Vettel sad to end season after record streak

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Sebastian Vettel said he was disappointed to see the 2013 season end after winning the final nine race of the year in a row.

The Red Bull driver equalled the record for most consecutive wins by a driver and Michael Schumacher’s record of winning 13 races in a season.

“I’m actually quite sad that this season comes to an end,” said Vettel on the podium. “I think the last couple of races really since the summer break, to win every race is unbelievable. The car has been phenomenal, just kept getting better.”

Vettel briefly lost the lead at the start of the race but reclaimed on the way to his second win in Brazil.

“I had a poor start but then I was able to come back straight away in the first lap, build a gap, which was nice to control then,” he said.

He lost several seconds during his final pit stop as his team weren’t ready with his tyres when he arrived – as also happened to him in last year’s race.

“The pit stop obviously I was waiting for my tyres again,” said Vettel. “I think it was a bit of confusion going on because we had both cars coming in at the same time. Fortunately I got all the tyres in time, ready to go.”

“And, yeah, then with the last laps very difficult with the rain because you could see the fog was coming, was leaving, so it was very difficult to judge but for sure extremely proud.

Vettel also paid tribute to Mark Webber after his team mate’s last grand prix.

“First of all Mark, obviously it’s his last race, we’ve been team mates for a very, very long time. I think we, after all we didn’t have the best relationship but I think we always had tremendous respect for each other and together I think we’ve been very successful for the team,” said Vettel.

“And then there’s one other guy who’s working on my car, his name is Tom Batch, unfortunately he’s leaving so farewell Tom, all the best for the future, and who knows maybe we’ll meet each other again in the future.”

2013 Brazilian Grand Prix

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Image © Red Bull/Getty

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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23 comments on “Vettel sad to end season after record streak”

  1. Happy for Mark Webber, still a little bit of umbilical cord intact with F1, having to appear in the award ceremony for finishing the season on 3rd. Having said that, I loved Webber’s ‘Taking off the Helmet’ act, it looked wonderful. I always wondered how an F1 driver would look without the helmet driving a car.

  2. Who is Tom Batch? :P

    1. one other guy who’s working on Vettel’s car

  3. I’m sure that Vettel isn’t the only one sad to see this season come to an end. Helmut Marko and Christian Horner must be at least as disheartened.

    1. Well I’m thrilled to say the least .

    2. For me it could have ended a couple of races ago, and I would have been fine.

  4. Wow, nice photo. Its simplicity and single long horizonal line perfectly fit the seeming ease with which Vettel crushed the opposition and its also reminiscent to how he appears on the race charts.

    I wonder from which corner of the Interlagos circuit it might have been taken.

    1. +1
      does someone have a link to a higher resolution version?

    2. @keithcollantine

      Why did you change that photo I talked about? It was great and illustrative.

      1. @atticus-2 The original image was from qualifying and as this refers to the events of the race I wanted one from the race to avoid the chance of anything misleading appearing in the image, so I replaced it. This is pretty commonplace on a race weekend.

        The original image will be in the picture gallery for qualifying or practice.

        1. @keithcollantine Wow, astonishing attention to details, thank you very much. For the answer and also for further guidance.

          1. @atticus-2 No problem :-)

  5. What a brilliant season for Vettel – it’s hard to see how he could realistically top that. The thought that most drivers reach their peak around 30 has got to be disheartening.

    1. @vettel1
      Alonso’s strongest season was at the age of 25 (2006) and Schumacher’s at the age of 28 (1997). Kimi’s best season to date is at the age of 26 (2005), and Hamilton’s at the age of 27 (2012).

      Drivers lose very little until they are around 35, but Vettel at the age of 26 is probably in his prime now.

      1. I imagine you’re probably right enough @kingshark: it’s not like he’s behind on experience!

      2. I’d say Alonso’s best season was in 2012, Schumacher’s in 2002, Hakkinen’s in 98, Webber’s in 2010, they were all well in there 30’s.

        1. No way Schumacher in 2002 was better than Schumacher from 1996-1998.

    2. We said that after 2011 too @vettel1

  6. The hunger of victories of this man is endless. Impressive.

  7. It is always sad to end something good, i just remember my last day in high school with my mates and for me it was something unforgettable, imagine how Seb is feeling now when he is probably witnessing the end of his reign (i’m not saying he will not win the WDC anymore but maybe with no such domination)
    As a Ferrari fan i’m glad that this era 2009/2013 has come to an end, an era in which Ferrari wasn’t able to produce cars capable of championship for obvious reasons

  8. You are the only one who is sad the season is over Seb! As amazing as your achievements have been this year, the prospect of F1 starting anew next season is one I am looking forward to immensely.

  9. Actually I am glad it ended already. You can say wathever about breaking records,buy it makes me think that Seb is having a false modesty….he was leaving the rest of the field in shame…did you see how he passed nico (with no drs) on the straight at the beggining? too eaaassyyyy…

  10. Great season from RBR and congrats to everybody involved.

    Bring on next season!

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