ChampionVettel seizes the moment

Motor sport Formula One: We were not distracted by dirty tricks, says German

It all came good for Sebastian Vettel just when it all seemed to be going wrong on Sunday in a Brazilian Grand Prix that turned the Red Bull driver into Formula One's youngest triple world champion.

In the immediate aftermath of his title triumph, the 25-year-old German alluded to 'dirty tricks' against him and his team earlier in the season but he had far more immediate concerns at Interlagos.

"I think everything that could go wrong, went wrong," he said of a race that saw him start in fourth place, go to the back of the field after a fourth-corner collision that left him facing the wrong direction, and finish sixth.

As the champion turned around and fought back, Ferrari title rival Fernando Alonso moved into a position that would have handed him a third title if the race had ended that way.

The floor of the Red Bull was damaged and Vettel was unable to communicate through the car-to-team radio, a problem that led to others on a wet and chaotic afternoon.

"We did the pitstop probably at the wrong time — I went on another set of drys and a lap later it started to rain — I came in for inters and the inters weren't ready because we had no radio communication, they couldn't hear me," explained Vettel.

"It was a very tough race but we were present all the time, we remained ourselves throughout the whole year even though people did some things that we would never consider to do," he added.

"A lot of people tried to play dirty tricks but we did not get distracted by that and kept going our way and all the guys gave a big push right to the end."
It was not immediately clear what he was referring to. Some saw it as a reference to destabilising rumours earlier in the year that Vettel had an agreement to move to Ferrari, others to Ferrari tactics favouring Alonso or questions about the legality of the Red Bull.

"People tried everything, inside the lines and outside the lines, to beat us and the amount of questions we had to deal with, stuff we had to deal with throughout the season, didn't make our life easier," he said.

Only two other champions have ever won three titles in a row — the late Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and seven-times champion Michael Schumacher, now 43 and a good friend of his younger compatriot.

Schumacher did Vettel one last favour in the closing laps when he did not attempt to prevent the champion taking sixth place from him. "I said thanks for not defending too hard," said Vettel. "He said 'What's the point? You were much quicker, you were going to pass me anyway'."

Vettel, who admitted to pre-race nerves, also became only the ninth triple champion and he was keenly aware of what he had achieved. "To get told was unbelievable. Unfortunately, the guys couldn't hear my answer because the radio was broken," he grinned.

"We are in Sao Paulo, the place where (triple champion) Ayrton Senna was born and came from and where he is buried. To come here and win the championship for the third time ... I don't know what to say."

Vettel said team principal Christian Horner had come on the radio after the finish to list all the triple champions who had gone before him. "He started with Michael, the obvious choice and easy to remember, Senna, (Niki) Lauda, (Nelson) Piquet...I think he mentioned all of them except (Alain) Prost. So I told him 'You forgot Prost'."
The words went unheard, the radio faulty and filled with the sound of shouting from the pit wall.

Vettel committed

Vettel has dampened speculation he is set to jump ship from Red Bull and join Ferrari in 2014 by saying he is "extremely committed" to the team who helped him claim a third consecutive Formula One title.

"I have a contract until - I think you know better than me - at this stage, until the end of '14," Vettel said.

Drivers’ standings

Driver    Team         Points           
1. Sebastian Vettel    Red Bull           281
2. Fernando Alonso    Ferrari           278
3. Kimi Raikkonen    Lotus           207
4. Lewis Hamilton    McLaren           190
5. Jenson Button    McLaren           188
6. Mark Webber    Red Bull           179
7. Felipe Massa    Ferrari             122
8. Romain Grosjean    Lotus             96
9. Nico Rosberg    Mercedes             93
10. Sergio Perez    Sauber             66

Brazilian GP results

Driver    Team        Time           
1. Jenson Button (Britain)    McLaren        1::45:22.656
2. Fernando Alonso (Spain)    Ferrari           +00.02.754
3. Felipe Massa (Brazil)    Ferrari           +00.03.615
4. Mark Webber (Australia)    RedBull           +00.14.936
5. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany)    Force India           +00.05.708
6. Sebastian Vettel (Germany)    RedBull           +00.09.453
7. Michael Schumacher(Germany)    Mercedes           +00.11.907
8. Jean-Eric Vergne (France)    Toro Rosso           +00.28.653
9. Kamui Kobayashi (Japan)    Sauber           +00.31.250
10. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland))    Lotus             1 lap