Sebastian Vettel has become the Formula One drivers’ champion for the fourth year in a row following his victory in the Indian Grand Prix.
He is only the third driver in Formula One history to win the title for four years running. The first was Juan Manuel Fangio, who became champion for the second time in 1954 then won the next three championships as well.
The other driver to win four in a row was Michael Schumacher, who took five of his seven championship victories consecutively between 2000 and 2004.
The 26-year-old Red Bull driver is the only person ever to win his first four championship titles consecutively.
Vettel said it was “unbelievable” to see his name alongside the sport’s all-time greats.
“I’m speechless,” he said on the podium after the race. “I crossed the line, I was empty. I took ages to think about something to say. It’s one of these moments you wish to say so many things but you can’t.”
Vettel said it had been a “phenomenal” season for the team. “I said it on the radio, it gives me so much power than it’s a pleasure to jump in the car and go out for the guys and just try to give it all I have.”
“The car was phenomenal today, It was phenomenal all season to be honest so I couldn’t ask for more.”
“The spirit in the team is fantastic,” he added. “The sort of numbers and statistics that we have done in the last four years is unbelievable.”
“I don’t feel old – I’m getting older but I think I’m not that old yet – but to achieve that in a short amount of time is very difficult to grasp. Maybe in ten years’ time, I’m trying very hard to come to the level I am now, maybe then I’m a little bit better in actually understanding what we have done so far.”
Team principal Christan Horner said: “For Sebastian to have joined the illustrious names of [Juan Manuel] Fangio, [Alain] Prost and [Michael] Schumacher is an incredible achievement, especially at such a young age and it’s a privilege to work with him.”
List of Formula One drivers’ champions
| Rank | Driver | Championships |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michael Schumacher | 7 |
| 2 | Juan Manuel Fangio | 5 |
| =3 | Alain Prost | 4 |
| =3 | Sebastian Vettel | 4 |
| =5 | Jack Brabham | 3 |
| =5 | Jackie Stewart | 3 |
| =5 | Niki Lauda | 3 |
| =5 | Nelson Piquet | 3 |
| =5 | Ayrton Senna | 3 |
| =10 | Alberto Ascari | 2 |
| =10 | Jim Clark | 2 |
| =10 | Graham Hill | 2 |
| =10 | Emerson Fittipaldi | 2 |
| =10 | Mika Hakkinen | 2 |
| =10 | Fernando Alonso | 2 |
| =16 | Giuseppe Farina | 1 |
| =16 | Mike Hawthorn | 1 |
| =16 | Phil Hill | 1 |
| =16 | John Surtees | 1 |
| =16 | Denny Hulme | 1 |
| =16 | Jochen Rindt | 1 |
| =16 | James Hunt | 1 |
| =16 | Mario Andretti | 1 |
| =16 | Jody Scheckter | 1 |
| =16 | Alan Jones | 1 |
| =16 | Keke Rosberg | 1 |
| =16 | Nigel Mansell | 1 |
| =16 | Damon Hill | 1 |
| =16 | Jacques Villeneuve | 1 |
| =16 | Kimi Raikkonen | 1 |
| =16 | Lewis Hamilton | 1 |
| =16 | Jenson Button | 1 |
2013 Indian Grand Prix
- Vettel takes fifth Driver of the Weekend win
- This year’s Indian Grand Prix voted best so far
- F1 still struggling to gain a foothold in India
- 2013 Indian Grand Prix fans’ video gallery
- 2013 Indian Grand Prix team radio transcript
Browse all 2013 Indian Grand Prix articles
Image © Red Bull/Getty
hugomac (@hugomac)
27th October 2013, 7:57
Still won’t rate him until he’s in & winning in a non-newey car & controlling the team (& Webber) to his advantage, why do we all hate him so much. I’ll be the first to take my hat off to the guy if he can repeat his success in another team until then he could move & we find out he’s not that great & his 4 titles mean nothing….Riccardo will never be able to get anywhere next season, so sad. F1 just feels a bit rigged & corporate. Mateschitz wants a return on his considerable investment in F1 so Vettel gets the spoils….
OmarR-Pepper (@)
27th October 2013, 11:06
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Kingshark (@kingshark)
27th October 2013, 11:07
On par with Prost. I don’t know what to say, I dislike him with a passion, but he’s been perfect this season.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
27th October 2013, 11:12
And on another note, today he has knocked Senna out of my top 5 greatest drivers of all time.
