Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull became F1 champions for the fourth year in a row in 2013. Here’s a look back on their four years of success in pictures.
2010
Both Red Bull drivers went into the final round with a chance of winning the world championship. Vettel trailed Fernando Alonso by 15 points as they arrived in Abu Dhabi, but a stunning turnaround in the final race saw him land the championship.
2011
A crushing performance from Vettel in 2011 netted 15 pole positions and 11 wins on his way to a second world championship.
2012
A season-long scrap with Alonso concluded with a dramatic and tense Brazilian Grand Prix where Vettel was hit on the first lap and suffered exhaust damage. However he climbed far enough into the points to deny the Ferrari driver the title once again.
2013
Vettel began his third title defence well but moved up a gear after the season break. He was undefeated in the second half of the season and sealed his fourth world championship while on his way to a record-equalling nine consecutive race wins.
2013 F1 season review
- F1 Fanatic’s new year thanks and credits 2014
- The complete F1 Fanatic 2013 season review
- The drivers, teams and cars of 2013
- 2013 F1 season in stats: The year in context
- Essential reading: F1 Fanatic’s highlights of 2013
Browse all 2013 F1 season review articles
OmarR-Pepper (@)
20th December 2013, 12:53
Never lift!!!
mateuss (@mateuss)
20th December 2013, 13:28
Interesting question: How many WDCs Redbull would have if Vettel would be stripped of his points (if FIA find he’s been doping on Schumi magic blood or whatever…)? NULL
Also interesting to compare the longest loosing streaks Vettel and Webber (since their first wins in Redbull). In order of longest first:
VET WEB
9 (2012) 30+(on going)
6 25
6 6
5 5
5 5
4 3
4 2
3 1
2
2
1 (x8)
Interesting to note, that Vettel’s loosing streak from his win in a TorroRosso to his first Redbull win is only 6 races long.
Average difference in positions between drivers this year was 3.13 which is a lot in historical terms for cars that are claimed to be dominant. I looked at some of the dominant Ferrari cars and the Fangio streak-of-9 and this difference is usually 1.2 or around 1 (0.92 in 2002 for example). Which is what you would expect if a car is dominant, that is, the second driver is slower, but the difference in car performance is mostly bigger than that of the small differences in driver performance. That is what I regard as a dominant car.
For me all the facts just go against all this “its a dominant car”, “its just the car”. Nobody can deny that at times the Bull is the fastest car, but not most of the time, and even then not enough to be called dominant. I think what we are seeing, the dominance of Vettel, is much more impressive than Scumacher, or Fangio era, the fact that he has been able to win 4 WDCs on the trot in this day and age of extreme competition (as shown by all the stats, whatever way you look at it). Truly impressive.
It would be interesting to see more statistical comparisons of team/driver domination’s. The stats and facts article is always my favorite one of the race weekend, I would really love to see such article in the off-season. Rather than all this winter gossip and “silly news”.
vjm
20th December 2013, 13:54
Let’s suppose David hadn’t ended his career and kept RedBull seat until now. I think they still would have won at least one driver title(2010) and two WCC(2011,2013).
Max Jacobson (@vettel1)
20th December 2013, 21:55
That’s incredible to think about actually: if Vettel hadn’t joined Red Bull they might well have had no WDC’s and two less WCC.
Jono (@me262)
22nd December 2013, 5:45
I think that is a bold statement. We will never know how well red bull could have designed a car solely to suit Webber
Mackeine Loveine (@cocaine-mackeine)
20th December 2013, 17:41
Wow, It looked like yesterday when I saw Sebastian Vettel win the title in Abu Dhabi. He won the championship without being the expected one, without being the favorite of the fans, winning from nowhere. That’s having good luck and faith.
Incredible photos, also liked the one in which Vettel crashed in Suzuka, meaning that also the great champions have bad moments in their careers.
periwinkle (@shena)
21st December 2013, 5:02
Speaking of which, from what Vettel and Horner said later on, even in 2009 Brazil grand prix Vettel really believed there was a good chance of snatching the title from Button’s hands. For us outsiders it was sort of a foregone conclusion for months but not for the kid and that attitude certainly impressed Horner. It explains why Vettel was completely devastated after the race, thinking he might have just missed once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We all thought he was still so young his time would come, which turned out to be true, but as he said no amount of such words would deliver him a title. So we can only imagine how he coped with the huge setback in Korea a year later and how he felt about ‘not being the favorite’ in the last race. (To a lesser degree I see why Marko emphasizes never-give-up attitude.) IIRC just before the race he jokingly thanked Will Buxton for being the only TV person who asked about his own chance rather than about if he would help his teammate.
And yes, time flies and it sucks! :-p
Mackeine Loveine (@cocaine-mackeine)
21st December 2013, 19:45
Incredible stuff! You changed my vision of Vettel with that photo, didn’t knew he was so sad after Button’s championship.
But also what is inspiring in all this is that Vettel never gave up, he was devastated at Brazil ’09, and in Korea ’10 he felt he ‘missed’ something that could be an explendid and maybe, championship in the upcoming round Brazil. Also in 2012. He started with a car that was slower than the top teams, but could beat the midfield ones. He was consistent and scored points, and when the chance came, he won 4 consecutive races, enough for the championship (also don’t forget his historic Abu Dhabi podium in a race he started from the pitlane, his not-so-good second place in Austin and the dramatic Brazilian finale).
Vettel it’s a very good example, not only of a racing driver, but a person, that never gave up that dream that now it’s enjoying. That’s what some people don’t see. The booing he received, apart from being immature and irresponsable, was sad and nonsense to Vettel. But guess what? Vettel doesn’t have time to spend thinking of people that never reched his dreams and hate him, he must make his dream strong and more, more enjoyable.
Wesley (@)
20th December 2013, 22:15
I started watching F1 around the time Vettel was BMW’s test driver.I remember this teenager coming out on practice days and going faster than everyone else almost every practice session….in a car that won only one race in its entire F1 run.Now he is a 4 time WDC.Doesn’t surprise me at all.
Thanks for the pics Keith!