Vettel claims first ‘Pirelli’ F1 world title in half a century

Despite Jenson Button’s victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, the British driver found himself sharing the limelight with rival Sebastian Vettel, whose third place finish landed him the first Formula One World Championship to be won on Pirelli tyres since 1957. Vettel started the race in pole position needing only one point to be crowned champion for the second time. The German Red Bull driver is now the youngest double world champion in Formula One history and the ninth driver to win two titles in a row.

“First and foremost I’d like to congratulate Sebastian Vettel on becoming the first world champion on Pirelli tyres on our return to Formula One,” said Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery. “He’s been on unstoppable form all year and it comes as no surprise to see him achieve his second world title here today. We’d also like to congratulate Jenson Button for a well-deserved victory against very tough competition. The drivers should take all the credit today for putting on a fantastic race but from our point of view we’re happy with the way that the tyres stood up to an extremely demanding circuit, with two to three pit stops as we expected and degradation within the usual limits.”

Pirelli says tyre wear was a crucial factor in Japan; due to the flowing nature of the track and high lateral loads, the top three drivers all needed to make three stops. Their first three stints were on the P Zero Yellow soft tyre, followed by a much longer stint on the P Zero White medium tyre to take advantage of the extra durability of the harder compound on a lighter fuel load. Button used the second round of pit stops to claim the lead after Vettel pitted on lap 19. Vettel was the first driver to switch to the medium tyres with a final stop on lap 33, running the harder compound for 20 laps to the finish. Four laps later Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso also pitted for the medium tyre, jumping Vettel to claim the runner-up spot. With five laps to go the top four were separated by less than six seconds, ensuring a spectacular finish to the grand prix as Alonso closed up to Button. The pair was separated by just 1.1 seconds at the finish, both on the medium tyre.

With his championship victory, Sebastian Vettel joins an exclusive club of drivers to have won Formula One World Championships on Pirelli tyres: Giuseppe Farina (1950), Alberto Ascari (1952, 1953) and Juan Manuel Fangio (1951, 1954 and 1957).