Sebastian Vettel becomes youngest ever F1 champion
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, Abu Dhabi, 2010
Sebastian Vettel has become the youngest driver ever to win the Formula 1 world championship.
At 23 years and 134 days old he has broken the record set by Lewis Hamilton in 2008, who won the title aged 23 years, 301 days.
This record has now been broken three times in the last six years – Fernando Alonso the first to break it in 2005.
F1 world champions by country
Vettel is only the second German driver to win the world championship, joining Michael Schumacher, who last won the world championship in 2004.
| Country | No. | Drivers/s | |
| 1 | Britain | 14 | Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (2), Jim Clark (2), John Surtees, Jackie Stewart (3), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button |
| 2 | Brazil | 8 | Emerson Fittipaldi (2), Nelson Piquet (3), Ayrton Senna (3) |
| 2 | Germany | 8 | Michael Schumacher (7), Sebastian Vettel |
| 4 | Argentina | 5 | Juan Manuel Fangio |
| 5 | Australia | 4 | Jack Brabham (3), Alan Jones |
| 5 | Austria | 4 | Jochen Rindt, Niki Lauda (3) |
| 5 | France | 4 | Alain Prost |
| 5 | Finland | 4 | Keke Rosberg, Mika Hakkinen (2), Kimi Räikkönen |
| 9 | Italy | 3 | Giuseppi Farina, Alberto Ascari (2) |
| 10 | United States | 2 | Phil Hill, Mario Andretti |
| 10 | Spain | 2 | Fernando Alonso |
| 12 | New Zealand | 1 | Denny Hulme |
| 12 | South Africa | 1 | Jody Scheckter |
| 12 | Canada | 1 | Jacques Villeneuve |
2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix: the complete F1 Fanatic race weekend review
- Steven’s view of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Drivers’ and teams’ end-of-season photographs
- Alonso’s role in Ferrari strategy revealed in pit messages
- Hamilton: McLaren learned a lot in 2010
- Button vows to address qualifying weakness
- Vettel ends season on a high to snatch title
- Ferrari hit back at criticism of race strategy
- McLaren rediscover their form at final race
- New engines help Renault to best result of 2010
rfs said on 14th November 2010, 15:09
Brilliant job by Vettel. He and Red Bull made a meal of it, but in the 6 races since that disastrous Spa weekend he’s made no mistakes and driven beautifully. Congrats!
Peter said on 14th November 2010, 15:09
I’m an Aussie and wanted Webber to win tonight but it wasn’t to be. well done to Seb Vettel, he drove pretty much perfectly in the last two races and has been the quickest guy out there all season (10 poles).
Alonso has nothing to beef about with Petrov. The Russian didn’t put a foot wrong with Alonso up his exhaust pipe for over half the race and the Ferrari just didn’t have what it took to get past the Renault. To gesture to him like he did after the race might have been frustration spewing out but it was definitely poor form. Seriously, if Alonso and the Ferrari were good enough they would have walked away with the drivers’ championship.
Italian F1 Maniac said on 14th November 2010, 15:09
What a perfect race from Sebastian Vettel!! Congratulations to him and all at Red Bull for 2 really deserved World Championship titles!
Congratulations even more to the so much from us all beloved F1 Sport! Justice and fairness have won and succeed in the end!
Alonso showed his true face and colors once again during the outlap against Petrov, who was just better as Alonso today, without doing anything unfair.
Ferrari was bad in strategy and their drivers not in shape at all.
All good in the end, fortunately for all real F1 fans!
With love to F1 from Italy…
chaostheory said on 14th November 2010, 15:11
This circuit was not “designed” for title deciders. If it was Interlagos Alonso would not had problems overtaking Petrov, Webber overtaking Alonso, or Hamilton -Kubica.
Other thing is I am mad right now on everything and everyone – from Tilke to Petrov :P Its 3rd year in a row WDC goes to a driver I dont like.
derek said on 14th November 2010, 15:16
so you are mad on Tilke that Alonso can’t overtake?
rbc said on 14th November 2010, 15:23
as hamilton couldn’t
BillHicks said on 14th November 2010, 15:26
Stop diverting away from Alonso’s uselessness and petulance…
rbc said on 14th November 2010, 16:13
take it easy bill or buull whatever
chaostheory said on 14th November 2010, 15:28
Kubica can even on Tilkes tracks :P:P
Ha! That made me happier :D
Kubica and Alonso fighting for wdc next year!
