Which nationality is sebastian vettel

Drivers are permitted to use three internal combustion engines per season on their cars, but a number of them have already triggered grid penalties by exceeding the allocation in the race season.

Aston Martin ended suggestions that four-time F1 world champion Vettel could leave the team by announcing last week that he had triggered an option to extend his contract for next season.

The Silverstone-based outfit had been long expected to stick with its current duo for , but delays in announcing it had prompted speculation that it could be pondering a change. The four-time world champion is in talks with Aston Martin to finalise an extension of the long-term deal that was originally signed for the start of this season. Four-time F1 world champion Vettel linked up with Aston Martin for the season following his exit from Ferrari at the end of last year. This weekend marks the first Dutch Grand Prix since after changes were made to the Zandvoort track to bring it up to F1 spec, capitalising on the massive levels of support for Max Verstappen.

Vettel triggered a lengthy stoppage to first practice at Zandvoort on Friday when his car came to a halt near the pit lane exit. With some controversy over F1 choosing to race near nature reserves at Zandvoort, Extinction Rebellion is planning to raise awareness of its campaign at the Dutch event on Sunday. McLaren driver Norris crashed heavily at Eau Rouge after spinning during his first flying lap in Q3, resulting in a red flag and a minute suspension of the session.

The German lost his second place at the Hungaroring race earlier this month after post-race checks found that there was not the minimum one-litre of fuel left in his car that is required for FIA analysis. Vettel was excluded from his second-placed finish at the Hungaroring after the FIA could not extract the minimum one-litre of fuel that is required for post-race technical inspections.

It will involve the original stewards who served in Hungary. Post-race inspections had found that Vettel's Aston Martin car did not have the minimum one-litre of fuel that the FIA mandates for its analysis checks.

It's a long shot, but by filing a notice of intention to appeal on Sunday evening, the Silverstone team gave itself the breathing space to put its case together and find a way to prove that the right amount of fuel is indeed still in the tank of the AMR It is key to the policing of the sport In scrutineering checks after the race the FIA could only retrieve 0.

This led to Vettel's disqualification from the Hungary race results. Vettel finished second at the Hungaroring behind first-time winner Esteban Ocon after not being able to find a way past the Alpine driver, scoring his second podium of for his new team. Unable to pass on track, both Vettel and Massa went into the pits. Vettel's faster pit-stop meant he was able to overtake Massa and take fourth position by the end of the race.

Vettel took the lead going into the first corner, however would come under significant pressure from Lewis Hamilton. On lap 5 Vettel made a mistake allowing Hamilton to take the lead. Vettel then came under significant pressure from Button and after the first round of pit-stops lost second to the other McLaren driver.

The McLaren's clearly superior in this race began to pull away from Vettel in third place. However after a drive through penalty for Hamilton, Vettel was able to reclaim second place although he did not have the pace to catch Button before the end of the race. Vettel would immediately open up a convincing lead and despite a safety car period and a brief challenge from Fernando Alonso, Vettel would take victory ahead of Mark Webber and despite Red Bull's dominace, the team's first finish of the season.

Vettel took his tenth pole position of the season, equalling only Ayrton Senna in taking more than ten pole positions in more than a single season.

Vettel lost the lead to Alonso going into the first corner, however quickly reclaimed it in a daring move going around the outside and onto the grass at turn 4 on lap 7. From this moment on Vettel remained unchallenged and opened up a convincing lead, finishing the race nine seconds adrift from second place Jenson Button.

Yet again Vettel took pole position for the Singapore Grand Prix, the Red Bull's locking out the front row with Webber starting in second place. Vettel made his customary strong start, inheriting the lead which he would hold for the remainder of the race. Vettel now exerted such a dominating lead in the championship meaning only Jenson Button could potentially defeat Vettel in the championship. Vettel points ahead of Button could potentially win the championship in the next round in Japan, with 5 rounds still to go in the championship.

It seemed likely that Vettel would seal the Driver's Championship in Japan, needing only a points finish or Jenson Button to not win the race to secure the championship. Vettel secured pole position with his championship rival Jenson Button lining up alongside him on the grid. At the start Button attempted to pass but Vettel forced him wide, Button queried whether Vettel should be penalised for the manoeveure over the McLaren team radio.

