MOTORSPORT: Vettel up with very best now

Four Formula One titles in consecutive years at 26 years of age is phenomenal -- and the highest praise for Sebastian Vettel's feat has come from the man best placed to know.

Adrian Newey has created the cars that have won a record 10 drivers' and 10 constructors' world championships, including the Red Bull-Renaults of recent seasons, and he has mentioned Vettel in the same breath as the three F1 drivers he thinks the greatest of all time.

The V8 Supercar Championship has emerged from the machinations of the Gold Coast 600 an even tighter fight than it was immediately after Bathurst, with Craig Lowndes leading Jamie Whincup now and just 121 points between the four contenders with five races remaining.

Lowndes and Warren Luff won the new Endurance Cup for Triple Eight Race Engineering ahead of teammates Whincup and Paul Dumbrell on a weekend that produced yet more new faces on the top step of the podium this season -- Ford pair David Reynolds and Dean Canto this time -- and plenty of other excitement.

Chevrolet has won the manufacturers' championship in NASCAR's premier division for the 37th time -- and the 11th straight year -- with its SS that is a Holden Commodore design, although a Toyota man may yet win the drivers' title.

Matt Kenseth (Toyota) and Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) are tied with three rounds remaining after Jeff Gordon's victory in a Chev at Martinsville, Virginia -- his first win of this season but eighth at that short oval track, where Marcos Ambrose finished a lap down in 19th at the weekend.

Volkswagen drivers Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala have finished first and second in the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, formalising VW's victory in the manufacturers' title in its first year in the series.

The Indian Grand Prix was another runaway win for Vettel -- his sixth straight victory -- that clinched his fourth world title with three races remaining (in Abu Dhabi next Sunday, then the US and Brazil). Even his critics will have to acknowledge now the young German's brilliance.

We watchers have wondered whether Vettel is as good as rivals Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen or Lewis Hamilton, or whether it has been the quality of his machinery that has set him apart from them.

But Newey, approaching his 55th birthday and with the perspective that comes from a long career at the pointy end of F1, has put Vettel in a context few are qualified to do.

'I think he is up there with the best of all time,' Newey has said. 'Who do you consider to be the best of all time?

'It has to be Jim Clark, Ayrton Senna, Juan-Manuel Fangio, maybe, but he's way before my time, so I can't really comment. Seb's well on the way to being part of that very select few.

High praise indeed and fascinating, as much for who Newey excludes -- seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher and Alain Prost among them -- as he includes in that elite group.

He noted that 'there seems to be some elements that are hostile' to Vettel, but said from the benefit of having worked so closely with him that 'he's very humble and the success and fame he has achieved over the last few years has never gone to his head'.

Vettel has admitted he has felt hurt by the booing of predominantly Ferrari fans in recent months and Newey said that he 'maybe lost a bit of popularity over what happened in Malaysia this year' when he refused to sit behind teammate Mark Webber for the last 20 per cent of the race, instead powering to the first of his 10 victories this season.

'I think that what people forget there is that there had been a bit of needle between Mark and Seb, unfortunately, and a racing driver will be a racing driver,' Newey said. 'Seb's adrenalin was up, he saw the chance of a win and he went for it.'

As much as Webber fans still resent Vettel's actions that day, it is water under the bridge and Webber was among the first to extend his congratulations to him on his fourth title.

'Well done to Sebastian ñ he's done a great job this year,' said Webber, who was on course to make it a Red Bull one-two in India until his alternator failed and forced him to retire.

Daniel Ricciardo, the 24-year-old Aussie who will replace Webber as Vettel's teammate next season, said: 'Vettel? Phenomenal. Particularly since the (northern) summer break, when he grabbed the title and never let anyone else look at it.'

Ricciardo was 'pretty pleased' to finish 10th ñ ahead of Alonso's Ferrari.

While we Australians may bemoan Webber's results and/or luck, Alonso and Raikkonen haven't been setting the world on fire lately. Felipe Massa has lifted his game since told he's out of Ferrari at the end of the year, made a lightning start in India, finished fourth and may yet salvage his career with a drive at Williams next year ñ aided by Brazilian sponsorship.

An even better performance was Frenchman Romain Grosjean's climb from 17th on the grid to third at the finish -- his third straight podium and further proof that, contrary to a year ago, he is the man to lead Lotus-Renault forward with Raikkonen heading back to Ferrari.

This season's remaining GPs are 'dead rubbers' in terms of the drivers' championship and Red Bull has wrapped up the constructors' again, but Mercedes has gone ahead of Ferrari courtesy of Nico Rosberg's second place yesterday and Lewis Hamilton's sixth.

Mexican Sergio Perez's fifth place was McLaren's best result for the year.

There were lots of positives in the V8 Supercar show at the Gold Coast for spectators and TV viewers, although the damage bills aren't welcome at the teams already battling costs and tight revenues.

