Sebastian Vettel:Kimi Raikkonen was my Inspiration

The new champ said he faced a similar situation to that confronting Raikkonen three years ago.Then, the Finn trailed championship favourite Lewis Hamilton by 17 points heading into the last two races, with only 20 up for grabs under the old scoring system.But he put his head down to win both and take the crown as Hamilton faltered.This year Vettel was a hefty 25 points behind Fernando Alonso with two races to go and 50 points on the table.But, like Raikkonen, he won both to snatch the title at the last gasp.

Vettel said: "Prior to the race in Abu Dhabi I was thinking about Kimi's situation."Whether you like Kimi or not - some people do, some people don't — but I faced a little bit of a similar situation."Obviously we were in a stronger position in terms of how many points were missing.But if you know Kimi, you know the one big advantage he has is that he just does his own thing, which was my target all weekend long."What he achieved three years ago was very special because no one thought it was possible."He proved us wrong. But the circumstances were special, the same as with me."However, Vettel will doubtless be hoping his career path will not follow Raikkonen's for too long.The crash-prone Finn has had an abysmal year in the World Rally Championship after quitting Formula One.


















Sebastian Vettel