Younger Hamilton said on 14th November 2010, 15:13
What an end to a fantastic and epic Season Congrats Sebastian Vettel for becoming the Youngest F1 title you truly deserve it with the speed and maturity you’ve shown with this bloody fast RB6 enjoy your day but i have to warn you that McLaren and Ferrari will be back in 2011 much stronger and Renault will be in there as well.Well done Lewis and Jenson to end the season on the high note and for a brilliant performance this season you gave it all but unfortunately it wasnt enough but like i said its not all doom and gloom we never gave up and we will be back next season.
Sebastian Vettel 2010 FORMULA 1 WORLD DRIVERS CHAMPION
Red Bull 2010 FORMULA 1 WORLD CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPION.
McLaren we will be back with a VENGENCE!!!
Ab576 said on 14th November 2010, 15:13
What did vettel say over the radio? I missed that.
cyanide (@cyanide) said on 14th November 2010, 15:15
Hua hua hua hua hua hua
Younger Hamilton said on 14th November 2010, 15:32
From what i hear from a friend,he was crying very emotionally
Hare (@hare) said on 14th November 2010, 15:16
Now I did say Nigel Mansell was gonna win this season… which was in fact a cryptic prediction… RED 5 WON! ;)
matt88 (@matt88) said on 14th November 2010, 15:17
happy for Vettel, although i’d have prefered Webber to become WDC this year.
Wrong strategy by Ferrari, they opted for a heavy man marking on him and Alonso’s frustration on Petrov is totally understandable, the way he lost the championship is hard to accept.
derek said on 14th November 2010, 15:20
yep very understandable, waving his little fist at someone just cause he couldn’t pull off an overtaking move.
very understandable, and so classy indeed
matt88 (@matt88) said on 14th November 2010, 16:29
surely you’d be very quiet if you lost a F1 WDC. :D
When he calms down, Alonso will confess he was wrong in doing this, but in the heat of the moment the Latin passion comes out.
CarsVsChildren said on 14th November 2010, 17:20
Nope I wouldn’t be calm at all. I would probably yell at myself for being slow, my engineer for the wrong call, and the boss, well because he’s the boss and sometimes it feels good to blame them for everything.
The one person I wouldn’t get angry at is the guy driving the RACE car in front of me. The guy who fairly defended his position for a large percentage of the race.
Alonso is a tool.
glue said on 14th November 2010, 15:40
Massa didn’t wave angrily at Glock back in 2008, he took t like a man
John H said on 14th November 2010, 20:59
glue has is it bang on. Felipe showed the Ferrari spirit, Alonso is bad news for SF.
Steph said on 14th November 2010, 15:19
I have to say congratulations to Seb and I really do mean it. As sad as I felt for Ferrari when I heard Seb on the radio I couldn’t help but almost smile which was the best it was going to get out of me.
Seb deserved it and there isn’t a qustion of that for me. I like him a lot more than some of the other contenders but I didn’t really want him to win this year because of his mistakes that sometimes resulted in him taking out contenders. The fact is though that the title only went on for so long as everyone made mistakes and Seb had a massive amount of failures.
The pitstop wrecked Ferrari’s race today. They focussed on Webber as they thought he was the main threat and then Seb snuck in and attacked. For all their talk of staying cool they blinked first. It didn’t lose them the title though. Alonso made mistakes at China, Monaco and Silverstone, he had bad luck with SC but then good luck at Bahrain and Korea. I’ve never been prouder though by the way he handled the second half of the season. The RB6 was unreliable and RBR kept making mistakes but he had to maximise every opportunity to push RBR so far and mostly he did.
I wasn’t exactly proud of the little rumble with Petrov after the race but Seb made the crazy gesture after he crashed into Mark and these are just highly strung, winning monsters. It wasn’t Petrov’s fault. As much as I may be annoyed at Petrov for having such a good race he was superb all weekend so congraulations to him.
I have to say a massive thanks to Keith for all the coverage this year. It’s made this incredible season that much better especially to share it with all of you.
I remember at the start of the year after Bahrain the BBC news channel ran a piece questioning whether F1 had lost its sparkle. What do you guys reckon?
Sandman said on 14th November 2010, 15:51
There definitely was no “sparkle”. This season has been a full blown campfire instead, despite RBR’s dominating so much with raw pace.
Now, think about next year, if Mercedes and Renault delivers!
BasCB said on 14th November 2010, 16:02
You summed up the season pretty nicely here Steph.
I must say I largely agree with you. Vettel was not my favourite driver to win it, but he drove as fast as ever and the team succeeded in having Ferrari make that crucial strategy mistake they needed to make the kill.
And he deserves it for his speed in that car, even though I sincerely hope we will see Vettel actually learn to make clean passes in the top 5 next seasons and not just bag it from superb pole positions.
