The Youngest Triple World Champion

No matter who won the race, Fernando Alonso or Sebastian Vettel would become the youngest ever triple world champion. Brazil would prove to a fitting end to what has been one the most unpredictable and dramatic Formula One seasons in recent times.

An early crash left many thinking Vettel's race was over before it had began, leaving the championship to Alonso. But the Red Bull was able to continue despite being wounded and had to climb back through the pack. For the first time in a long time, the race had to finish under the Safety Car, cementing the places of the drivers. Alonso crossed the line in second place. Eighth or lower for Vettel meant the Spaniard had clinched the title. The German managed to finish sixth to not only become the youngest ever triple world champion, but also join Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher as the only drivers to win three consecutive world championships.

Vettel started the race slowly which put him right into the middle of the pack. Vettel's wingman, Mark Webber, had dropped to fourth while Alonso's wingman, Felipe Massa, had climbed to second with Alonso fifth. Vettel was then hit by Bruno Senna in a first corner pile-up, this left the Red Bull reversing down the hill before managing to continue without knowing what they damage sustained could do. The incident caused Senna on his home GP, Sergio Perez on his last GP for Sauber and Pastor Maldonado all to retire from the race.

Alonso's aggressive starts continued as he managed to overtake both Webber and Massa on the second lap to move up to third. The surprise package of the race was Nico Hulkenberg and his race began by overtaking Webber into fourth on lap three. That soon became third on lap five when Alonso ran wide without crashing and only surrendering that place. Fortunately for Alonso, it was also the lap where Massa overtook Webber to gain fifth.

Romain Grosjean's season ended on lap six when he sent his car into the barrier. Webber was then sent spinning a lap later when he was hit by Kamui Kobayashi, but both cars were able to continue in the treacherous conditions.

In the aside of the race, Jenson Button managed to overtake Lewis Hamilton on lap eight to take the lead in the race. Vettel had managed to get himself up to sixth by this point as the rain began to fall heavier. Three laps and it was the window for the drivers to put the intermediate tyres on.

By lap-15 Vettel had maintained his sixth place with Alonso just two cars in front which wasn't enough for the Ferrari. A lap later and the gap was even shorter as Vettel had managed to overtake Kobayashi to gain fifth place. A shock move from Hulkenberg saw him overtake Button to take the lead of the race on lap-19.

At this time, the rain had cleared enough for the drivers to move back onto the hard tyres. There was a lot of debris on the track at this stage and Nico Rosberg was the unfortunate recipient of a puncture on lap-21 and two laps later, the debris was sufficient enough to deploy the Safety Car.

The Safety Car eventually returned to the pits on lap-30 and Kobayashi instantly overtook Vettel to regain fifth. A lap later, Hamilton had managed to overtake Button to move into second and began to hunt down the rogue Force India.

With Kobayashi not guaranteed of a place in Formula One next season, he had to throw caution to the wind and that meant he overtook Alonso to go fourth on lap-32. Massa and Daniel Ricciardo overtook Paul Di Resta later on in that lap to sit seventh, eighth and ninth respectively.

It only took a lap for Alonso to regain that place lost to Kobayashi and Massa helped his teammate by overtaking Vettel to go sixth on lap-34. The Brazilian then became Alonso's bodyguard as he had managed to get behind him after overtaking Kobayashi on lap-37.

Hulkenberg's brave run in front would end on lap-48 after he spun and surrendered the lead to Hamilton. But the German would continue to try and retake the lead. He managed to get next to Hamilton on lap-55 but he ended up going on the wet part of the track, this caused him to lose control and he hit Hamilton to end his final race for McLaren. Hulkenberg was able to continue and was handed a drive through penalty for causing a collision.

With Hamilton now out and Hulkenberg losing time from the collision, Button was now the leader of the race. The rain once again began to fall which meant the drivers needed to once again put the intermediate tyres on. A couple of laps earlier, Vettel had pitted to put another set of hard tyres and ended up having to come back in for the intermediates, this pushed him down the 12th. Alonso was third despite staying out for a lap longer than he probably should have done.

By lap-57, Vettel had been pushed up to ninth after overtaking Kobayashi and Alonso was now fourth after his pit. The culmination if the driver through and only his second pit stop, meant Hulkenberg fell behind Alonso, pushing the Ferrari into third.

With Massa in second and Alonso third, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Spaniard caught up with his teammate and past him without any defence from Massa. That happened on lap-62. With Alonso in second, it was at this point he needed Vettel to be in eighth but the German was seventh before Michael Schumacher gave his 'protege' a parting gift, allowing the Red Bull into sixth with consummate ease.

Paul Di Resta would lose control on the penultimate lap and crash into the barrier. This was where the championship would end as the Safety Car had to be deployed for the final lap, giving Sebastian Vettel his third world championship in three years. Result:

1.Button (McLaren), 2.Alonso (Ferrari), 3.Massa (Ferrari), 4.Webber (Red Bull), 5.Hulkenberg (Force India), 6.Vettel (Red Bull), 7.Schumacher (Mercedes), 8.Vergne (Toro Rosso), 9.Kobayashi (Sauber), 10.Raikkonen (Lotus), 11.Petrov (Caterham), 12.Pic (Marussia), 13.Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), 14.Kovalainen (Caterham), 15.Rosberg (Mercedes), 16.Glock (Marussia), 17.De La Rosa (HRT), 18.Karthikeyan (HRT) DNF: Senna (Williams), Maldonado (Williams), Perez (Sauber), Grosjean (Lotus), Hamilton (McLaren), Di Resta (Force India)