Now it’s Schumacher – Fangio – Prost – Clark – Vettel (IMO).
Coming from a big Alonso/Ferrari fan.
MaroonJack (@maroonjack)
27th October 2013, 12:27
He earned a place in my top 5 too, so now it’s:
1) Fangio, 2) Schumacher, 3) Senna, 4) Prost, 5) Vettel.
David-A (@david-a)
27th October 2013, 18:36
I have him joint 6th: Schumacher, Clark, Prost, Senna, Fangio, Vettel & Lauda.
Deana (@sammy)
27th October 2013, 18:54
I have him fifth too: Fangio-Schumacher– Prost – Senna– Vettel
Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
27th October 2013, 14:53
His racing more is Prost-style, imo. Although he qualifies as good a senna. But for me he is not in the top eight yet. If he gets a less-than-frontrow-car a couple of seasons, he’ll be inside my top eight. Now Vet is sort of 9-10th greatest.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th October 2013, 11:07
YES! Nice touch with the burnouts again! :D
zicasso (@zicasso)
27th October 2013, 12:07
Yeah, that was a superb touch. Finish with style.
GongTong (@gongtong)
27th October 2013, 11:08
Maybe it’s boring. But just like when Schumacher was in charge, I feel honoured to witness a legend at his peak.
Congratulations Seb! And thank you!
Shreyas Mohanty (@)
27th October 2013, 11:51
Yep, the car is legendary. Makes everything a bit too easy for Vettel the “legend”.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
27th October 2013, 12:38
@shreyasf1fan Webber is fifth in the championship in the same car with less than half Vettel’s score. Sure he’d have more if Vettel wasn’t there, but clearly it’s not all the car.
Nick (@nick-uk)
27th October 2013, 12:46
@keithcollantine I was thinking about this today. Maybe it is clutching at straws, but could it be that Red Bull’s performance masks just how rubbish Webber actually is, and that Vettel is just an 8/10 driver? Until we see Vettel alongside another of the ‘big 3’ we just won’t know how good he is.
Vettel is clearly one of the best. But I need to see what Lewis or Fernando could do in the same car as Vettel before I will accept Vettel is this God everyone says he is.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 12:51
@nick-uk What if the Ferrari is actually a great car, but Alonso and Massa are just that terrible?
See? What you wrote made as little sense.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th October 2013, 13:10
The problem is @nick-uk that you could just recycle the same argument for every driver. The good ones just stand out: like Alonso and Hamilton, Vettel is clearly just a step above average. Hülkenberg shows that on occasions too – they just look better.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 13:16
@vettel1
It would be an interesting experiment. What *great* teammate has Alonso proven himselft against? Only possible answer is Hamilton, who he tied in points.
But what *great* teammate had Hamilton proven himself against at that point? What if both “are 8/10 drivers”?
Next year we have ALO vs RAI, but what *great* teammate has Raikkonen proven himself against? Massa? Eh…
See @nick-uk? That fell apart pretty quickly when thinking about it a bit ;-)
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th October 2013, 13:20
Exactly @silence – you could keep on recycling that until you came to ridiculous conclusions such as Schumacher was an average driver! It really does not work.
Usually it becomes obvious in their first seasons if they are something special. Hamilton certainly did that, as did Vettel and Alonso.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 13:58
@vettel1 Indeed, for example right now I have the feeling we’ll see great things from Grosjean and Hulkenberg.
You know, I totally understand not liking Vettel (I myself am not Hamilton’s greatest fan), but this whole “let’s find the most obscure argument possible to discredit Vettel” is getting old.
Jonathan189 (@jonathan189)
27th October 2013, 16:11
You’re right, it is clutching at straws. Webber is a competitive driver, and has proved this many times in many different teams. Red Bull wouldn’t have retained him for so long if they didn’t rate him more highly than the alternatives.
sgp_f1fan
28th October 2013, 5:51
Keith, i dont believe Webbers 5 place in the standings reflects where he could have been sitting if not for alternators, fires, wheels coming off, gearbox. I think that covers them all.
Its not quite so black and white as per your comment.