Button made hardly any mistakes this year, but his car was not up to the job. Vettel made some crucial mistakes but was just to fast in the RB6 for the others who all made several crucial mistakes without the advantage of Sebs enormous speed and the full support of his team.
SkinBintin said on 14th November 2010, 15:19
Really want much of a Vettel fan, until I heard that emotional radio transmission! Congrats to the RedBull wonder kid!
Kbdavies said on 14th November 2010, 15:27
The best man won, the best team won. Vettel absolutely deserved the title. He has always been faster than Mark, has more poles, and more wins, and with even more DNF’s, still managed to win the WDC from under him. Mark only got more support from fans through the sympathy vote.
Today absolutely vindicates RBR’s decision to build the team around Vettel eventually. He is definitely the future for Red Bull. This is the end for Vettel at Red Bull, as he WILL be a No.2 driver if he stays. I predict a move to Renault or Ferrari.
No one ever imagined Renault would be the kingmakers today. Again, Alonso showed his arrogance by shaking his fist at Petrov. What did he expect? Petrov to move over? I understand his frustration, but not the attitude at the end.
I suspect RBR may have to renege on that engine deal with Mercedes, and go for Renault engines again as a form of thank you!
McLaren need to be ashamed of themselves this year; as they were last year. Both drivers,Lewis more than Jenson, have outperformed the car for most of the season. Going backwards in the development stakes mid season is never a good thing. The hurry up from McLaren to Lewis in the closing stages of the GP was laughable. The RBR’s would still be faster than McLarens’s even if it only has 3 wheels on.
I am still predicting shake up at McLaren next year,or in 2012 at the latest. I cannot see McLaren delivering a WDC winning car anytime soon, and Lewis will NOT be patient – He is far too ambitious for that
Heads should roll at Ferrari as they choked today. Why would they cover Webber, when Vettel was leading and still staying out? At worst, they would have been 5th, and still won the WDC!
Dizzy-A (@david-a) said on 14th November 2010, 15:58
If Alonso ended up 5th, he would have lost the WDC.
Mike said on 14th November 2010, 15:28
Vettel drove masterfully.
The only person I have more respect for right now is Petrov, when someone says the word Petrov, I think mistake. But he proved me wrong, and to do it with Alonso down his neck… I think he just move up a few ranks in my mind.
But again, Vettel was incredible. I’m so glad the winner of the championship won the race, rather than just securing 2nd or 4th.
BasCB said on 14th November 2010, 16:05
He made up for having to succumb to Alonso after leading him for about 40 laps at the start of the year. Very good driving from him.
Kbdavies said on 14th November 2010, 15:28
*This is the end for Vettel at Red Bull*
Sorry, meant Webber. How about a “edit post” button, Keith?
matt88 (@matt88) said on 14th November 2010, 16:33
Webber wasn’t even invited to Red Bull WCC party!
If he leaves RBR this winter, no one will be surprised.
CarsVsChildren said on 14th November 2010, 17:24
Really? What is your source for that?
matt88 (@matt88) said on 14th November 2010, 17:51
i heard it on the Italian TV, citing paddock rumours. They can be unreliable, but surely Webber isn’t comfortable at all in that team.
sunseeker said on 14th November 2010, 15:30
first of all congrats to vettel, he deserves it!
second, i really think renault ruin the show today, kubica neutralized ham-vet fight and petrov destroyed possible alo-ros last corner championship fight
so, all in all a bit disappointed
also, vettel crying at the end and red bull team jumping all over the place showed what really really matters – drivers wc, not constructors
d-d said on 14th November 2010, 16:42
So you think ALO was right shaking his fist to PET after the race becasue he didn’t politely move away? Why should PET or KUB should do it?
Contrary to you I think it only added to the show and put drivers like ALO and HAM into perspective. Great job Renault, they make farewell with F1 with a class.
Younger Hamilton said on 14th November 2010, 15:30
Despite an interesting,dramatic and good race i have to say this race shows these Modern F1 cars as of today doesnt provide enough overtaking with a mass effect of the dirty turbulent air on cars.Teams have agreed a 55% reduction on Downforce and havent done anything about it, just made it worse by banning the F-duct,not doing anything about the Blown Diffuser and Pull-rod suspension system.If Alonso and Webber have something to blame for the lost of their chances to win the title then its these designs of the cars(and Ferrari’s strategy for Alonso) not the midfield runners who pitted early or started on the Harder tyres.
d-d said on 14th November 2010, 16:44
Cars are quite sophisticated now, I think it is equally a lot to do about tracks. It’s true that in Brazil Petrow or Kubica wouldn’t stand for so long. Tilke tracks suck.