The McLaren however proved to be quicker in the race and Button was able to overtake Vettel later on in the race. Vettel also lost second place to the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso after a slow out-lap from a pit-stop which saw him caught up amongst the backmarkers.

Vettel managed to catch up to Alonso but was unable to overtake, in his frustration he angrily gestured at a Virgin backmarker that was slow to get out of his way.

The team over the radio demanded that Vettel take it easy, noting he only needed a points finish to win the championship. After this Vettel settled for third and finished the race behind Button and Alonso, albeit now as a double world champion.

Now all that remained was to secure the Constructor's Championship for Red Bull. Vettel on the podium for the Japanese GP after taking his second successive world title. Lewis Hamilton ended the 16 consecutive race run in which a Red Bull had been on pole position in Korea. Vettel lined up second with teammate Webber fourth, Red Bull knowing they could secure the Constructor's Championship in Korea.

Vettel managed to overtake Hamilton for the lead at turn 4 of the first lap, following this Vettel never lost the lead and finished the race in first place, with Hamilton second and teammate Webber third. This result was enough for Red Bull to secure themselves as the Constructor's Champions. The next race was held at the inaugral Indian Grand Prix.

Vettel took another convincing pole position where he would go on to dominate the race, finishing eight seconds ahead of Button in second. For the penultimate round of the championship, Vettel took what was seemingly to be an almost routine pole position for the grand prix.

However what was unexpected to all was whilst the cars entered turn 2 of the opening lap, Vettel suffered a left rear tyre blow-out sending him spinning out of the lead and out of the race. Abu Dhabi marked Vettel's one and only retirement of the season. For the final race of the season in Brazil, Vettel took another pole position with teammate Webber lining up beside him. The two Red Bull's began to open up a significant lead over the rest of the field.

Vettel however began to suffer gearbox issues and was told to let Webber through into the lead. Vettel conceded the lead to his teammate and allowed Webber to take his first and only victory of the season whilst Vettel finished the race in second place.

Vettel had scored more points in than any other driver in the sport's history during a single season. His total of points was more than what runner-up Jenson Button was able to score in the championship.

Vettel and Red Bull were able to completely dominate the field throughout the season. Other records Vettel managed to secure was the most pole positions in a season, most front row starts in a season and the most laps led in a season.

Following the conclusion of pre-season testing it was estimated that McLaren had produced a car capable of matching the Red Bull's of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber in the new season. As the team's arrived in Australia for round 1 of the championship it was evident that Red Bull had not maintained their dominance going into the new season.

Vettel could only manage to qualify sixth with Webber one place ahead of him starting fifth on the grid. The McLaren's setting the standard by locking out the front row of the grid. At the start Vettel got past teammate Webber to take fifth and settled in behind the two Mercedes cars of Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. Vettel was able to overtake Rosberg on track and shortly later Schumacher retired, promoting Vettel up to third behind the McLaren's of Hamilton and Button.

Vettel was able to overtake Hamilton on track to take second and began challenging Button for the lead. However he could not get past the McLaren driver before the conclusion of the race and had to settle for second position ahead of Hamilton and Webber. It was another disappointing qualifying for Vettel in Malaysia, only managing to qualify sixth on the grid. At the start Vettel managed to get by teammate Webber who had qualified one place above him in fourth.

The race held in mixed conditions proved to be difficult for Vettel as his Red Bull failed to have the pace to compete with the top 3 as well as being without radio contact for most of the race. Towards the end of the race, Vettel was involved in an incident when lapping the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan, whilst overtaking his rear wheel clipped Karthikeyan's front wing.

This caused him to have a puncture and after entering the pits he rejoined eleventh and outside of the points, a position he would remain in for the remainder of the race. Vettel was surrounded by controversy when he labelled Karthikeyan as an "idiot" and a "cucumber" for his role in the accident. Vettel's situation did not improve much upon arriving in China. He was highly uncompetitive in qualifying, failing to even make it into the final qualifying session and only managing to qualify eleventh.

This marked the first time since the Brazilian Grand Prix in which Vettel failed to make it into Q3. Vettel was able to stage some what of a comeback in the race, managing to climb up to fifth by the conclusion of the race, salvaging some points. Vettel sat in fifth place in the championship 23 points adrift off championship leader Hamilton and a single place behind teammate Webber in the championship. It was an apparent return to form for Vettel at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Vettel managed to take his pole position of the season ahead of championship leader Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber. At the start Vettel immediately took the lead and began to create a gap. Despite the fact that Vettel was rapidly losing pace to the Lotus cars, he was able to hold the lead to the end and take his first victory of the season.

