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Infiniti Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel wrapped up the Formula One season on Sunday by winning the Brazilian Grand Prix and becoming the first driver to take nine successive victories in a single year.
The sport’s youngest quadruple world champion, still only 26 years old, also matched fellow-German Michael Schumacher’s 2004 record of 13 wins in a season.
“Guys, I am so proud of you. I love you. Remember this, enjoy this moment. Yes. We did it. This is unbelievable,” said Vettel, his voice wavering over the team radio after he took the chequered flag for his 39th career win.
While he celebrated, Australian teammate Mark Webber said farewell with second place, anchoring a one-two in his 215th and final race for the champions before heading to Le Mans sportscars with Porsche. The Australian removed his helmet on the slowing down lap, feeling the wind in his hair and letting the cheering crowd see his face.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, this season’s overall-runner-up, finished third on a day when the skies over Interlagos failed to deliver the rain that had forced delays to qualifying on Saturday.
The only other Formula One driver to win nine in a row was Italian Alberto Ascari, but his were over two campaigns in 1952-53 at a time when there were not even nine races in a season.
“You can’t really compare it,” said Vettel. “In the fifties the races were much longer and there were a lot of things that were breaking down.
“I think his record still stands out a lot. So at the end of the day, as I see it now, it’s just a number. But hopefully one day, when I’ve got less hair and chubby, then it’s probably something nice to look back to.”
Vettel and Red Bull had secured their fourth successive drivers’ and constructors’ titles in India last month and the German has been so dominant that the only hope of an upset had seemed in the hands of the notoriously fickle Sao Paulo weather.
In the end it proved no threat, even if Vettel – on pole position – was overtaken by compatriot Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes at the start. Vettel passed him back at the start of the second lap and, apart from having his lead over Webber halved at a slow second pitstop, never looked back.
Jenson Button, the 2009 world champion and last before Vettel, finished fourth for McLaren - a result that rescued the team from suffering their worst season since their debut in 1966. Even so, McLaren still ended a season without a podium finish for the first time since 1980.
Rosberg was fifth for Mercedes, who ended the championship as overall runners-up and six points ahead of Ferrari.
