For the world of Formula One, the year turned full circle on the Interlagos circuit in Brazil. The Red Bull team finished as they started with yet another victory, though on this occasion it was Mark Webber who claimed the victory.

The stage for the Brazilian Grand Prix seemed set to deliver the possibility of another win for McLaren after their strong performance in Abu Dhabi. Times in practice looked encouraging and both Hamilton and Button looked quietly confident, notwithstanding Jenson¹s somewhat dismal qualifying record in Brazil. But as qualifying came to its climax, the message from the Red Bull team was “business as usual” with Vettel and Webber locking out the front row, leaving the McLaren boys in third and fourth with Alonso, in his almost traditional (for this season at least) fifth place. Further down the grid Bruno Senna had pleased the locals with his eight place for Lotus Renault and Rubens Barrichello¹s 12th place for Williams was well above his recent showings for the team from Didcot.

Come the race, a strong start from Vettel saw him drawing away from his team mate at over one second a lap in the early stages with Alonso giving chase at the head of the rest of the pack. However gearbox gremlins started to slow Vettel’s progress as he was required to start short shifting in the lower gears. Eventually it became obvious that he would not be able to keep Webber at bay and that the Australian may well have his first victory for 2012 in sight. As Vettel slowed towards the end of the finishing straight, Webber swept by, slowly drawing away to secure a first place he never looked in danger of losing.

Meanwhile behind him, the McLarens had been experiencing tyre problems,
which allowed Alonso to maintain a comfortable gap between himself and
Button. However after his last tyre change onto the harder compound, Button regained his pace and overtook Alonso to claim third. Hamilton’s was not so fortunate as a progressive gearbox problem saw him retire on lap 46.

So an amazing season for the Red Bull team has drawn to a close with an
outstanding 15 poles and 11 victories for the new World Champion Sebastien Vettel. A brilliant performance so congratulations to him. Jenson Button should also be congratulated for persevering after the underperforming McLaren gave both him and Hamilton a slow start to the season. Jenson stuck in there and turned it round with some brilliant results, in particular his victory in Montreal which was truly against all odds.

For the rest of the teams and drivers it’s been a year of mixed fortunes,
newcomer Paul De Resta seems set for a bright future after his first year
with Force India, whereas the future for local boy Rubens Barrichello seems
far less certain as his seat at Williams seems to have gone. Time alone will
tell but he certainly doesn’t appear to have thrown in the towel. The same
no doubt can be said of all the runners up to Red Bull. They will be hoping
that 2013 will see them redressing the balance for a season that has been
dominated by Vettel and his charging bull.

Needless to say 2011 was another excellent year for NGK in Formula One, with teams showing amazing performance with an average of 8 out of 10 of
finishers in the top ten positions in every race.