The win moved him into the lead of the championship, three points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. At the Spanish Grand Prix, Vettel once again struggled for pace, the new Red Bull chassis struggling to get to grips with the new Pirelli tyres. Vettel could only manage to qualify in seventh with teammate Webber starting eleventh. Both Vettel and Webber made extremely early pit stops, pitting in on lap 9 hoping to get the undercut of their faster rivals.

Sebastian Vettel received a drive through penalty, when both himself and Felipe Massa whom he was racing with at the time failed to slow for yellow flags. After a lack of performance, Vettel unusually had his front wing changed in his last pit stop on lap Despite the mishaps, Vettel performed well to finish in sixth position.

However his lowly points finish meant that Alonso who had finished second in the race had drawn level with Vettel in the championship. It was another dismal qualifying performance in Monaco for Vettel. He managed to only barely scrape through into the final qualifying session.

Due to his uncompetitiveness he opted to sit out the session and start tenth in the race to preserve tyres. At the start Vettel was one of the few drivers to start on the harder compound tyre. Despite being involved in contact with Romain Grosjean's out of control Lotus, Vettel had a relatively clean lap. Vettel would inherit the lead as his rivals on the softer compound tyre would be forced to stop for new tyres.

Vettel then consolidated a strong lead from teammate Webber who was in second. On lap 45, Vettel finally made his pitstop rejoining the race in fourth position just ahead of Lewis Hamilton and behind Webber, Rosberg and Alonso. Vettel would go on to finish the race in fourth position. As Alonso had beaten him in the race he had become the new championship leader, Webber who had won the race was now equal second in the championship with Vettel.

Vettel managed to find his qualifying form once again in Canada and took pole position for the race, ahead of Hamilton, Alonso and Webber. Vettel retained his lead in the first few laps, however would soon come under significant pressure from Hamilton and Alonso, who were both quicker than him during the early period of the race. Vettel opted to pit early due to his lack of pace. However Hamilton and Alonso still appeared to be quicker and both were ahead of him following the first round of pit-stops.

Towards the end of the race both Vettel and Alonso began suffering from severe tyre degradation, their pace dropping significantly. Vettel opted to pit whilst Alonso instead decided to stay out. Vettel finishing the race in fourth position with Hamilton who had won the race becoming the new championship leader.

Vettel had now dropped to fourth in the championship behind teammate Webber, Hamilton and new championship leader Alonso. Vettel was able to continue his resurgent qualifying performance at the European Grand Prix taking a convincing pole position. Vettel took the lead at the start and began to build a convincing lead to Hamilton in second, Vettel appeared to have the race in hand yet was denied the win when on lap 33 his alternator failed, forcing him to retire from the race.

Vettel however was able to quickly retain fourth position by passing the pair early on in the race. Vettel soon disposed of the struggling Schumacher for third position. He soon inherited second position behind race leader Alonso after teammate Webber came in to pit for tyres.

Webber with his fresher rubber, proved to be much quicker than both Alonso and Vettel. Webber therefore was easily able to overtake the pair to take the lead of the race. This order remained until the conclusion of the race with Vettel taking his first podium since his win in Bahrain.

In Germany, Vettel failed to attain pole position, starting the race from second behind championship leader Alonso. Vettel held second position in the initial stages before losing the position to Jenson Button in the middle stage of the race. Whilst Button initially was able to pull away from Vettel, Vettel soon found pace as Button's tyres began to wear and began to chase him down. Vettel's hunt was interrupted however when Lewis Hamilton who was a lap down on the leaders due to a puncture early in the race, began to lap faster the leaders shortly after being lapped by Vettel.

Hamilton opted to take the initiative overtaking and unlapping himself from Vettel. Vettel began to angrily gesture at Hamilton, frustrated that this backmarker was inhibiting his chase down upon Button. Eventually, Vettel was able to get past the backmarker of Hamilton and resume his chase on Button.

Towards the end of the race Vettel managed to catch Button, proceeding to commit to what was later deemed an illegal overtake, going around the outside using the run-off area to get his advantage over Button to overtake at the exit of turn 4. Whilst finishing the race in second, Vettel was given a second time penalty after the race due to his illegal overtake on Button.

