Looking back, Brazil 2012 must be considered one of the greatest races in Formula One’s modern era. To start with there were two drivers who will be considered as two of the best F1 has ever seen both going for their third Drivers’ title.

Both had team-mates ready to act as their rear gunners, neither were on pole and the changeable conditions that you only find at Interlagos lead to an absolutely classic race. Ferrari wanted a wet race to help Fernando Alonso have the best possible chance of winning the title, and originally Red Bull wanted a dry, simple race for Sebastian Vettel so he could bring home his third title in a row. As it turns out the rain that got heavier towards the end of the race saved Red Bull Racing from defeat.

Lining up on a damp grid, Vettel in fourth and Alonso in eighth, the five red lights came on and as Martin Brundle stated ‘Look but never stare’ the race was underway. Vettel started rather well, but was soon squeezed out to the side by his team-mate, Mark Webber, of all people and dropped down to seventh place. Alonso on the other hand made one of his flying starts and was up into fifth position ahead of this title rival and his team-mate Felipe Massa made a super start to split the two McLarens up front. Conditions remained damp and down into turn four Vettel tried to make up a place by going down the inside of Bruno Senna and the result was contact and mayhem which almost threw the title out the window. The damage sustained was considerable and Vettel was in last position and had a lot of work to do, should his car be able to hold up. The message came from Rocky on the radio that there was front wing damage, meaning there was nothing the team could do to help and he had to make it work for the rest of the race.

While Sebastian Vettel was trying to catch the pack and make up places, Alonso, with the help of this team-mate, got past Mark Webber, up into the podium positions and into a championship-saving third. Lap eight of the race gave all concerned a surprise when Vettel managed to cross the line in an outstanding eighth place, bringing him closer to clawing back the championship. On lap 23 the rain was beginning to stop and the Red Bull was starting to struggle in the dry with all the damage. Alonso called for the safety car because of the debris on the track and unsurprisingly got it which helped him massively. At the front, the battle for the lead was a thrilling fight between Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton and the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg; unfortunately it ended in despair as the back markers got in the way, leading Hamilton and Hulkenberg to crash.

Around lap 50 the rain started to fall again, much to the relief of the Red Bull team, and Sebastian Vettel wanted to pit, however to add insult to injury his radio wasn’t working, so the team weren’t ready when he came in. Even when they were ready, the wrong tyres were brought out and put on, meaning he would have to pit once again.

Finally the pit stops were done successfully, and with a few laps to go Alonso was in second place, but crucially Vettel was in seventh with Schumacher in front and knowing that the young driver who aspired to be like him needed the place to become three-time world champion, he didn’t make it difficult.

The last lap saw lots of drama as Schumacher managed to finish in the points for his final ever F1 race, Vitaly Petrov took eleventh place from Caterham to ruin Marussia’s dream in the Constructors’ Championship and Paul Di Resta crashed into the wall down the start-finish straight. The safety car came out and despite all the obstacles at Sao Paulo for Red Bull Racing and Sebastian Vettel, he finished the race in sixth to become triple world champion.

The podium was an emotional affair as Massa took third in front of his beloved home crowd and there was a sea full of emotion off the podium as Vettel celebrated with his team and Michael Schumacher and it led to a famous image of Vettel riding his Red Bull car and Fernando Alonso looking on in utter despair.

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