The most memorable win
Going into the final race of the 2010 season in Abu Dhabi, 4 drivers had the chance to be crowned world champion, including both Red Bull drivers, Mark (Webber) and Seb (Vettel) Championship
Standings - Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) - 1st Points: 246 pts Mark Webber (Red Bull) 2nd Points: 238 Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) 3rd Points: 231 points and Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) 4th Points: 222 points
The lead of the championship had changed hands a number of times during the season but Seb had not led up to this point. Were he to win the race and Fernando Alonso finish outside the Top 5, Seb could be crowned champion. In qualifying, Seb had secured pole position for the final race of the season. There were so many different permutations possible that it was one of the closest world championship finishes in the history of F1.
Throughout the weekend the atmosphere in the team was one of focused determination to get the job done. There was a quiet calm about the garage, slightly quieter than the usual banter there is amongst Red Bull.
As the race progressed, there was no way of forecasting how the results were going to end. It was a case of do your job, make sure everything that could be done for the team was done to the best of your ability and then sit back and wait to see how the race panned out.
Mark and Alonso both had problems with traffic after early tyre changes, which left Seb out front with Lewis Hamilton chasing him in second place. Tense minutes passed, with Seb continuing to look like the race winner.
Eventually he crossed the line to take the chequered flag and the win. But at this point we didn’t know who was then going to finish where and it was only when it was confirmed that Alonso had finished in 6th that it really began to sink in that Sebastien had become world champion.
The garage went crazy, but some of the guys were just sat there stunned, almost unable to move or show emotion as they were just shocked by the enormity of what we had just achieved. Seb was now the youngest ever F1 world champion I remember going round some of the guys checking they were okay as they were literally speechless.
It even affected Seb who said in the press conference "I'm a bit stressed to be honest, I don't know what I'm supposed to say," It didn’t take too long for the celebrations and party to start.
Paul Cheung, Chiropractor, Red Bull F1 Team
Memory added on May 13, 2012
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