JerseyF1 (@jerseyf1)
28th October 2013, 9:13
No suprise the “Webber has the worst luck” argument reappears again despite the fact that this myth one has been conclusively put to bed on this site already. Webber did have bad luck
, that can’t be denied, but once again he was on course to turn a superior strategy into an inferior result compared with his team-mate in the same car. One failure doesn’t explain the enormous deficit to his team-mate over the season.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 12:46
@shreyasf1fan Will you reply back this time, or will you just post something illogical and then run away as you always do?
Oletros (@oletros)
27th October 2013, 14:33
Nice joke, because you’re joking, don’t you?
JCost (@jcost)
27th October 2013, 11:12
In the same weekend Ferrari entered equal on points with Sebastian Vettel (at 297), Fernando Alonso was sporting his loud commemorative F1 poins record helmet…
Congrats Seb.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 11:19
And he had his weakest race of the season. Kinda funny.
Diego (@ironcito)
27th October 2013, 11:32
And he scored no points. As if a higher power had said “you celebrate your ridiculous record? no points for you!”
mixwell (@mixwell)
27th October 2013, 11:54
this Friday, i was thinking, what if he scores 0 point this race ? lol
would interesting to see which helmet he chooses for Abu Dhabi GP. am sick of that old bluey stuff but this one was worse.
4ttel
27th October 2013, 12:38
Than he can wear the same helmet again in Abu Dhabi :)
Patrick (@paeschli)
27th October 2013, 11:45
@silence and jcost: Since he scored no points, he can use the same helmet at the next race :)
kpcart
27th October 2013, 15:28
i hope you guys are just joking, otherwise you missed the point entirely with the helmet. any driver in the history of f1 would be happy with the feat, and not with these comments being posted here.
verstappen (@verstappen)
27th October 2013, 23:10
Do you know where Alonso would be if the points system wasn’t changed?
The joke is on the Samurai, **** yeah
Hyoko
28th October 2013, 0:04
How dare Alonso celebrate such a shameful,despicable and fully undeserved record? He should repent and flagelate himself in public.
Now that Webber and Massa are finishing their F1 careers (well, Massa could find a seat but I doubt it) I am sure that the fact that they will never reach the points record fills them with happiness and peace of mind. And the rookies are rightly wary of scoring any points this year (well Gutierrez in Japan was an accident) just in case they get that loathsome record in the future.
Hyoko
28th October 2013, 0:18
@verstappen
Yes, everybody knows that. Third in F1 history, very close to Prost (will surely be second a few races from now, say early in 2014 most likely) but yeah quite far from Schu. No mean achievement, IMO.
If Vettel keeps winning like he has done these years he will top Alonso’s points somewhere in the future, maybe 2015. And even though I dislike him, I will congratulate him and utter no nonsense about it being worthless.
And please don’t start again with it’s unfair to Fangio etc. Nobody ever said it is fair. There is really no fair way to compare drivers from such different eras. But if you want my opinion, Fangio was the best ever, head and shoulders above everybody else.
Malik (@)
27th October 2013, 11:34
He can use his helmet in Abu-Dhabi too :D
iFelix (@ifelix)
27th October 2013, 11:42
:))
Veldaar (@veldaarf1)
27th October 2013, 11:46
Yeah my thoughts exactly :D
JCost (@jcost)
28th October 2013, 6:15
+1
F1 Noob (@noob)
28th October 2013, 19:32
@jcost Alonso needs to celebrate his highest points tally as much as he can, coz one German is coming to grab the record very fast
Tango (@tango)
27th October 2013, 11:13
Oh man, why oh why am I not a fan ? The guy is brilliant, and it’s a good time to be a red bull fan!
Merv (@)
27th October 2013, 11:13
I wish I could hear the dressing down he’s going to get from Rocky though! He sounded absolutely livid!
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th October 2013, 13:23
@cyclonetog I love Rocky’s radio message at the end of the race: “Räikkönen pitted on the last lap so there is absolutely no way you’re going to hold on to fastest lap” – something along those lines, which I thought defined their relationship. They really are a great driver/engineer pairing!
Merv (@)
27th October 2013, 13:29
did you catch the message before? Something along the lines of “we’ll talk about this afterwards”
which I’m sure was Rocky not being happy that SV refused to cruise home.
I think you’re right he’s the perfect engineer for SV, it’d be interesting to see how many DNF’s he would have had with a less tenacious engineer.
Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
27th October 2013, 11:14
Hate him like the plague.
He has had the best car this year, miles ahead of the others, but he has extracted the best out of it. This is the first WDC I feel he has earn’t, he has driven very well this year. Good Job Vettel, excellent celebration as well :-)
Daniel Sch. (@donmsc)
27th October 2013, 11:19
Why on earth? So you’re saying he was like Button in 2009? Just winning because of the car?
Haters gonna hate!
Chris (@tophercheese21)
27th October 2013, 11:54
I also dislike him on the race track. But I think last year was the one he really had to earn.
This year was the best I’ve seen him drive. And he’s only 26. Athletes don’t hit their peak until about 28, so as long as Red Bull can produce a good car for the next few years, I think he’ll keep winning.
Nick (@nick-uk)
27th October 2013, 11:54
How can you say he ‘earned’ this one and not the others? This has been the title that has been most easily served on a platter. At least in 2011 McLaren had a car that could fight for wins quite often. 2013 has just been a joke, nobody even remotely close to Red Bull since Hungary. I find it even more abusrd that you think he didn’t earn his titles in 2010/12.
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
27th October 2013, 12:05
@nick-uk I have to agree with you: in Vettel’s hands this has been the best Red Bull ever since Belgium.
S
27th October 2013, 23:55
The Vettel/RBR pairing in the second half of this season has been so dominant, they weren’t racing the rest, no one could hope to touch them. It was like a hare racing snails, like a boxing champ fighting little children. It felt unfair.
Looked like He could win in his sleep. By Vettel’s (very high) standards, the racing in Japan or the qualifying in India were sloppy. He usually does a much better job. But why should he care, if with a half-hearted job he wins just the same?
David BR2
28th October 2013, 10:50
Red Bull’s nearest contenders, Mercedes, gave up developing halfway through the season to concentrate on 2014. And that’s it basically.
mixwell (@mixwell)
27th October 2013, 12:04
2011 could be taken for granted but
he had to work a lot more in 2010, had failures in 2012 (so did Alonso) , had to drive with a broken car in Brazil and started from pits in Abu Dhabi. in short – put a lot more effort.
this year – phenomenal driving. drove absolutely brilliant the whole year so deserved it.
Breno (@austus)
27th October 2013, 12:06
FOUR championships and he hasnt eared them? Alonso breaks his front wing in two races, Raikkonen drops like a rock halfway through the season, Hamilton complains all year long and has hit or miss perfomances. And this is just this year.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 12:13
@austus Of course he hasn’t! It was the car! Only Alonso does what he does due to sheer talent, the car plays no part on it. Didn’t you know?
Jonathan189 (@jonathan189)
27th October 2013, 16:18
Apparently this year’s Ferrari doesn’t even have an engine. Alonso has been pedalling it round all year.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 16:27
@jonathan189 This year? It’s been like that every year.
djbasumatari
28th October 2013, 17:27
Hahahahahahaha.. That is why he was trying to buy that cycling team
S
27th October 2013, 23:20
Malaysia: Alonso and Vettel touched in the first turn: Alonso’s race was soon over, Vettel went on unscathed.
Japan: Hamilton and Vettel touched in the first turn: Hamilton’s race was soon over, Vettel went on unscathed.
India: Alonso and Webber touched in the first turn: Alonso could go on but his race was ruined. Webber went on unscathed (got a DNF but not related AFAIK)
Besides being the fastest by far, is the RBR the toughest? or was it just luck?
Carlitox (@carlitox)
27th October 2013, 12:27
I don’t hate him, I’m just not a fan but I do respect his quality and speed. And even though the RB9 is a masterpiece, Vettel deserves a lot of credit. At least until Newey develops an Auto-Pilot for the car. And if you want to question him, take a look back to 2009 and 2010, where he won races with a car not so much better than the rest.
Vettel is one of the greats, face it. As a Tifoso, I had to do it with Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Alonso and now him. He deserves as much credit as the car and his team. No driver wins a title, the whole package wins it.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 11:17
As deserved as any champion can be. There’s nothing left to say, Vettel was on a class of his own this season.
Even his celebration was superb.
