Vettel Wins Brazilian Title Thriller

The 2012 F1 season was one for the ages. The season started with seven different winners from the first seven races, including Pastor Maldonado’s only F1 victory. When the F1 circus arrived at the final race of the season at Interlagos, Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso were the last challengers for the title. But there could only be one winner. Let’s revisit 2012 as Sebastian Vettel wins Brazilian title thriller.

Vettel held a 13-point lead over Alonso coming into the race, with Alonso having to finish on the podium to stand a chance of his third title. For Vettel, the task was simple: finish 5th to win his third title. Vettel hoped for a simple race, but Brazil had other ideas.

It was advantage to Vettel after qualifying. The German qualified 4th, while Alonso was back in 7th. The Spaniard had to pray for a bit of luck.

He got it right away. Vettel had a slow start off the grid, dropping to 7th and putting himself in the mid-pack. Disaster struck at Turn 3, with Vettel being spun around by Bruno Senna’s Williams. He was lucky to continue after the Williams struck him heavily on the right rear as Vettel came back across the track.

This dropped Vettel to last place and with a damaged car, his race looked run. In all this action, Alonso had improved to 5th place and at the end of Lap 1, pulled off a double overtake of Massa and Webber to take 3rd. He was now in title-winning position.

Vettel fights back

In Brazil, the weather is never far from the action, and 2012 was no different. Light rain started to fall, making the track slippery but not wet enough for intermediate tyres. Alonso goes off at Turn 1 on the slick surface, dropping behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India.

Elsewhere, Vettel was making great progress through the field and by Lap 8, he overtook Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes for 8th place. At this stage, the order was: Hamilton, Button, Hulkenberg, Alonso, Massa, Kobayashi, Di Resta and Vettel.

The rain comes & goes

The rain was getting heavier, and drivers switched to intermediate tyres, including both the title challengers and race leader Hamilton. Button and Hulkenberg decided to stay out and built a big lead as the rain then stopped.

Safety Car brings the field together

Having lost so much time to the leaders, Alonso was quickly on the radio complaining about the amount of debris on the track. In his defence, the early on-track action had made the middle sector a minefield. The FIA obliged and brought the safety car out after Nico Rosberg suffers a puncture.

At the end of Lap 25, the order was Hulkenberg, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Webber, Kobayashi and Di Resta. Vettel was in position to win the title, but it wasn’t safe. Kobayashi & Massa would overtake Vettel for 6th, and Alonso overtook Button for the podium. He just needed one more position.

Contact at the front

After the safety car, Lewis Hamilton overtook his teammate and was hunting down Nico Hulkenberg in an attempt to win his last race for McLaren, before moving to Mercedes for 2013. On Lap 48, Hulkenberg slid wide to let Hamilton through into the lead. However, he had great pace and was soon on the back of the McLaren. A few laps later, Hulkenberg tried to overtake at Turn 1 but locked up on the slippery inside line, lost the rear of his car and crashed into Hamilton, breaking his suspension. This ended Hamilton’s race and ended Hulkenberg’s chances of a maiden victory.

Final Drama

In the closing stages, the rain would throw one more curveball at the F1 field. Vettel had pitted just two laps before the rain came down for mediums, forcing him into an extra stop. It was made even slower by a broken radio so his team weren’t ready for him when he arrived in his pit box. This put Vettel out of the points, and with Alonso in 2nd, the title had swung back to the Spaniard.