This meant that he dropped to fifth in the standings of the race. Vettel had an unimpressive grand prix in Hungary. He managed to only qualify in third behind Hamilton and Grosjean. Vettel lost third place at the first corner to Jenson Button, Vettel was able to reclaim third later in the race when Button's tyre performance dropped.

Vettel would remain in fourth place for the remainder of the race. Vettel proved to be uncompetitive in qualifying for Belgian and could only manage a disappointing eleventh on the grid. Vettel got a poor start but survived the multi-car pile-up at the first corner that eliminated his main championship rival Fernando Alonso from the race.

Vettel was stuck in eleventh behind teammate Webber by the end of the safety car period. Vettel had great race pace however and managed to stage a strong comeback through the field. By lap 19 Vettel had climbed to third, he then got stuck behind the Mercedes of Michael Schumacher, the two duelled for several laps before Vettel finally was able to overtake Schumacher. Vettel remained in second for the remainder of the race, finishing behind Button who took the race win.

Vettel was now 24 points behind championship leader Alonso who had failed to take any points in Belgium. Vettel only managed to qualify in sixth position for the Italian Grand Prix.

At the start, Vettel managed to overtake Paul di Resta for fifth place and began to pressure Michael Schumacher for fourth place. On lap 4 Vettel was able to overtake Schumacher for the position. Vettel would remain stuck in fourth place, but had come under significant pressure from Fernando Alonso for the position.

On lap 26, Alonso attempted to pass Vettel around the outside of turn 6 but was forced off the circuit by Vettel when attempting to overtake. Alonso was able to recover and would overtake Vettel later that lap. Vettel would be penalised on lap 32 with a drive through penalty for forcing Alonso off the circuit, meaning he would drop to seventh after the penalty had been applied.

On lap 47, Vettel would suffer an alternator failure which saw him retire from the race. At the start, Vettel was easily able to dispose of Maldonado's Williams, but Hamilton began to open up a significant lead at the start of the race.

Whilst Vettel held a strong second in the race, he was unable to challenge Hamilton's McLaren for the lead. However, on lap 22, Hamilton suffered a gearbox failure which saw Vettel inherit the lead, which he would continue to hold for the remainder of the race. Jenson Button finished second and championship leader Alonso was third. Vettel was now back up to second in the championship standings, but still 29 points behind leader Alonso.

This was the beginning of a major comeback in the championship for Vettel. In Japan, the Red Bull's dominated qualifying with Vettel on pole and Webber alongside him on the front row. Championship leader Alonso retired on the first lap whilst Vettel would take a dominant win, 20 seconds ahead of Felipe Massa in second. Vettel was now only four points behind Alonso in the championship standings. In Korea, it was another Red Bull front row lockout; however, it was Webber who beat Vettel to the pole position.

At the start, Vettel was however able to muscle his way past his teammate to take the lead of the race. The two Red Bull's dominated the race, with Vettel taking his third consecutive win ahead of Webber and Alonso.

Vettel took the lead in the championship and was now 6 points ahead of Alonso. Vettel would go on to completely dominate the race, championship rival Alonso was able to muscle his way up to second but remained nine seconds adrift of Vettel by the finish. Vettel increased his championship lead to thirteen points. In Abu Dhabi, Vettel would have qualified in third, yet due to the fact that his car did not have enough fuel to return to the pits, he was excluded from the qualifying results.

Due to this Red Bull opted to start Vettel from the pit lane. Vettel staged a strong fight through the mid-field despite making contact with Bruno Senna's Williams, resulting in damage to his front wing.

Vettel, helped by a number of retirements in the race was able to climb the order rather quickly. However during a safety car period, Vettel was stuck behind the Toro Rosso of Daniel Ricciardo in eleventh. Ricciardo, weaving to get warmth into his tyres, performed an unexpected manoeuvere that forced Vettel to take evasive action, running wide off the circuit hitting a bilboard. This caused further damage to his front wing and Red Bull opted to bring him into the pits to replace the wing and provide a new set of option tyres.

Vettel with the fresher tyres was supremely quick and began to climb up the field at a rapid pace once the safety car period concluded. With four laps to go Vettel overtook Button for third place, which he held to the finish. It was a strong comeback drive for Vettel who had started from the pit lane, however Alonso who had finished second had reduced Vettel's championship lead to ten points with his second place finish.

