In winning the drivers’ title at the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday with four races left, Sebastian Vettel has extinguished any doubts about just how good a driver he is. With nine victories and 12 pole positions this season, he is the youngest double world champion ever. He rose quickly, had such precociously good results in Formula One since he began racing in 2007, that there has not been enough time to consider how much was his ability and how much was his car.
One thing became certain this year, however, and that is his extraordinary maturity. It was only after the race in Suzuka that Vettel suddenly looked a little like the lost student at the front of the class. But the maturity in racing was certainly one of his strongest points.
He added that Vettel also has control of his emotions that allows him to avoid silly mistakes. But that was almost compromised at both the beginning and the end of Sunday’s race. He entered the race needing one point to win the title, or hope that his last rival, Jenson Button, of McLaren Mercedes, did not win another race. At the start Button attacked, and Vettel defended so harshly that he sent the British driver into the grass at the side of the track. As the race neared an end, with Button leading, Vettel attacked aggressively to try to take second position from Fernando Alonso in a Ferrari, occasionally looking like he might crash out.
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