A Record Breaking Year Formula 1

Is a sport of high numbers, high speed in the hundreds of miles an

hour. Resolutions per minute by the many thousand, salaries by the

millions paid or unpaid. In this sport of high numbers, temperatures

soar, too. And on the scorched land, the tropical storm falls at

day's end. Mercury rising. And in its red zone, rubber melts. In the

furnace, tempers flare, even among team-mates. But in the delirium of

heat, in the midst of all the falling out, every connection made.

Calling in on old friends. Dropping if you're passing by. High numbers,

high temperatures, but this was the season of the smallest unit. The

slimmest of single digits and the coolest head. The number is in the

title. In Formula one, the number one is the one.

I think you should behave. For someone who is deaf, you hear a lot.

I am very keen not to listen to you! Very compelling.

So fellows, cast your mind back to January. What were your expectations

going into this season? When you consider we came off the back of

three dominant years from Red Bull, but Sharon had the fastest car last

year. And they came with a very different car. And we were thinking,

maybe this is it. Maybe this is the big step that will make them world

champions. There is a nice feeling with the

car. Towards the end of the day we did our quickest lap with a tyre

that would not normally work on cold temperatures. That was incredible

doing on hard tyres for the first day. It was a good lap time. The

first day, Jansen was quickest. Then we started to find out all sorts of

things about the car. Basically it was upside down,

certain bits of the rear suspension. Yet, it was different.

But obviously you could never race like that. The problem was, we did

not get a good understanding of how good the car was because we kept

having issues with the car. So we did not really find out until we did

the third test and saw the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull. We were two

seconds off the pace. A few months ago we had the fastest

car. We finished last year so strongly. There is a lot of opinion.

Should we go back to last your's car? We didn't. If that was the

right or wrong decision, I don't know. We were expecting something

like a second and a half, two seconds. From that point on which we

realised how difficult it was going to be.

So the first race really showed the true colours of McLaren. But in

finished in 10th. When you focus on electronics, marketing, road cars,

catering companies, if you are in management structure and you are

having to give 100% to any of those businesses, of course you can. You

have to delegate. I just wonder whether the McLaren machine in its

quest for a share price, has become too big and not focused enough. The

road car project is a big distraction. You have to ask

yourself, do I want to be a world championship winning constructor? Or

do I want to build the best road cars in the world? That is the

simple question. We are ready to go racing in 2013.

Lights down! Clearly you could see that he has

not lost any speed over the winter. Good to see him back. McLaren looks

low in a straight line. He is making this a two stop race. We are not

supercompetitive. But we have good tyre wear and good tyre drag.

Kimi Raikkonen wins the Australian Grand Prix!

It is a World Championship team. That is where Fernando Alonso won

his two world titles. Melbourne was a wake-up call for a number of

teams. What a strong team and a quality team they work. A perfect

start for Kimi Raikkonen and then we went to

Alonso doesn't charge too much. Looks like Alonso has got damage to

the front wing of his car. Broken front wing. You can see its parking.

He will have two come in. He is trying to see if he can stay to the

window. We had the front wing hanging off

the car but the team did not tell him. Are you telling me that he

can't feel the front wing hanging off the car? For goodness me, who

was going to take responsibility? The driver has to realise there is

something wrong with the car. He has got no steering! That could

have been very frightening indeed. That was a risk that the team and he

took and it has not paid off. Maybe that shows us a little bit

about the personality of Fernando. He is so focused and so intent, he

believes he can drive around the problem.

Mercedes have time to dwell. He went in the wrong paid! Hamilton went

into the wrong paid! Was go to happen at one stage. Still today,

even in the last race, I nearly pulled into McLaren. Next year it

should not be a problem because the pit director will be closer.

There is Lewis Hamilton running in third place. Nico Rosberg is fourth.

Hamilton trying to get past Rosberg again.

Sometimes I just wish I could've let him pass because it would got rid of

all that. It is never a decision I like

making. Both were in difficulties with fuel consumption. That was a

strong factor in the decision. Nico, please drop back, leave a gap.

There is a massive gap behind. There is nothing to gain in front. I want

to bring these cars home. It was frustrating, yes. It is not

playing second fiddle. It was just not having the right to overtake.

I was very pleased that the drivers supported the decisions that were

made. Even though they may not have necessarily agreed with them.