Championship rival Alonso laboured in a disappointing ninth place. At the start, Vettel took the lead as teammate Webber overtook Hamilton for second. The Red Bull's maintained a strong standing until Webber retired from the race with alternator issues.

This allowed Hamilton to begin closing the gap on Vettel's lead. The pair battled for the lead, but on lap 42, Vettel was forced to concede the lead to Hamilton as he was overtaken by the McLaren driver. Whilst Vettel remained on Hamilton's tail for the remainder of the race, it was Hamilton that would take the race win. Championship rival Alonso finished in third, yet Vettel was now able to increase his championship lead to thirteen points with one race to go.

Vettel is congradulated on his third successive world title by his hero and rival Michael Schumacher who concluded his career in Brazil. The final race of the season at Brazil saw Vettel qualify in fourth position, four places above championship rival Alonso.

The race was held in wet conditions, Vettel made a poor start dropping to seventh, whilst Alonso climbed to fifth. Worst still, Vettel was hit by Bruno Senna going into turn four, causing him to spin and dropping him to the back of the field.

The wet conditions saw a number of accidents which helped Vettel's climb up the field. On lap 23, during a safety car period Vettel was running in fifth place behind Alonso in fourth. Following the restart Vettel made a poor getaway and lost two places to Kamui Kobayashi and Felipe Massa. Vettel needed at least a sixth place finish to win the title. His title plight was helped when his older compatriot Michael Schumacher, in his last Formula One race let Vettel through with relative ease, Schumacher stating earlier in the week that he supported Vettel's title defence.

Whilst Alonso went on to finish second in the race, it was not enough for him to win the title, and Vettel, who finished sixth in the race, secured his third title by three points from Alonso. Going into the new season, Red Bull looked competitive once again, both Vettel and Webber performing well in pre-season testing.

The pace of the team was evident upon arriving in Australia for round 1 of the championship. Vettel took pole position ahead of teammate Webber. Vettel led the race with the two Ferrari's sharply on his tail for the remainder of the first stint of the race.

Following the first round of pit stops, Vettel found he had lost the lead to the Force India of Adrian Sutil. Sutil unlike most of the field had started the race on the medium compound tyre, instead of the softs which enabled him to last longer at the front.

Vettel found he was unable to overtake his fellow German, rival Alonso opted to come in early for his second pit stops in order to undercut the two cars ahead of him. Vettel and Sutil pitted a lap later and whilst Vettel jumped Sutil in the pit stop, he had lost the lead to Alonso who had made the undercut work by pitting a lap earlier.

Malaysia was the next venue on the calendar. Vettel took a convincing pole position by a full second ahead of the two Ferrari cars of Massa and Alonso. At the start, Alonso damaged his front wing when he hit the back of Vettel whilst trying to overtake at the start. On the second lap Alonso's wing collapsed causing him to slide into the gravel trap and into retirement.

This meant that Webber took second position after making a strong start from fifth on the grid. After Vettel's first pit stop he lost the lead to the faster Webber during the pit interval.

Webber who now had a convincing lead over Vettel was told over the radio that Vettel would not challenge him for the lead and the two cars would maintain position to the finish. Despite this team order Vettel closed up to Webber and overtook him for the lead. Vettel would go on to win the race with Webber second. Webber felt that he had been cheated by Vettel's disobediance and angrily enquired about the "multi 21" strategy the team was on after the race.

The multi 21 incident is what believed to be the catalyst for Webber's decision to retire from Formula One at the end of the season. Red Bull management admitted Vettel had disobeyed team orders, yet he saw no disciplinary action from the team following the incident.

Vettel struggled in qualifying for the next race in China. He could only manage a disappointing ninth on the grid. Vettel started the race on the harder tyres which allowed him to continue much longer than all his rivals in front of him who were on the soft tyre.

This meant Vettel inherited the lead when the other front runners were forced to pit. Vettel was then able to open up a significant lead with his rivals far behind him having pitted.

However it wasn't long before his own tyres began to degrade, meaning that he lost significant time to Alonso in second position. On lap 28 Alonso took the lead of the race from Vettel.

In Bahrain, Vettel started from second place being denied pole position by the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg. At the start Rosberg maintained his lead into the first corner, but on the second lap Vettel took the lead of the race.