Craig Lowndes taking the series lead should enliven it further as the sport's most popular driver tries to clinch his first national title this century after three in the 1990s. He heads teammate Jamie Whincup by only six points though, while Ford Performance Racing's Bathurst 1000 winner Mark Winterbottom is another 82 points back, and FPR's departing Will Davison a further 33 behind.

Sunday's overdue breakthrough win for David Reynolds in another FPR Falcon, with co-driver Dean Canto, was another plus for the series.

Veteran Russell Ingall proved there may yet be another season in him with fifth and third places with Ryan Briscoe, while there were welcome signs of improvement from the AMG Mercedes and Nissan camps -- admittedly on a circuit that suited them much better than Sandown and Bathurst.

Saturday's TV audience was poor (an average of 389,000 in the five major state capitals) but it was much better Sunday (average 637,000 in those same five cities, including almost 200,000 in Sydney).
The pity now is that there is a four-week break until the penultimate round at Phillip Island, where three races will be run, and then the two races at the Sydney 500 on December 7-8.

At least the title fight looks like going right to the end this year.

Formula One World Championship driver standings (after 16 of 19 rounds): 1. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Red Bull-Renault) 322 points; 2. Fernando Alonso (Spain, Ferrari) 207; 3. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Lotus-Renault) 183; 4. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain,  Mercedes) 169; 5. Mark Webber (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 148; 6. Nico Rosberg (Germany, Mercedes) 144; 7. Romain Grosjean (France, Lotus-Renault) 102; 8. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Ferrari) 102; 9. Jenson Button (GB, McLaren-Mercedes) 60; 10. Paul Di Resta (GB, Force India-Mercedes) 40; 11. Nico Huelkenberg (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 39;  12. Sergio Perez (Mexico, McLaren-Mercedes) 33; 13. Adrian Sutil (Germany, Force India-Mercedes) 28; 14. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 19; 15. Jean-Eric Vergne (France, Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 13; 16. Esteban Gutierrez (Mexico, Sauber-Ferrari) 6; 17. Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela, Williams-Renault) 1.

F1 constructor standings: 1. Red Bull-Renault 470 points; 2. Mercedes 313; 3. Ferrari 309; 4. Lotus-Renault 285; 5. McLaren-Mercedes 93; 6. Force India-Mercedes 68; 7. Sauber-Ferrari 45; 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 32; 9. Williams-Renault 1.

V8 Supercar Championship driver standings (after 31 of 36 races): 1. Craig Lowndes  (Holden) 2549 points; 2. Jamie Whincup (H) 2543; 3. Mark Winterbottom (Ford) 2461; 4. Will Davison (F) 2428; 5. Fabian Coulthard (H) 2153; 6. Garth Tander (H) 2067; 7. Shane Van Gisbergen (H) 2052; 8. Jason Bright (H) 1997; 9. James Courtney (H) 1909; 10. Scott McLaughlin (H) 1753; 11. David Reynolds (F) 1738; 12. Jonathon Webb (H) 1659; 13. Rick Kelly (Nissan) 1485; 14. Alex Davison (F) 1443; 15. Russell Ingall (H) 1355.  

NASCAR Sprint Cup (after 33 of 36 races): 1. Matt Kenseth (Toyota) 2294 points; 2. Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) 2294; 3. Jeff Gordon (C) 2267; 4. Kevin Harvick (C) 2266; 5. Kyle Busch (T) 2258; 6. Clint Bowyer (T) 2239; 7. Dale Earnhardt Junior (C) 2238; 8. Greg Biffle, (F) 2236; 9. Kurt Busch (C) 2219; 10. Carl Edwards (F) 2218; 11. Joey Logano (F) 2209; 12. Ryan Newman (C) 2188; 13. Kasey Kahne (C) 2170. Australia's Marcos Ambrose (F) is 21st on 813 points.

World Rally Championship driver standings (after 12 of 13 rounds): 1. Sebastien Ogier (France, Volkswagen) 265 points; 2. Thierry Neuville (Belgium, Ford) 158; 3. Jari-Matti Latvala (Finland, Volkswagen) 144; 4. Mikko Hirvonen (Finland, Citroen) 126; 5. Daniel Sordo (Spain, Citroen) 117; 6. Mads Ostberg (Norway, Ford) 89; 7. Sebastien Loeb (France, Citroen)68; 8. Evgeny Novikov (Russia, Ford) 67; 9. Martin Prokop (Czech Republic, Ford) 55; 10. Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway, VW) 40.  Australia's Chris Atkinson (Citroen) is 16th on eight points. Atkinson has only competed in one round and is a test driver for the Hyundai entering the championship next year.

WRC teams championship standings: 1. Volkswagen Motorsport 382; 2. Citroen Total Abu Dhabi World Rally Team 274; 3. Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team 174; 4. Qatar World Rally Team 169; 5. Abu Dhabi Citroen Total World Rally Team 63; 6. Jipocar Czech National Team 57; 7. Volkswagen Motorsport II 40; 8. Lotos WRC Team 20.

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