This took the Spike out of hours. Mark Webber should be ahead. It will

be relatively close. Vettel side-by-side with Mark Webber as

they come around the first corner. Vettel will get a better exit out of

the corner. Mark Webber will have to go defensive. Webber hold his

ground. -- holds. The message was an instruction that

car number two was meant to finish in front of car number one. For

whatever reason, Sebastian did not feel that was the finishing order he

was going to accept. Vettel coming back at Mark Webber!

The team-mates side-by-side. There was more said over the radio

then was broadcast? Absolutely. He was only giving me problems sectors.

I didn't obey the team order. It wasn't the right thing to do from my

point of view. Webber is on the outside, they

touch! Webber is back down the inside. What racing this is.

It actually produced some spectacular wheel to wheel racing.

It was just extremely uncomfortable to witness.

Still side-by-side, look at this! He has gone round him! Sebastian Vettel

takes the lead! He was told. He was told.

Good job, Sebastian, good job. Thank you, Nico. Excellent drive. Well

done. I just feel I was a massive team

player that day. If I had had a bit more about myself, it could have

gone another way. Multi-21.

After his last stop, the team told me the race was over. We turn the

entrance down and go to the end. In the end said made his own decision

today. That's the way it goes. Sebastian, the team had asked you to

hold position in second, is that right? That is correct. I did not

mean to ignore the call. Otherwise, why would it take some at risk to

passing? I messed up. I would love to come up with a very nice excuse

or a very nice story right now but I cant.

Are you happy that you have won? No. I am not. I did a mistake. If I

could undo it, I would. It is a very serious breach of a team order. And

for me, it was a sack offence. I thought it was just appalling. You

cannot sack the guy who has won three world Championships. You're

talking crazy. You have to realise who is running the team. You

confident you will be allowed to challenge to win a World

championship at Red Bull? Yes, this was something that was in my mind in

the last part of the Grand Prix. As It is three weeks until the next

race, thankfully, we will see what happens.

Where you genuinely surprised, the way he dealt with Malaysia? No. I

think his initial reaction was not too far from the money. But two

weeks later... Had I understood the message, I would have thought about

it and done the same thing, because Mark does not deserve that. He had

obviously reflected long and hard and he came to me in China very

upset that he had not been able to get it off his chest and I

encouraged him to sit down with Mark, just the two of you, and have

it out. So I put the two of them in my office, and Sebastien came out

and said, I feel much better. Mark came out and said, I am going to

thump him, where is he? So it obviously didn't address the issue.

China, we had a chat and the chatter didn't go that well. So that was

probably the lowest point in the relationship. I wouldn't visit tries

to give his decision to retire was made very soon after that --be

surprised if his decision. The bottom line is I was racing, I

passed him, I was faster, I was one. Fernando Alonso wins in China for

Ferrari. What is going to happen in the battle for third place? He is

still in front of Sebastien Vettel. Raikkonen is third. Sebastien Vettel

is for. -- in fourth. So a few races in an

Formula one is headline news as we head into Bahrain.

The Bahrain Grand Prix is embroiled in fresh controversy. Despite

clashes between police and protesters... Condemned by many as a

propaganda tool for the Kingdom's rulers. They say it should not be

staged because of the poor record on human rights.

They keep asking people about human rights, I don't know what they are.

We will trust in the FIA and that they will make the right decision

and here we are raising in Bahrain. He looked a little bit in awe of

being a race for a big team. It wasn't the exuberance we wanted to

see, so we'll encouraged him to do just that.

DAVID COULTHARD: A battle between the two McLarens. Perez saying, I

have had a quiet start, but I wonder some of this.

The guy you have to work with, especially to develop a car, it is

not working and anyone who you did not need to upset at that time was

Jenson Button. Perez not far behind. Look at Button. That could have been

frightening! It looks like I was racing in GP two, and it was a long

time since I had raced in a junior formula. We are all led to prove it,

we all have a team made, and you raise hard, there are no jerky

movements. We understand the nature of the sport -- and we race hard.

Button is going down the outside. Don't hit each other! They both went

too far, they physically made contact a couple of times, that was

too far. Do they need to be fighting this hard? I guess they are racing

for position and it is very but it is putting them both in a bit of

danger. Contact! Perez runs into the back

Button. Golden rule, do not hit your team-mate.