At the start Vettel climbed to second with Rosberg leading and Alonso in third place. Although Vettel managed to get past Rosberg in the first round of pit stops, Alonso leapfrogged them both to take the lead. Vettel went on to finish the race in fourth position. In Monaco, Vettel once again qualified in third, being beaten by the two Mercedes cars of Rosberg and Hamilton once again. At the start, Vettel retained his third position and followed the two Mercedes cars. During the first set of pit-stops, an error in judgement from Mercedes meant both their cars had to pit at the same time.

This meant Hamilton lost a lot of time and therefore dropped to fourth behind Vettel and Webber. Vettel would go on to finish the race in second ahead of Webber and behind Rosberg. In the race Vettel dominated, opening up a significant gap to the cars behind and not once losing the lead. He finished the race fourteen seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso in second. Vettel was now 36 points clear of second placed Alonso in the championship.

At the British Grand Prix, the Mercedes cars once again proved to be superior in qualifying as Hamilton and Rosberg lined up ahead of Vettel in third place. At the start, Vettel was able to climb to second splitting the two Mercedes cars. Hamilton, however, was opening up a convincing lead until he suffered a tyre blowout.

This meant Vettel inherited the lead, but a gearbox failure meant that Vettel was forced to retire from the race whilst leading. In Germany, Hamilton beat Vettel to the pole position once again. Vettel lining up alongside him. At the start, Vettel muscled his way past Hamilton to take the lead of the race. Vettel managed to hold on to the lead and take the race win. Despite Vettel's success in his career, this marked only the first time he had managed to win at his home Grand Prix.

Hungary was the next venue, and once again, the Mercedes of Hamilton proved to be superior in qualifying taking the pole position ahead of Vettel.

Unlike in Germany, Hamilton held the lead at the start of the race and began to pull away. The front runners suffered from severe tyre degradation and were forced to pit. Whilst Hamilton was able to get by the McLaren relatively quickly, Vettel was stuck behind the McLaren for many laps before he was finally able to overtake. In Belgium, Hamilton once again claimed pole with Vettel and Webber right behind him.

At the start, Hamilton led away, but going down the Kemmel Straight, Vettel was able to overtake and take the lead from the Mercedes driver. From there, Vettel took a dominant win 16 seconds ahead of Alonso in second. Vettel was finally able to claim pole position at the Italian Grand Prix. Vettel would put in another dominant performance, winning by five seconds ahead of Alonso in second place. Singapore proved to be another success for Vettel, he took pole position in qualifying ahead of the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

At the start, Rosberg had a better run down into the first corner, managing to get past Vettel but then ran wide allowing Vettel back into the lead. This proved to be Vettel's only challenge in the race as he went on to dominate the race, winning by a second margin ahead of Alonso in second. In Japan, Vettel was beaten to pole position by teammate Webber, Vettel lining up alongside him in second on the grid. At the start Vettel was unable to overtake Webber and instead the fast starting Lotus of Romain Grosjean snatched the lead for the Red Bull's.

Lewis Hamilton ran into the back of Vettel whilst going into the first corner, puncturing his tyre and effectively ruining his race. Vettel however was able to take the lead from Grosjean during the first round of pit stops, he would hold the lead for the remainder of the race.

It would be a Red Bull with Webber finishing in second position. In India, Vettel would have the opportunity to take the title if his only potential challenger, Fernando Alonso finished outside the points. Vettel took a comfortable pole position and went into the lead at the start of the race. Despite issues with his KERS and drinks bottle towards the end of the race, Vettel went on to dominate the race and took his fourth world title due to the fact Alonso finished in eleventh place.

Red Bull also took their fourth consecutive constructor's championship in this race. Vettel notably performed doughnuts on the track during the cool-down lap, despite this move being slightly controversial, the stewards took no action against Vettel. At the start, Vettel took the lead from Webber going into the first corner, a position he would hold until the end of the race. Teammate Webber finished in second position, the pair notably performing doughnuts for the crowd following the conclusion of the race.

For the United States Grand Prix, Vettel took another pole position as well as another dominant lights to flag victory. His eighth consecutive win, broke Michael Schumacher's record for most consecutive wins in a season. The final race of the season in Brazil saw Vettel take pole position once again, followed by yet another win. Teammate Webber finished the race in second position for what would be his final Formula One race due to his retirement from the sport at then of the season.

