventh, behind Felipe Massa in the other Ferrari.
By Lap 48 after a lull, the rain started again and Hulkenberg, still leading, slid through a corner and lost the lead to Hamilton.
One by one cars began to stop to change tires, beginning at the back of the pack. After Lap 52 Vettel made a pit stop from seventh position to change his tires.
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