F1: Vettel cites Kimi heroics as inspiration

Sebastian Vettel called on Kimi Raikkonen as inspiration ahead of becoming the youngest world champion in Formula One history.

Vettel's situation was a forlorn one when his Red Bull suffered a blown engine in Korea three weeks ago, handing victory on a plate to Fernando Alonso and leaving the German trailing by 25 points with two races remaining.

Three years ago Raikkonen's hopes were hanging by a thinner thread as he trailed Lewis Hamilton by 17 points with only 20 up for grabs. But the Finn went on to remarkably win the title by a point as he took the chequered flag in those last two races, whilst Hamilton suffered issues in both that left him crushed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

On this occasion Vettel, too, managed to win the final two grands prix, following up his success in Brazil with a second successive victory under the lights in Abu Dhabi.

Going into yesterday's race all Alonso needed to do was cover any potential Vettel victory with fourth place, but Ferrari's abysmal tactics saw him finish seventh, and four points adrift of Vettel.

"Prior to the race I was thinking about Kimi's situation," said Vettel, who takes the title at 23 years 135 days beating Hamilton's 2008 record by 166 days.

"Whether you like Kimi or not - some people do, some people don't - but I faced a little bit of a similar situation.

"Obviously we were in a stronger position in terms of how many points were missing. But if you know Kimi, you know the one big advantage he has is that he just does his own thing, which was my target all weekend long.

"What he achieved three years ago was very special."