Vettel struggles with three-title tag

Final Brazilian GP top 51. Jenson Button - McLaren 1:45:22.6562. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari +2.7543. Felipe Massa - Ferrari +3.6154. Mark Webber - Red Bull +4.9365. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India +5.708

Tuesday, November 27, 2012
Sebastian Vettel has won the Formula One world driversu2019 championship for the third year in a row. Net photo.

Final Brazilian GP top 51. Jenson Button - McLaren 1:45:22.6562. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari +2.7543. Felipe Massa - Ferrari +3.6154. Mark Webber - Red Bull +4.9365. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India +5.708Driver’s Championship standings top 51. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull 2812. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari 2783. Kimi Raikkonen - Lotus 2074. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren 1905. Jenson Button - McLaren 188SAO PAOLO – Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel said he was finding it difficult to come to terms with the fact that he had joined the ranks of three-time champions.The 25-year-old German was sixth at the Brazilian Grand Prix to become the ninth driver to win three titles.He is only the third after Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio and German Michael Schumacher to win three in a row."To win that third title here, where one of my greatest idols Ayrton Senna was from, is unreal,” Vettel said. "It’s very difficult to imagine I join him and other great names in winning three titles.”Vettel, who is a keen fan of F1 history, said he could not compare this championship with his previous two.In 2010, he made up a 15-point deficit on Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso at the final race, while in 2011 he dominated the season and won with four races to spare.This year, the Red Bull has always been a strong race car but the team struggled to make it work consistently in qualifying until a major upgrade at the Singapore Grand Prix at the end of September, from which he won four races in a row.Those results, and Alonso’s retirement from the Japanese Grand Prix, turned around a 39-point deficit to the Spaniard into a lead for Vettel by the Korean race in mid-October.