Vettel dominated the season, taking points, more than any other driver in the history of the sport during a single F1 season. Whilst proved to be a record year for Vettel and Red Bull, the Austrian team would notably start on the backfoot for the season. With Mark Webber retiring at the end of , his position in the team was replaced by fellow Australian driver, the young Daniel Ricciardo who like Vettel had arrived in the team, after impressing in the secondary Red Bull team, Toro Rosso. Pre-season testing was difficult for the Red Bull outfit, the new chassis proved highly unreliable in the opening test in Jerez.

Whilst the team's reliability improved by the Bahrain tests, Vettel and Red Bull had not conducted much testing in comparison to many of their rivals. It was evident that Vettel was struggling upon arriving for the first race in Australia. Vettel suffered performance issues throughout qualifying and could only manage a dismal thirteenth on the grid.

Teammate Ricciardo faired much better, starting the grid from second position at his home race and first for Red Bull. Vettel's race would end prematurely after only three laps due to an engine failure. Ricciardo would go on to finish the race in second position, yet was disqualified due to a fuel irregularity, meaning Red Bull failed to score any points in the opening race of the season.

There was an improvement for Vettel going into the second round in Malaysia. But the title bout between Vettel and Alonso was far from over and for the 27th time in history the championship was decided at the last race - this time in a Brazilian Grand Prix made chaotic by rain. Several times during the thrilling showdown the slippery pendulum of fate swung in favour of Alonso, who qualified seventh and eventually finished second.

Vettel started fourth but his championship chances nosedived in the mayhem of a frantic first lap in which his RB8 was hit hard, sustaining permanent chassis damage and dropping to last place.

Vettel responded to his misfortune with a masterful drive in an ailing car, finally emerging from the mist and spray to finish sixth and beat Alonso to the title by 3 points. Sebastian Vettel proved he had come of age. As an essentially private person he steered clear of the celebrity culture in which he could easily have been the superstar he was fast becoming in his profession. Newey noted the young champion had matured into a nearly flawless driver and a peerless team leader. Immediately following the post-race ceremonies the record-setting champion pitched in to help his team pack up the equipment for shipment to the next race.

Sebastian Vettel did it when he was 26 years and days old, giving him plenty of time to further rewrite the record books in which his name is already indelibly described. In Sebastian Vettel failed to win a race and finished a dispirited fifth in the standings. Meanwhile his new Red Bull Racing team mate Daniel Ricciardo won three races, finished a superb third overall and led their team to become best of the rest behind Mercedes.

Demonstrating an impressive work ethic worthy of Michael Schumacher and a cheerful demeanour that uplifted morale, Vettel drove Ferrari onward and upward. He did score seven podiums and finished fourth in the standings but his season featured inconsistent performances - from the driver, his car and his team.

Vettel made driving mistakes, there were car failures, strategy blunders and arguments that led to inner turmoil at Ferrari. In Sebastian Vettel was more of a force to be reckoned with. Winning five races and failing to score only twice, the four-time champion finished second overall to Lewis Hamilton. A resurgence by his Ferrari team saw him lead the standings in the early part of the season. Thereafter, the effort of intense mechanical upgrading to match Mercedes contributed to uneven performances by the Italian team and its German driver.

Vettel took the series of setbacks personally. Episodes of clumsy driving suggested an element of desperation. Temper tantrums reinforced a reputation that he was prone to petulance. Starting from pole in Singapore he helped trigger a first-lap accident that ended his race and others, a costly miscue that effectively sabotaged his championship chances. In a season in which his Ferrari was often the better car, Sebastian Vettel again finished a troubled second best to his Mercedes rival Lewis Hamilton.

There followed an all too familiar pattern of erratic performances by both driver and team, a loss of equilibrium in response to ever-increasing pressure from the ever-improving Hamilton-led Mercedes challenge. In the end, mindset mattered more than machinery at Ferrari. The sudden death of Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne had an adverse effect. The race team also made mistakes in judgement and strategy, lost ground in car development.

Blunders multiplied, confidence deteriorated, panic set in, morale slumped. Despite this being Ferrari's best year statistically in a decade, Vettel's five wins, only one of them after the summer break, fell far short of expectations and he readily accepted his share of the blame.

It has been a quite difficult and exhausting year for me and the team.