Vettel shakes off adversity, wins F1 title

SAO PAULO – Sebastian Vettel found himself spinning around on the track just after the start, watching helplessly as other cars whizzed past him. His Formula One title hopes seemed to be drifting away with them.

It was only the start of Vettel’s problems Sunday in what he called the toughest race of his career. But he overcame all of them and came away with the only prize that mattered – his third straight championship title.

Vettel shook off a first-lap crash and other difficulties to finish sixth at the Brazilian Grand Prix, good enough to protect his lead over challenger Fernando Alonso and become F1’s youngest three-time champion at age 25.

“Everything that could go wrong went wrong,” he said.

Jenson Button of McLaren won the race at Interlagos, with Alonso second and teammate Felipe Massa third. Seven-time world champ Michael Schumacher, F1’s most successful driver, finished seventh in his final race after 19 seasons.

But they were all overshadowed by Vettel, who had to overcome a poor start, the early crash, a damaged car, a broken radio, a botched pit stop and pouring rain.

“Just look at the stuff that went wrong. It was for sure the toughest race,” Vettel said. “We kept believing. It was never game over.”