Button wins race but Vettel is champion

CANADIAN ROBERT WICKENS WINS WORLD SERIES BY RENAULT TITLE

HUGE CRASH IN BATHURST 1000. WATCH VIDEO HERE

Huge news for Sebastien Vettel fans and just as huge news Sunday for Canadian racing fans in general.

Vettel won his second world championship of drivers title by finishing third in the Japanese Grand Prix – Jenson Button won the race, with Fernando Alonso second – while Canadian Formula One hope Robert Wickens of Guelph and Toronto won the World Series by Renault Formula 3.5 championship at Barcelona.

It marks Wickens’s first major European championship after finishing second in Formula 2 and GP3 the last two seasons.

Wickens is officially the Marussia-Virgin F1 team’s reserve driver and this championship will go a long way toward his promotion to an F1 seat in 2012, particularly since the current drivers – Timo Glock and Jerome D’Ambrosio - could only finish 20^th and 21^st in the Japanese race, both two laps behind.

At Suzuka, Vettel was very emotional following the race. The points he earned for finishing third clinched the championship for him, even though there are still four races remaining in the 2011 season.

"I’m so thankful for everyone in the team," he said at the post-race press conference. He then went on to pay tribute to everyone associated with Red Bull Racing, including the race and factory employees, his teammate, Mark Webber, and even his personal trainer, "the person I spend the most of my time with."

He apologized for "taking so long," and then congratulated winner Button and second-place finisher Alonso, who had been the first to offer a handshake when the race ended.

Button took a little longer to offer his congratulations, although he eventually paid tribute to the new champion. He was undoubtedly still seething about an incident at the start of the race that saw Vettel nearly drive him off the track.

At lights out, Vettel – who was on pole – moved across the track to block Button’s progress toward the first corner, a right-hand turn. Button’s right-side tires went onto the grass before he lifted his foot off the throttle, at which point Vettel laid off and took the corner in first place.

Lewis Hamilton, Button’s teammate who started third, was able to pass him and move into second behind Vettel. The crowding and losing a spot to his teammate undoubtedly infuriated Button, who asked his team to complain to the stewards, which it did.

No action was taken. However, moments after the race ended, when Button and Vettel met face-to-face in a lounge before going to the podium, the race winner said to the new champion:

"Didn’t you see me at the start?"

Vettel replied that they were racing.

"Okay, that’s the way we’ll race from now on," said Button.

(Vettel told TV reporters later that he hadn't seen Button. That story is here)

Vettel’s "chop," for want of a better word, was reminiscent of a move seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher – who finished sixth on Sunday – almost patented. Schumacher would frequently drive across the bow of the other front-row starter in grands prix and, in fact, once lined up on the grid at an almost-45-degree angle in anticipation of cutting off the No. 2 starter’s progress.

As he got away with that for years, there was no way the stewards could penalize Vettel.

Vettel won the last two Japan Grands Prix and was shooting for a hat trick. In the latter stages of the race, he challenged Alonso for second and you knew that if he got past him, he’d go after Button.

But Red Bull radioed him to take it easy, that there was more at stake than a better finishing position in a race, so he slowed down after that to finish third.

Webber finished fourth, Hamilton fifth, Schumacher (Mercedes) sixth, Felipe Massa (Ferrari) was seventh, Sergio Perez (Sauber) eighth, Vitaly Petrov (Renault) was ninth and Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) was tenth.

There are four races remaining - Korea, India, Abu Dhabi and Brazil. Although Alonso talked about motivation for Ferrari to keep pushing, the season is essentially over. Vettel has won the championship and all the teams are working on their 2012 cars.

It will really be a lame duck schedule from now on.

At Barcelona, Wickens went into the final race with a nine-point lead over his teammate, Jean Eric Vergne of France. They were the only two in contention for the championship.

As it turned out, neither finished the contest. Wickens was caught up in a first turn pileup that put him out and Vergne – although able to keep going – was driving a car that was mortally wounded and he eventually had to stop. 

But a series championship is a championship. Wickens and Vergne were racing right to the end. Neither let up in the finale, which was a reflection of the way they went at each other all year.

They are two hard-driving young racers with wonderful futures.

Although Wickens won his championship, he lost his Red Bull sponsorship after finishing second in the Formula 2 series. Vergne is a Red Bull driver and promotion to the Scuderia Toro Rosso could very well be in the cards for him.

On the other hand, he didn't win - and that's what sunk Wickens two years ago, as far as Red Bull was concerned.

JAPANESE GRAND PRIX

1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h30:53.427

2. Alonso Ferrari + 1.160

3. Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.006

4. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 8.071

5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 24.268

6. Schumacher Mercedes + 27.120

7. Massa Ferrari + 28.240

8. Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 39.377

9. Petrov Renault + 42.607

10. Rosberg Mercedes + 44.322

11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 54.447

12. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:02.326

13. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:03.705

14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:04.194

15. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth + 1:06.623

16. Senna Renault + 1:12.628

17. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:14.191

18. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1:27.824

19. Trulli Lotus-Renault + 1:36.140

20. Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps

21. D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps

22. Ricciardo HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps

23. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth + 2 laps

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap

Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 35

 

World Championship standings,

Round 15:

Drivers: Constructors:

1. Vettel 324 1. Red Bull-Renault 518

2. Button 210 2. McLaren-Mercedes 388

3. Alonso 202 3. Ferrari 292

 

 

 

Comments

[DJL]

I'd hardly call the rest of the F1 season "a lame duck schedule". While the drivers, and a lot of the fans focus on the Driver's Championship, the teams focus almost exclusively on the Constructors Standings, where there are literally millions of dollars on the line. While the battle for the first four places is pretty much over, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are still uncertain and the difference between each of those positions can mean a lot of prize money. So the teams in the middle of the pack will be fighting hard for every point.

At the same time there are plenty of drivers out there who have yet to sign contracts for next year (and if you believe the rumours there are more than a few who have contracts that could be in trouble), so there will still be plenty of hard racing as drivers without contracts try to firm up rides of next year.

And finally, I'm willing to bet that Button, Hamilton, Alonso and most certainly Webber would just love to finish ahead of Vettel in the final races. At the start of the year, when Red Bull had a vastly superior car, Vettel was untouchable. But now that McLaren and even Ferrari appear to have closed some (if not all) of the gap to RBR, you can be certain that they'll be racing hard for pride and to make the point that Vettel's Championship had a lot more to do with the car than the driver.

[Clive Rayman]

Massa should take a lesson from Button about being a man! Button took it on the chin...suggested how they would race from now on....basically laid down the gauntlet...unlike Massa who continues to complain about Hamilton.
The Schumacher move ...no wonder Schumacher is a little proud of Vettel....could he be bending Vettel's ear?
Next year Schumi will be on the podium...he deserves it!

[john]

The Bathurst 1000 that you briefly mentioned was one of the best races this year (in fact most of the “best races this year” have come from that series) …. SPEED’s coverage was excellent, and for a 6-hour, 600 mile race, it was a hell of a lot more interesting and exciting than a Coke 600.

For a 6 hour race with hardly any cautions, on a 3+ mile road course, to come down to inches in the last 5 laps, in some of the best nose-to-tail racing ever seen, says a lot. I really hope the broadcast helped bring new fans to the sport.

Even DW was fun to listen to, for once.

Vettel's move to start the race was certainly dirty, but no more dirty than any other F1 pole sitter these days. It's just the way it goes in that series now. Button drove a brilliant race and once again showed why he's a much more comlpete driver than Hamilton will ever be.