Fernando Alonso had the World Championship snatched away from him on the last day of the season a few years ago when Kimi Raikkonen gate crashed his party on the last day of the season. Fernando Alonso would have felt a sense of déjà vu on Sunday as he lost the Championship to Sebastian Vettel despite finishing in second place, four places ahead of the now youngest triple world champion.
Brazilian GP – Jenson Button wins but Sebastian Vettel steals the show
Formula 1 has now made it a habit to stretch the title decider into the last day of the season. As if the two drivers contesting for the Driver’s championship, the impending retirement of the greatest racer to have driven an F1 car and the last race of a top driver for his current employer wasn’t enough, the Brazilian rain-gods decided to have a little fun of their own.
Sebastian Vettel couldn’t have asked for a more horrible start to his race as he dropped from fourth to seventh in the first corner while his rival Alonso moved from seventh to fifth. And then things got worse for the German as he was hit from behind as his car spun as all the remaining cars whizzed past him. Alonso suddenly looked like the man to beat as he raced past his teammate Massa and then Webber to move into third place – he needed to finish atleast third if Vettel was not going to score any points.
But the German racer showed why he was a two time champion already. He clawed his way from behind easily overtaking the slower cars and by Lap 15, he was back in sixth place. Meanwhile Alonso made a mistake of his own, locking his front tyre and running out of the track, thus losing a place to Webber. When the safety car was deployed eight laps later, Alonso and Vettel were in fourth and fifth place and at this point of time, the German was favorite to hang on to his Championship. Vettel had damaged his radio after the collision on the first lap and lack of communication saw him take a pit-stop at the wrong time dropping him down to seventh place by Lap 35.
It was a pretty normal race for the rest of the drivers. Niko Hulkenburg briefly led the race before being overtaken by Button and Hulkenburg crashed into Hamilton a little later on, bringing a premature end to both their races.
And then it began to pour over Sao Paolo!! With 14 laps to go, Red Bull seemed to have handed the Championship to Alonso as Vettel had to pit again for wet tyres as he moved down to eleventh spot but he moved back into sixth spot when all the other cars made their stop. Alonso meanwhile had moved into third place and then overtook Webber again to move into second spot, but it wouldn’t be enough as he needed Vettel to drop down a few more places.
Lewis Hamilton, driving his last race for McLaren started the race on pole position and raced away to a lead before being overtaken by his teammate on the sixth lap. He briefly retook the lead with nearly 22 laps to go before being hit by Niko Hulkenburg as the latter tried to pass him. Hulkenburg was eventually penalized but it brought a premature end to the Briton’s fifteen year association with the McLaren team.
The 2012 season had an anticlimactic end with Paula Di Resta crashing on the penultimate lap, thus bringing out the safety car. That was all Vettel needed as they drove the last lap behind the safety car, a second spot finish not sufficient for Alonso to clinch the title.
Vettel became only the third driver to win three consecutive Championships after Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher, who incidentally drove his last race after announcing his retirement from the sport a few days back. For Fernando though, it was a bitter pill to swallow as it was the second time that he lost out on the Championship on the last day of the season.
Tags: Brazilian Grand Prix, F1, Fernando Alonso, Formula 1, Jenson Button, Red Bull, Sebastian Vettel
