AUSTIN, Texas, (Reuters) – The Formula One title battle between Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso will go down to the wire in Brazil after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton won the U.S. Grand Prix today.
Championship leader Vettel finished second after starting his 100th career F1 race on pole position while Alonso remained in contention with third place and is now 13 points adrift of the German with one race left.
While Vettel was denied a third straight title, Red Bull were able to celebrate the constructors’ title – becoming only the fourth team in the 62 year history of the sport to take the championship three years in a row.
“It’s incredible, something that everyone throughout the team has worked incredibly hard for and to have achieved it is something…I’m speechless really,” said team principal Christian Horner.
Vettel need finish only fourth in the Sao Paulo finale to take the title but the weather at Interlagos can be fickle and the wily and consistent Alonso cannot be ruled out for what would also be his third title.
“The race unfortunately hinged on one backmarker who didn’t use his mirrors, that was the difference,” said Horner after Hamilton passed Vettel for the lead on lap 42 after the German had lost time behind Indian Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT.
“There was nothing between the two of them today. They were trading times all afternoon and it was that one backmarker that cost us.
“But congratulations to Lewis, he’s obviously had bad luck at other races and it was important to finish ahead of Fernando,” said Horner.
