Sebastian Vettel romped to glory in Turkey to become the toast of Formula 1 – and was then banned from drinking the victory champagne.
The 23-year-old German was in a different class as he took his third win in four races this season with an awesome display of driving outside Istanbul.
And team-mate Mark Webber recovered from a bad start to snatch runners-up spot from Fernando Alonso.
But while the older duo could glug down the bubbly on the podium, the sport’s youngest star was too young to join in.
Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has introduced strict new alcohol laws increasing the minimum age to 24 because of a nationwide drinking crisis.
“Seb is so young,” said Red Bull boss Christian Horner. “He’s only 23 and he wasn’t allowed to drink champagne on the podium because he’s under age here.”
A year after both Red Bull team-mates crashed out here while duelling for the lead, they proved they were back in command and in a different class to the rest.
Vettel moved a staggering 34 points clear of Britain’s Lewis Hamilton after just four races and could win the title in record time unless things change.
“This was a really sweet result today, especially after the problems we had last year,” added Horner. “Seb was dominant and Mark drove well.”
Hamilton trailed home fourth, 40 seconds after his German rival, with Jenson Button sixth. “The start was a disaster, so it was damage limitation after that really,” said Hamilton.
Although there was a feast of overtaking for the fans – and a record 82 pitstops to savour – it was all sound and fury signifying nothing. Overtaking used to be too difficult, now it’s too easy.
But the joy of one German at the top end of the grid was book-ended by the sorry tale of another at the back. It was a heartbreaking sight as Michael Schumacher, winner of so many legendary races, was elbowed down to 12th.
A chastened Schumacher said: “The big joy is not there at the moment, I have to say.”
But gazing up at his winner a happy Horner said that when it came to the sport’s current star player Vettel’s only error was made long before he arrived. “That’s some dodgy haircut,” he grinned.
Source: The Daily Mirror
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