It would have been a big ask for someone to take the championship away from Sebastian Vettel, with the Red Bull driver just needing one point regardless of what anyone else does. Fearless driving and astounding reliability throughout the entire season so far has given Sebastian Vettel the chance to become the youngest double world champion ever - with back to back titles in 2010 and now 2011.

He has spent the past few weeks repeating the fact that the team weren't focusing on the title, that they would go into each race intent on winning, regardless of how the standings looked. As soon as he crossed the line to take the chequered flag - third at the Japanese Grand Prix - he could finally reflect on another successful championship campaign.

During the press conference, he spoke of his happiness in himself and the whole team:

To win the championship here is fantastic. There's so many things you want to say in this moment, but it's hard to remember all of them. I'm so thankful to everyone in the team. We've got so many people working day in, day out. Pushing hard to build those two cars, and to fight for a lot of points, and fight for the championship. It's great to achieve the goal that we set ourselves going into this year.

- Sebastian Vettel

Vettel has also admitted it might take him a little while to get used to being a double world champion. We, however, have been preparing for this all season, as the team, and that number one car in particular dominated throughout. There are still four races left, plenty of time for Red Bull to celebrate on track, but I suspect there will be plenty of celebrating in Japan before the season winds to its conclusion.