Did he overstepped the mark? He did, he not only went wheel-to-wheel with

his team-mate and upset him, he had upset Hamilton the race before, he

had upset Alonso. Those guys do not complain to the sake of it, they say

something when they feel some young pup is not respecting the

wheel-to-wheel action. The impression I get there is that Perez

was out of his depth and should not have been doing what he was doing

and had no right to be there and I cannot accept that. Perez is his own

man and has to establish his own career. Here is Perez again.

Can they get there safely? Perez and Button?

It is part of the fight for me. You don't care about banging wheels with

your team-mate? It was too much, definitely. The team principals had

to say it was a step too far, because how they did not have one or

both cars out in that race, it was remarkable luck. Sebastien Vettel

wins in Bahrain, the first repeat winner of 2013.

Yes! It was special and always when I am

in Spain, I feel a lot of emotion, a lot of support from the people. And

in that moment, I had the opportunity to give a high five to

some who were in the stand. Remarkably, over 30 years have

passed since a dry Spanish Grand Prix was one from anywhere other

than the front row. Fernando Alonso is only fifth on the grid, the

Mercedes are upfront. Will they stay there?

Light out, away we go, Ross Berg and Hamilton. Close to the outside of

Hamilton -- Rosberg. Alonso trying to get fourth place. On the outside

goes Alonso. He is trying to get Hamilton as well. That is amazing

from Fernando Alonso, he is into third position. This season has been

dominated by poor qualifying and good laps to recover on the

Saturdays, that was one of the best first laps.

DAVID COULTHARD: The thing that really sets him apart from your

average racing driver is it is a long run from the start line to the

first corner. You have all of your KERS and traditionally use that. He

didn't. He watched the Grand Prix two races and saw that some people

were overtaking, he hit the boost Button around the outside.

Brilliant stuff from Fernando Alonso. Both of the leaders are into

the pits. Alonso is on the outside. The Ferrari is going to split the

pair of them. He has gained a place from Vettel. Alonso is on the

attack, the Spaniard going for the lead in the Spanish Grand Prix and

he is ahead! Fernando Alonso gets past the Mercedes. Fernando Alonso

wins the Spanish Grand Prix, his home event.

I remember the lap after the race, after the chequered flag, when I

held the flag, and it was a special weekend and obviously the highest

point of this year for me. A quick word on Fernando's performance,

Stefan? Outstanding, outstanding. At that stage of the season, we were

talking a lot about the tyres and if you look at what happened in

qualifying, Mercedes on the front row, locked out, and they finished

in sixth and 12th. That is not supposed to happen. That was a tough

period, because the emotional highs that come from pole positions and

then when I do get a pole, there is always the hope and believe that I

can make it happen also in the race. And to get eaten up like that

in the race and just dropping off the cliff more less, that was quite

tough, really and not nice. The whole tyre issue is confusing the

public and not good for Formula one. We get so accustomed to watching man

and machine in perfect harmony on a qualifying lap that it is confusing

when suddenly you see these cars go from pole position and backing into

cars that can make their tyres fast. We were shell-shocked after that, it

was so bad. That race in particular caused us to do some soul searching

on what we had to do to try and improve the tyre situation. The most

famous venue on the F1 calendar, Monaco, many stories of success and

heartbreak. Lewis Hamilton, he goes fastest in

the Mercedes. Is that going to be enough? Nico Rosberg has gone even

faster. It is pole position once again for Nico Rosberg. His

hat-trick of pole positions. Side into the first corner, Rosberg

gets ahead, Hamilton for second place.

SUZI PERRY: It was carb carbon tax take, there was stuff all over the

place. This looks like a Sunday drive!

TEAM RADIO: You are starting to crack the pace up. Sounds very

controlled at the moment, doesn't it? It sounds wrong, they should be

gunning it every lap. When you win, there will always be criticisms. You

have to listen to them, respect them and move on and do your own thing. I

always underestimated at Monaco the ability Nico is to create space and

the gap when he needs it. -- as to create. Nico Rosberg wins in Monaco,

he has repeated the performance of his father here 30 years ago. : !

TEAM RADIO: Very well done, Nico. Winning the race is about winning it

in the slowest possible time, that is what they did. And then all kinds

of controversy break-out when it is discovered there has been a tyre

Test and it has been done by Mercedes and he rarely, but with

Mercedes drivers. And their car, the current car. It was so blatant, it

was ridiculous. It is a bit weird of the regulations don't allow you to

Test and one team is doing testing. What is the solution? Is everybody

have a go for three days? I don't think they want to do that today

because of last week, but surely it helps. Whence it came out, I am

surprised Mercedes did not pay a bigger penalty and in my opinion,

they got away scot-free in the FIA appeal afterwards.

