Although Sebastian Vettel lost out on a victory, and Mark Webber failed to finish due to alternator troubles, reigning champions Red Bull’s still secured the Constructors’ title in   the United States Grand Prix at Austin Texas. 

The energy drink team had sealed the 2011 championship at the Korean Grand Prix, and with the unpredictable season, numerous race winners and their own alternator troubles, it has taken longer this time round. This is the Austrian team’s third Constructors’ title making them only the fourth team (McLaren, Ferrari and Williams being the other three) in the history of the sport to achieve the feat. 

Photo Courtesy: DPPI

The team had a pretty decent start to the season with Webber consistently scoring points with four fourth place finishes. Vettel too gained valuable points in Australia and China before winning his first race of the season at Bahrain. The Spanish Grand Prix was not very fruitful for the Red Bull Team since only Vettel scored points with a sixth place finish. The team lost precious points just before the mid-season break in the Canadian, European, German and Hungarian Grands Prix.  

Post the mid-season break, Red Bull bounced back and Vettel’s consecutive victories from Singapore to India allowed them to regain the lead in the hunt for the Constructors’ title, which they have now sealed at the United States Grand Prix. However, though the reigning champions were not in the lead in the first three races, they managed to stay at the top from the Bahrain Grand Prix onwards. 

Securing three consecutive Constructors’ titles speaks volumes about the team and its drivers, and the  achievement is all the more remarkable considering the team made its debut only in 2005, after taking over what was formerly the Jordan team. 

Second place in the Constructors’ championship is still up for grabs as Formula 1 heads to Brazil for the finale and the battle between Ferrari and McLaren continues with the Woking based team trailing the Italian team by 14 points.