Red Bull's Christian Horner says Sebastian Vettel 'has driven better than ever' this year, with the German claiming a third world title in Brazil on Sunday. In stark contrast to his dominant campaign of 2011, Vettel had to find a way back into contention after Alonso's early surge atop the standings, leaving his team boss overjoyed.
In addition to a season-long fight, Vettel recovered from a first lap spin at Interlagos. The 25-year-old was tapped around at the fourth corner by Williams driver Bruno Senna, but impressively climbed up the order to claim sixth at the chequered flag.
"An unbelievable end to what has been a really incredible season," said Horner. "We always knew this championship was going to go right down to the wire and I don’t think anybody could have expected the kind of race we got today.
"But, to have achieved a triple double World Championship is quite phenomenal. Sebastian has driven better than ever this season and has fought his way back into this Championship; he’s never given up and you saw that in today’s race.
"After being knocked out of position and going to the back of the field with a load of damage, he fought his way back into the race, he never gave up and it was a race of maximum stress today with rain and no rain, then incidents, spins, you name it, it happened – safety cars, radios that didn’t work – but you have to reflect on the season as a whole."
With Alonso missing out on the title in the final race for a second time in three seasons, Horner took the time to pay tribute to an 'incredible' rival.
"Over 20 races the team has done an unbelievable job and Sebastian truly deserves this World Championship," he began to sum up. "Having gone up against an incredible opponent in Fernando Alonso, and we have to pay tribute to him and the way he’s driven this year, it has made this Championship even more appreciated because of the level of competition we’ve had to compete against."
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  J. Button | McLaren | 1:45:22.656 |
| 2. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +2.754 |
| 3. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +3.615 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +4.936 |
| 5. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +5.708 |
| 6. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | +9.453 |
| 7. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | +11.907 |
| 8. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +28.653 |
| 9. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | +31.250 |
| 10. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +1 Lap |
| Full results | |||
| Christian Horner | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Christian Horner photos | |||
| Sebastian Vettel | |||
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| More Sebastian Vettel photos | |||
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