Abu Dhabi: Sebastian Vettel became Formula One's youngest ever champion on Sunday, taking advantage of Fernando Alonso's disappointing performance to clinch the title with a win at the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The German Red Bull driver started the race from pole position but needed to make up 15 points on Alonso, who led the championship but failed to secure the title for a second straight race.
While Vettel had a fairly trouble-free race, Alonso finished seventh after Ferrari made an ill-advised decision to pit early and the Spaniard got stuck behind Nico Rosberg and Vitaly Petrov for nearly 40 laps.
Vettel's title comes after Red Bull dominated the field in qualifying sessions all season, but often failed to convert its unrivaled speed into race victories because of reliability problems and driver errors.
"It has been an incredible journey, to lead the championship after the last race is unbelievable," Vettel said. "It's been extremely intense and a tough season mentally."
Alonso, who started third from the grid, ended up four points behind Vettel in the final standings.
"It was a tough race, a difficult race," Alonso said. "We lost one position in the start and (in) the first safety car period Petrov and Rosberg came in."
Vettel said he had a few nervous moments after crossing the finish line, while he waited to see whether Alonso could climb up to fourth place on the last lap - which would have given the Spaniard the title.
But the celebrations could finally start when he received the message he was hoping for.
"Weltmeister!" Vettel's team screamed over the car radio after Rosberg crossed the line in fourth place, using the German word for world champion.
"Unbelievable! Thank you," Vettel replied in a strained voice, barely able to speak because of the emotion, as Red Bull engineers and crew threw themselves into each other's arms.
"To be honest I didn't know anything," Vettel said, explaining that he had no idea what the situation was behind him during the last 10 laps due to a glitch on the race radio.
Alonso couldn't hide his disappointment, shaking his fist angrily as he pulled up alongside Petrov when they glided over the line.
"Next year, we'll try again," Alonso said.
Red Bull's Mark Webber of Australia came in behind Alonso and finished third overall, 14 points back from his teammate Vettel.
The 23-year-old Vettel is six months younger than Lewis Hamilton was when he won the title in 2008.
Hamilton beat defending champion Jenson Button as McLaren took second and third place in the race.
For the first time in F1 history, four drivers were in contention for the title heading into the last GP, with Hamilton finishing 16 points behind Vettel in fourth overall.
"We've seen an incredible tight (championship), I don't know how many times we've had a different leader," Vettel said. "In the beginning we thought Ferrari's dropping back, but they fought back very hard. All of us can write a book about where we could have finished higher in races."
Ferrari ultimately paid the price for their cautious tactics.
The decision was clearly to tag Webber - who was eight points behind Alonso going into the race - as the main threat rather than Vettel, because a victory for the German was irrelevant so long as Alonso finished at least fourth.
But Alonso was overtaken by Button at the start and then pitted early on lap 16, allowing Rosberg and Petrov to stay ahead of him.
Webber took a turn too wide early on and sparks flew as he brushed a crash barrier, and that minor moment was to have a major impact on the whole race.
Webber went in for a tire change on the 12th lap in what looked like a precautionary measure after that incident, and the Australian's nervy race continued as his back wheel spun wildly when he exited the pit lane.
But that prompted Ferrari into a panicky move, as they then sent in Alonso for a tire change shortly after.
"Webber pitted and we tried to cover for him and when you cover for him you need to give way to others," Alonso said. "It was to choose between Vettel and Webber and Petrov or Rosberg. This is a sport. This is motor racing. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."
Five laps later, anxiety was creeping in as Ferrari officials told Alonso over the race radio: "I know you're trying your best, but it's critical that you pass Petrov."
Alonso took those instructions on board and nearly clipped the Russian rookie as he tried to get past him on lap 24.
Moments later, Vettel's perfect pit stop saw him come out ahead of Hamilton, who was struggling with his front left tire.
At the start of the race, seven-time champion Michael Schumacher had a lucky escape when he escaped unhurt from a scary accident.
The German's car spun around when he was nudged by his Mercedes teammate Rosberg. As he tried to maneuver his Mercedes back around to rejoin the race, Italian driver Vitantonio Liuzzi could not get his Force India car out of the way and rolled over Schumacher's bonnet, narrowly missing his head.
Both racers climbed out unscathed and the 41-year-old Schumacher cheerily waved at the crowd as he walked away.
The crash ended a disappointing comeback-season for the all-time great, who finished without a podium place.
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