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Vettel revs up F1 championship

German set to take
championship... again

Aidan
=) | Mouellic
i : Staff Writer
eo

i

 

he 2013 Formula One season

is coming to a close, and
with Sebastian Vettel in the lead
with a more than 100-point
buffer, it looks like the German
wunderkind will take the
championship. The 64th season
of the race series began in
Australia on March 17 and will
end in Brazil on November 24.

From the start, Sebastian
Vettel has dominated the season
in an unparalleled fashion. The
German driver has amassed
372 points this year, to easily
claim the championship title.
In second place is a distant
Fernando Alonso with 227
points, and Lewis Hamilton
rounds off the podium with
187 points. In addition, Vettel’s
team, Red Bull Racing-Renault,
leads the way with 553 points.
Mercedes is behind with 348
points, and Ferrari is in third
with 333 points.

Many people claim that
this season has been a bit too
predictable due to Vettel and his
team’s strong performances; this
is a fair claim, since Vettel has
set a record for most consecutive
races in a single season this year,
with eight so far. But having a
champion as talented as Vettel
lighting up the race courses is
anything but boring. Having
the predictability of Vettel on a
race course just means that the

audience will witness perfection.

If Vettel maintains his
quality of driving in the final
round in Brazil, this will be
the fourth consecutive World
Championship title for Vettel
and his Red Bull Racing-
Renault team and they are only
gathering momentum with

each passing year. However,
next year brings in a new

era of Formula One with the
introduction of a radical new
engine design. Instead of the
current naturally aspirated
2.4 litre V8 engines used in all
current F1 cars, the 2014 cars
will be powered by 1.6 litre
turbocharged V6 engines.

No season is complete
without a dash of controversy,
and this year was no different.
A few controversial highlights
included the finish of the
Malaysian Grand Prix which
had Vettel disregard team
orders to not pass teammate
Mark Webber; Vettel did pass
and claimed the victory. He
eventually apologized to
his team for not following
instructions, stating “It’s not
a victory I should be proud
of because it should have
been Mark’s. If I could change
it I would. I didn’t do it
deliberately.”

Tire sponsor Pirelli was
also at the centre of many
controversies regarding the
quality of their supplied
tires. Teams complained to
the Formula One organizers
about poor tire performance
and many teams experienced
“unacceptable” tire failures
during events. Pirelli has had
to do plenty of in-season tire
tweaking and it appears that
their efforts are making positive
differences.

As the 2013 F1 season wraps
up, it’s time to reflect upon a
season where Vettel proved that
he is the definite king of F1 for
now and for many seasons to
come. If any of the other drivers
want to mount a legitimate
challenge against Red Bull
Racing-Renault in 2014, they
will have to come up with some
sort of miracle in the off-season
while developing their new cars.

 

Vettel celebrating his victory | Red Bull content pool

 

Close but no cigar

Womens basketball
loses to Langara

Courtnie
_ Martin
Sports Reporter

n November 22, the

women’s basketball team
competed in a fully packed gym
against their rivals, Langara

20

College. Douglas lost to the
Falcons in a 28-point upset in
their season opener, and while
they lost again, their most recent
performance was a far better
showing.

The first half was a race to
finish as the two traded buckets
through the opening quarters.
The Falcons could not answer
to the scoring consistency and
the Royals had a difficult time
shutting down the dribble

penetration. The half-time

score was indicative of how the
game had been played, with the
teams taking a break at 26-25 for
Langara.

The second half was very
much the same pace. While
Douglas controlled the game
through the third quarter,
going up by eight, they were
unsuccessful in closing out the
game. Langara came back on a
10-point run to take a two-point

lead. Nanaya Miki hit some
huge buckets to keep the team
afloat, and as a result Douglas
was down by six with two
minutes to play. The referees
called a five-second count
against the opposing team,
allowing Simran Bir to drain a
clutch three. However, Langara
knocked down five of their
next six free throws, securing a
victory of 60-53.

“] thought we played much

better than the last game against
them. Langara made important
free throws in the end,” said
Miki, who scored 19 points.

 

Player of the game:
#7 - Nanaya Miki