Sebastien Vettel comes out of the final chicane in Canada. He has

taken victory for Red Bull. In Canada, a very convincing win for

Sebastien Vettel. I can't help but feel it was marred by a very sad

occasion. Mark Robinson, we underestimate the value of marshals.

He sadly lost his life when he was run over by a truck at the circuit,

and my thoughts were obviously with him at that time. And onto one of

the gems of the calendar, Silverstone, and David, you did

everything you could to get Lewis Hamilton flying.

We have liftoff. A bit of a moment there. Woo hoo! Holy crap! I have

never heard you so excited. COMMENTATOR: Hamilton is going

faster than everybody else. It is good to see you smiling right now.

COMMENTATOR: He has done it, Lewis Hamilton, look at the lap time. Pole

position. TEAM RADIO: Storming job, Lewis.

COMMENTATOR: Lights out and away we go and a great start by Lewis

Hamilton, the perfect getaway. The pole position I had and the pace I

had, it was just controlling it from then on. I was pulling away from the

Red Bull and it is very rare to see that. Hamilton is out of the charge

for winning this race. The crowd watching cannot believe it. I think

at the end of the day, it was still a good race. In actual fact, I like

those races more than leading, when you overtake and come through. That

is what I was always good at when I was doing go-karting and that is how

I made my name. They send him on his way once again. He has gone off.

What is the cause of that? It is a puncture. The tyre has gone, right

in front of Raikkonen, Sebastien grows on.

TEAM RADIO: People have been having punches. Watch out for the corners.

We do not accept is -- expect to see this informally one racing. Hamilton

goes for it. It is a problem with the gears. He is in trouble and

Rosberg takes the lead in the British Grand Prix.

TEAM RADIO: It is the gearbox. Alonso has got more grip. And look

at Hamilton, he is going to take advantage. The tyre has gone, Perez.

Hamilton down the inside of Adrian Sutil. Hamilton takes fourth place.

This is a tremendous drive. Red Bull wins the British Grand Prix! An

excellent job. Well done, mate. Crazy stuff. Crazy stuff. I was

doing a lot of things to avoid curbs and drive slowly. I was really

trying to adapt and make the most. -- missed most of it. The things I

have two separate the tyres I had to keep them. I was not happy. Is

unacceptable. It is unacceptable that until somebody gets hurt,

somebody is going to do something about it. The bigger thing is

safety. If somebody gets hit on the head by a attire, that could be game

over. Pirelli had to provide new tyres in

under a week? You know, Formula one has a habit of being able to react

super quick. And that is exactly what they did. It is something we

talked about from the first race. It is only when they went back to the

previous year's compounds that things became more sensible. Still

marginal but more sensible. Kimi Raikkonen is moving up through

the field here. Vettel is in. So is the race leader. Reich and in. So is

the race leader. I can and has stayed out. -- Reich and on. -- Kimi

Raikkonen. Kimi was incredibly quick. Kimi Raikkonen has come in.

Why they did the last pit stop at the end, I still to this date do not

know why. I think he would have got to the end. There is a real chance

here now. Kimi Raikkonen goes past his

team-mate. Sebastian Vettel has driven a brilliant race here! Can

Kimi Raikkonen do anything? Up to the last corner. I don't think it is

likely. That was one of his best races of

the year because he defended superbly to win one of the most

demanding races of his career. Sebastian Vettel wins in Germany,

the first time he has won his home Grand Prix!

That was a tough one. To win the German Grand Prix for the

first time, I was trying very hard. I simply enjoyed the lap. I tried to

take everything in. There was great emotion when I crossed the line and

great relief. They give me a run for their money.

I feel like this is my home now. This is my team. I feel over the

year they have embraced me. Was a difficult senior team-mate winning

races? I would not say it was easy. You want to be ahead of the time. He

had been here for three years. He did not have to change anything.

When I was at McLaren, they brought Jenson in. To make Jenson feel

comfortable, they shuffled around my engineers. They gave Jenson some of

my engineers and gave me new people. Here, we didn't have that. Nico kept

his engineers. They are learning about me. For us to do as well as we

have done in our first year, has been great.