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 12:04
he is a class above because there arent enough red bulls to go around for everyone
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 12:18
@me262 He’s also the only one who has been constantly great both on quali and race. Hamilton, Raikkonen and Alonso have done (more than one) weak races, qualifyings or mistakes through the season. Vettel has been virtually flawless. Just to put in perspective, Alonso has been outqualified 7 times by Massa. Let’s not mention where Webber is in the championship.
Sure, he has had the best car, but he’s also driven the best.
But you’ve already been told this before, so I’m not sure why you insist on that, it’s not something too difficult to understand.
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 22:40
@silence yeah I agree, he has been above everyone this year
despite how sure you are about how good he is, you still dont know really how good he is until he steps out of that redbull, dont worry about webber, we’re not discussing webber or massa for that matter. We’re discussing the number 1’s vet v alo v ham v kimi. Time will put everyone in their place, thats my assurance…and you may be right…vettel may be the best. Dosent matter how many times he beats webber or ricciardo next year because that is not the test to end the speculation
I dont want to rise to your level…but I will: what is so difficult to understand about that?
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 22:50
@me262 Absolutely nothing, it’s pretty easy to understand that jealosuy, blind hate and poorly contructed arguments can cloud a person’s judgement hate, as they clearly have done to you :-)
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 22:53
all I ask for is ONE of his rivals to have machinery to be able to compete with him
red bull has been untouchable since hungary. lets be honest: his 4th title was only a matter of time. The way that Seb has been able to sync with his car this year has been second to none. There’s also something up with red bull, in defence of webber much like Schumacher at Ferrari they have a clear number 1. (why did seb disobey team orders in malaysia? simple – its his team, he knows he can get away with anything..just ask uncle markoor any of the other austrian-germans :)
Im no Hamilton fan but i’ll stick my neck out and say Hamilton would be more than a match for vettel in the same un biased team – any day
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 22:56
@silence reminds me of a quote: ‘the problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts while Vettels fans are full of confidence’ :)
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 23:00
@me262 And you remind me of a 5-year old trying too hard to get everyone’s attention. Time to give it a rest, I think.
Oletros (@oletros)
28th October 2013, 6:10
A quote that really applies to you, you’re fully confident that he is and he won’t be one of the greatest
Oletros (@oletros)
27th October 2013, 12:50
Still making those claims?
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 23:17
@silence and what age would you put on someone trying to push off their opinions with a statement that questions the comprehension and reasoning of anyone in disagreeance with your theories? Is it too dificult to understand that people have a differing opinion to yours?
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 23:24
@me262 Absolutely not. It’s difficult to understand how people repeat the same illogical things over and over even when their lack of logic has already been proven.
The funniest part of this conversation is, that we’re arguing for nothing. I said Vettel was the best this season, which you agree with. The end.
Then the whole talk about being full of confidence is completely uncalled for, I’ve never said Vettel is better than Raikkonen, Hamilton or Alonso, so you seem to be looking for a fight where there’s none. As I said, time to give it a rest.
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 23:31
The “time to give it a rest” applies to me, too.
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 23:49
@silence said
if thats not confidence I dont know what is? lol but I see no rubber stamp on your opinion…yes yes I see your ‘logic’, there are many with the same infallible logic that you posses. Let me give you some insight on the ‘illogical things’ some illogical people like myself illogically think: statitistics do not give you the best driver at present OR the best driver in history
in other words: in my ‘illogical’ book, schumacher is the most succesful driver ever. Dosent make him the best though. There are too many differentiating variables in F1 to declare one’s opinions and use of statistics as ‘facts’
I tell you what if rbr/vettel win the championship again next year, with the regulation changes in store … they would have to go down as one of the most dominant in history?
as i said, I agree with it because of the impossibility of parity in F1. ‘Vettel has been the best this season’ – yeah, no sheet :)
TheBass (@)
27th October 2013, 23:54
@me262
Who has said the contrary? Again, arguing where’s nothing to argue.
Jono (@me262)
27th October 2013, 23:57
@silence you did when you rubbished my opinion. whos arguing?
TheBass (@)
28th October 2013, 0:05
@me262 Incorrect. I’ve never mentioned statistics, results, or anything as such. See? You don’t even know what you’re arguing about!
Just so you know: it was about Vettel being on a class on his own this season due to his car only. Which is not true, it’s because he’s the only only one who has driven flawlessly and has outperformed his teammate both on quali and race.
Aaaaaand that’s it. Nothing worth of this whole drama.
Jono (@me262)