Another race another Sebastian Vettel victory. But it was no stroll to the checkered flag in the 2013 Japanese Grand Prix for Formula One’s soon-to-be four-time World Champion.
Vettel, on a two-stop strategy, had to work extremely hard to overhaul Lotus’ Romain Grosjean as well as his own Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who was on a three-stop strategy, to secure his fourth trophy at Suzuka. In fighting back to win this race, Vettel became only the sixth F1 driver in history to win five consecutive races, following in the footsteps of Alberto Ascari, Michael Schumacher, Jack Brabham, Nigel Mansell and Jim Clark.
Mark Webber had a shot from pole but was held up behind a very quick Grosjean in his last stint, finally getting past on the penultimate lap to place 2nd. Grosjean led much of the race but could not take his maiden F1 victory and finished third. “Ichiban!” (the Japanese word for “first”) Vettel screamed as he crossed the line. “You’re the best team in the world, thanks a lot for bringing the car home, thanks boys. I love you.”
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner called Vettel’s five-race win streak “unimaginable.”
“Sebastian has won every race since the summer break which is an incredible achievement,” gushed Horner. “Still four races to go. Our target is to try to carry this momentum into the last four races. I don’t think any of us could have imagined that he would have had the run of success that he’s had. The way he’s driving at the moment is quite supreme.”
Vettel win streak ‘unimaginable’: Horner | AFP.
Not a bad race today, Vettel got it just right again but at least GRO and WEB made him work for it
— Adam Cooper (@adamcooperf1) October 13, 2013