Red Bull celebrates a 'double double'
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Shanghai Daily, October 17, 2011
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Race winner Sebastian Vettel (2nd left) of Germany celebrates with his team Principal Christian Horner (2nd right), second placed Lewis Hamilton (left) of Great Britain and third placed Mark Webber (right) of Australia following the Korean Formula One Grand Prix at the Korea International Circuit on October 16, 2011 in Yeongam-gun, South Korea. |
Red Bull celebrated a new Formula One high yesterday at the South Korean circuit that had marked the lowest point of its season a year ago.
"That made up for last year, didn't it?," said a beaming team principal Christian Horner, wearing a black and gold T-shirt celebrating his team's second successive constructors' title.
Red Bull, dismissed by some as a party team when the Austrian-based energy drink manufacturer first entered the sport, has now pulled off a 'double double' - sweeping both the drivers' and constructors' titles two years in a row.
Sebastian Vettel's 10th race win of the season, just a week after he became the sport's youngest ever double world champion at age 24, came in sharp contrast to last year's nightmare at Yeongam.
"That was the most depressing race of our entire season last year," said Horner.
Last year, Red Bull had arrived in Korea for the circuit's inaugural race with Australian Mark Webber and Vettel in a fierce five-way title battle.
Starting grid
After locking out the front row on the starting grid, it all went wrong in a rain-delayed race that ended in near-darkness after Webber had crashed out and Vettel suffered an engine failure while heading for victory.
That remains Red Bull's last double retirement and Vettel's last failure to score.
Only seven teams have won back-to-back constructors' championships in the history of Formula One and Red Bull has done it as a non-manufacturer owned entry.
Yesterday, Vettel, who started from second on the grid, passed pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton on the first lap and dominated the 55-lap race before crossing the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 38 minutes, 01.994 seconds, 12 seconds ahead of the McLaren driver.
Webber was third, followed by McLaren's Jenson Button and Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.
The race got off to a clean start with Vettel passing Hamilton on turn four of the first lap and opening up a 2.9-second lead over the McLaren driver after 10 laps.
Hamilton made his first pit stop after 16 laps and was followed in by Vettel. The safety car came out on the 17th lap after Renault driver Vitaly Petrov slammed into the back of Michael Schumacher's Mercedes, ending the race for both.
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