Away we go! Lewis Hamilton gets brilliantly. Hamilton is flying.

Here is Hamilton coming now. The pass on bottom. Hamilton stays in

front of Vettel. Vettel has to talking behind button. -- Jenson

Button. This is having a huge effect on the outcome of Vettel's race.

Vettel is having a go. Finally come on passed Jenson Button! It could

have been a different result. Hamilton wins in Hungary and takes

his first win with Mercedes! Well done to Hamilton, who dominated

proceedings here today. So Lewis Hamilton made that move to

Mercedes. What you make of it? Very positive. I think Lewis Hamilton is

an inspired decision. He has created a very good pitch for himself to be

able to mount a real charge on the championship in years to come.

After Hungary, I definitely thought there might be the smallest window

that we could actually close the gap. But then one megabyte after the

break, they had taken huge step. Lights out, where we go. Lewis

Hamilton makes a very good getaway. Sebastian Vettel slots behind.

Vettel has taken the lead! He has gone past Hamilton! It is like

flying a propeller plane against a jet plane. That is what it is like.

They have so much downforce. The car was absolutely fantastic.

For sure, we made a few little tweaks to the car but nothing major.

I think Sebastian just selected another gear. From that point on

what he was an unbelievable form. -- onwards. Sebastian Vettel wins the

Italian Grand Prix! Whatever he had to eat during his

summer break, or whatever he did, he came back a different person. He was

supreme. He never really looked back at all.

Rosberg takes the lead but that'll get it back! Look at how he is

opening the lead up already. What we saw there was a man and

machine in perfect harmony. Yes, I'm loving it.

Sebastian, he is looking pretty good. It is always this man who

seems to be chasing you up on the podium.

He is a young man like anybody. When you walk out onto the podium and you

have driven your heart out and you hear people deriding it, it is tough

for anybody to take. Do you think the incident in

Malaysia was the catalyst for the building? For sure. 100%. He had

been the villain. He had taken a win away from Mark Webber. That,

together with being a serial winner...

Sebastian Vettel wins in Korea again.

We should admire him not be jealous of him.

He knew he would be able to turn it around.

You are going against factual evidence if you think he is not

worthy of being a champion and that team has not done a fantastic job.

Sebastian Vettel is the 2013 world champion!

When he expressed his emotion, everything changed. Everything

turned around. The reaction he got in India was something I had never

seen before. Yes! Yes!

Here in India he is surely a superhero. You have done it in

style. Fantastic. You are a three-time world champion. You had

joined the greats. Unbelievable what he has achieved.

He is part of such a select group. This is the incomparable Fangio, one

of the greatest drivers the world has known.

For all of the kids, for all of us, he looked -- reluctant to him

because he was our hero. -- we looked up to him. No kids will be

looking up to you? That is weird. I am still a kid. At least I feel like

it! I believe he is in the realm of

greatness. He is up there among the greats of Formula one.

When Red Bull dominate one year, it is OK. They have great aerodynamics

and a great team. When is this happening constantly, every year,

all the other teams are getting a little bit worse. You are still in

love with the idea of winning a title with Ferrari but perhaps not

in love with Ferrari. Are you getting frustrated with

Ferrari? We understand your manager has been speaking to Red Bull. You

looking to leave? No. I am concentrating on the championship.

Let's be very clear. He is disenchanted. Has your manager been

to speak to Red Bull? No. Not that I know. The way he spoke on the team

radio, there is not a person who believes that was genuine.

What confirms that is the fact that the president of Ferrari came out

afterwards and very publicly slapped back into place and said that nobody

was bigger than the team. I believe he will win a title with Ferrari.

Whether he will end up winning as many titles as Sebastian Vettel, who

knows? Kimi Raikkonen has signed for

Ferrari. He is lining up Fernando Alonso for

the pass! Abu Dhabi and the last time we saw

Kimi Raikkonen. It was like he did not want to be there. We were not

privy to the financial situation at that moment. We were saying, why is

this happening? Why would he leave Lotus? Why would he go there? The

reality was he was not paid. He did his job as nicely as I would've

dreamt. He did it on to later in the season. You cannot not pay your

staff. That had a huge effect on his

performance. Sebastian Vettel takes his 11th win

of the season. Brilliant, brilliant job.

