Pirelli, Paul Hembery: “Congratulations to Vettel, the first world champion on Pirelli tires after our return to F1”

Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel has joined the exclusive club of drivers who have won the Formula One World Championship on Pirelli tires: Giuseppe Farina (1950), Alberto Ascari (1952 and 1953) and Juan Manuel Fangio ( 1951,1954 and 1957). The German also became the youngest dual champion in Formula One history and the ninth driver to win two consecutive titles.

The Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka, which has crowned 11 World Champions in the last 24 years, was won by McLaren driver Jenson Button, his third success of the season with Pirelli, a result which brings McLaren's overall victories in Suzuka to nine . The British team has thus strengthened its status as the most successful manufacturer on this circuit, while Button consolidates its second place in the 2011 Drivers' Championship.

Vettel needed just one point to be crowned 2011 World Champion for the second time. After taking pole position, the German finished in third place, continuing the positive trend of Red Bull Racing, which this year has always had at least one car on the podium in every race. In second place, Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso.

With tire degradation a factor in Japan, due to the rolling nature of the track and high transverse loads, the top three classified drivers opted for a three-stop strategy. For everyone, the first three stints were run on the soft P Zero Yellow, followed by a much longer fourth stint on the medium P Zero White, to take advantage of the extra durability of the harder compound with the lighter car.

Button used the second set of pitstops to take the lead, after Vettel had pitted on lap 19. On lap 33, the German was the first to make the final pitstop, switching to medium tyres, which he then used for 20 laps to the finish line. Four laps later Fernando Alonso also returned to the pits to switch to the P Zero Medium white and, during the pitstop, he managed to overtake Vettel to take second position.

With five laps to go the first four drivers were within less than six seconds, with a spectacular race finale, in which Alonso managed to gain ground on Button, so much so that when the checkered flag waved the two drivers, both on medium tyres, they were only 1,1 seconds behind.

Besides Button and Vettel, the other winner of the Japanese Grand Prix was Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg. After a hydraulic problem in qualifying had relegated him to the back of the grid, the German driver started the race on the P Zero Medium white and then ran the following three stints on the P Zero Yellow soft, gaining 14 positions and finishing 10th, thus conquering a point. The best placings for those who opted for a two-stop strategy were those of Sauber driver Sergio Perez and Lotus Renault driver Vitaly Petrov, eighth and ninth respectively, starting on the medium compound.

The comment of Pirelli Motorsport Director, Paul Hembery: “First of all, I want to congratulate Sebastian Vettel, the first World Champion on Pirelli tires after our return to Formula One. He has been unstoppable all year and today it was no surprise to see him win his second World Title. Congratulations also to Jenson Button for a well deserved victory against some very tough opponents. The drivers deserve credit today for having put on a fantastic race and, as far as we are concerned, we are satisfied with the way in which the tires responded to this extremely demanding circuit, with the two or three stops we had foreseen and a degradation within the usual limits.”