Well done. So we hop across the pond to Austin,

Texas and everyone gets a bit of a surprise, mostly Sergio Perez, that

he is out at the end of the season. It certainly caught me. Well done

McLaren, because they certainly got me over the previous year with

Hamilton. I thought he had done enough to keep his seat. He has done

a good job but you have to look forward. In simple terms, last year

Jenson was outqualified by his team-mate on average by .3 of a

second. So Jenson is a fantastic member of this team. But if you are

aspiring to be a champion in the future, you have to go out and beat

Jenson. When I joined McLaren, the car was

extremely difficult. Every Friday until a couple of races ago, we were

always changing everything. Every Friday was a learning experience. it

is a cut-throat business and you have got to come in and do a great

job. If you do, you have got a great career in front of you. If you

don't, you read. DAVID COULTHARD: -- you read. Perez

did not deliver and if you have a bad season, they dropped the driver.

They have done it time and again. It is part and parcel of how you act.

The engineers had a vote and they knew Magnusson, with a vote and they

knew Magnusson, who they more potential and would be more exciting

than Perez. Vettel with a slightly better start.

Webber lost out big-time. It is the best we have been doing so far. Mark

Webber was so quick behind me, always chasing me. Webber making the

lunch? No, he has a think, unsettling Alonso. The Red Bull car

did not make any mistakes at all. A few races ago, we probably would not

have held him up, but as we get better and better, he just couldn't.

Sebastien Vettel to take his first-ever win in the USA and Romain

Grosjean gets his best ever result in second. There was some praise

from other drivers after this race, including Mark. Unfortunately, he's

getting quite experienced, and he is learning some tricks. I would like

to start with the hat. I am not very good with the lasses yet, but I'll

come back next year and we will catch a ball -- lasso.

It has been a whole 180. In Monaco, he crashed the car 4 times over the

weekend, it is fair to say both of you thought he was aired. I think I

was then sink faster than the music. It was frustrating trying to deliver

where Kimi Raikkonen was. I was trying to go to click. If I was to

go back there today, it would be different. No 1 is doubting his

speed, he has won pretty much every championship he has raced in, except

in Formula One, but the 1 thing he has not got is consistency. But he

has started to deliver that as he has matured. The second half of the

season for Paul di Resta was not good, he got most of his points up

in Silverstone and it was the 5th time in a row he had not finished

the race. Another retirement for Paul di Resta. It was a difficult

period to go through. We had 1 race where -- one race where we hit

Maldonado, then I made a mistake, and we experienced something we had

never experienced before. Unfortunately I went off in what was

going to be a sixth position, which, if you look at my points tally, was

going to be crucial. A driver wants to have a strong end to his season,

because teams are looking at their options and you want to say you are

there performing. At I think he suffered badly because of the tyre

change. That car was not anywhere as close as good as it was at the

beginning of the season. Leading Brazil, there will be a lot of

emotion in this, I have put a lot into Formula One and it has taken a

lot to get there. Last day at the office in Formula One. I have got to

try and are is like another race. Definitely different emotions this

morning. -- treated like another race. It is the last time I will do

this as an F1 driver, but that is good, that is what I want. It is not

a sad moment, it is a proud moment. It is just emotions that you have to

accept. You have got to be able to let go. Speak your mark, good luck.

Thank you. You know it is time to stop but you

cannot accept it is. What is the point of continuing at that level if

you cannot do it? Your final day in school, had you think? Very good,

ready to go and we will see how we go. Is it possible to win? Of

course. For sure we are going to miss him, he has been a massive part

of this team for 7 years. He could have gone on in Formula One for

another couple of years. Unfortunately, he fell out of love

with the sport. He is a tough competitor, he is a grisly,

bad-tempered competitors sometimes. And he pushed.

Rosberg lives, Vettel into second, then it is Hamilton. -- leads. Here

comes Vettel, he is on the charge. No DRS on the opening lap but Vettel

doesn't care, he blasts past Nico Rosberg. Webber has a bit of a

chance. Hamilton goes wide. He gives in just enough space. I'm not sure

he can do it. He has done it, he is into fourth. No sign of a lack of

commitment from Mark Webber on his final Grand Prix. Webber trying to

take third place. I think he has done it. Alonso and Webber, on a

decent run. He takes the place of the Ferrari and Webber goes up into

second position. Sebastien Vettel wins in Brazil, and he equals one of

the oldest records in Formula One, nine consecutive Grand Prix wins,

and he is the only driver to have done that in one season. Mark Webber

finishes in second place in his final Grand Prix. What a way to bow

out of Formula One. Fantastic career, it has been brilliant

working with you. You can be proud of everything you have done, we

certainly are. Well done. Obviously, Sebastien and I have had

our challenges over time, but it was easier to have a relationship with

Fernando because he wasn't on the same team. Finishing on the podium

with those guys, with them being the best of their generation, showed me

I can still drive well at the end of my career. We didn't have the best

relationship, but I can certainly say that I learned a lot from him. I

learned to become a better driver because of his skills, which he has,

which is why I consider him as one of the drivers we have with the most

talent on the grid. They are both cut from the same cloth. They are

both aggressive, competitive, fast, hungry drivers. That is why they

have had the success they have had. And it has been uncomfortable and

lumpy at times, but it has worked. We have had almost 20 1-2 finishes

between us. It has worked. It is hugely important in life, in

any respect, and it is a great model to have, and that is make sure you

give it up and not that it gives you up. Market gave up Formula One, not

the other way around. He will always feel superior because of that.

I think Mark has had a great, long career and was just unlucky to come

up against a phenomenon, the guy who might rewrite history books. The

best driver I raced against in F1? It is probably between Sebastien and

Fernando. Fernando is a handful. No question about that. Over one lap, I

think he is not with Vettel, but on Sundays, between those two, it is

very, very tight. Only time will tell us, I think. When he will have

a car like the others, if he wins, he will have great recognition and

he will be one of the legends in Formula One. When, one day, he has a

car like the others and he is fourth, fifth, seventh, these four

titles will be bad news for him, because people will take these four

titles in a worse manner than they are doing now, so there are

interesting times for Sebastien to come. For sure, there will always be

some people thinking you have to do this, you have to do that. I don't

know, I think you can think about this a lot but at the end of the

day, we don't have to prove anything. I think we have proven

enough. Is Sebastien no one of the all-time

greats? He has to be. A 26 years of age, he has won four World

Championships. There are only three other drivers in the history of the

sport, over 60 years, that have achieved that. He has gone up

against some fantastic drivers in Fernando, Lewis, Mark Webber, Jenson

Button, Kimi Raikkonen. It is a fantastic read he is up against and

he has delivered, time and time again -- a fantastic grid. It is

easy to say he has the best car, but we run two cars. One of them won 13

races. And the other driver is no idiot, he is a very fast driver Mark

Webber, easy to underestimate how good he is. Sebastien this year has

again come of age, and I think what we have witnessed this year is

something very, very special. I think it was incredible.

EDDIE JORDAN: And how hard it is to win a Grand Prix, to win nine

consecutive league is just phenomenal, and it defies logic in

many respects -- consecutively. So a superhuman effort from Sebastien, I

think he would say it is his best season. He gets very emotional, we

are hearing him have a love affair with his team on the radio.

TEAM RADIO: We have to remember these days, we have to remember

these days. There is no guarantee they will last for ever. I love you

guys, I am so proud of you. I love you.

DAVID COULTHARD: The doubters will see that as annoying, but if you

step back for a moment and try and imagine yourself in that position,

you find yourself in a great car, you find yourself breaking records

that the sport, in all of its history, has never seen the like of

before, why would you not have those outcries of emotion and why would

you not want to say to people, this is incredible, enjoy this moment?

TEAM RADIO: Nobody has ever done what you have done. So that is it

for 2013. I shall be seeing you guys again in Australia, mid-March, but

of course, it is the last time that we have heard the sound of that

special V8. Built with incredible precision, it

has eight cylinders, the ultimate in speed and engineering. This engine

has been fantastically successful ENGINE ROARS.

The engine is very much the heart of the racing car.

ENGINE ROARS. OK, Max, let's go get them. What the

hell? TEAM RADIO: We will fight if he

wants to fight. Watch out for the exit curves. Wow.

That is absolutely appalling. What an idiot. He was told. What the hell

are you doing? Get out of the way. Don't shout. I

feel like I have been in a washing machine. What is wrong with this

car? Sergio, please drop back, leave a gap.

Brilliant job, Lewis. I can't believe it.

You have done it in style. You are a four-time world champion. Yes, yes!

I love you guys. I love you. Thank you.