Sebastian Vettel had a little bit of a scare during the week. Fresh from capturing his third Formula 1 third title at the Brazilian Grand Prix last Sunday, it looked like that success would be taken away from him.

Championship runner up Fernando Alonso’s team Ferrari launched a dramatic appeal against Vettel’s sixth place finish which helped the German secure the title by three points. They claimed that the Red Bull driver overtook the Toro Rosso of Jean Eric Vergne under yellow flag conditions – illegal under F1 rules.

If Vettel had been found guilty he would have received 20 second penalty which would have seen him demoted to eight – enough to give Alonso his third driver’s championship.

But Formula 1’s governing body rejected the complaint after video evidence showed that Vettel did not break any rules. 

Statistics

So the 25-year-old can now go his merry way and his third title means he now stands among titans of the sport such as Aryton Senna, Jackie Stewart and Jack Brabham – the youngest to reach this milestone.

He also joins a very exclusive club of drivers alongside his hero Michael Schumacher and Juan Manuel Fangio who have won three world titles in a row.

But impressive statistics have not shielded him from the doubters.

It is true that in a sport like Formula 1 in which machinery is just as crucial as the athlete, statistics are not the be all and end all.

Vettel might have won the last three F1 titles but he has achieved this with Red Bull, the fastest car on the grid during each of those seasons.

Alonso’s 2012 Ferrari was clearly inferior - particularly in qualifying – yet he managed to stay in contention for the title until the final race in Brazil and only lost out by three points.

Formidable talent

The Red Bull was even more superior in 2011 which was a procession to the title for Vettel and in 2010 it was his own errors which prevented him from securing the title prior to the final race.

Of course this does not mean Vettel is not an excellent driver - quite the opposite in fact. He would be in most seasoned observers Top 20 F1 drivers of all time.

The German has consistently beaten his team-mate Mark Webber over the last three years – albeit with some favouritism from the Red Bull top brass – and in a sport as difficult as F1, only a formidable talent can win three championships.

This season Vettel also disproved another accusation often levelled at him – that he struggles when he does not start from pole position. 

However he scythed his way through the field to secure crucial points in Brazil and in Abu Dhabi where he started the race from the pit lane.

Advantage

But it cannot be denied that he Red Bull has had a performance and reliability advantage over their main rivals Ferrari and McLaren.

If you look at the greats of the sports, most achieved some level of success in inferior cars. Before his five titles at Ferrari from 2000 to 2004 seven-time champion Schumacher won his first title in 1994 with the Benetton team against a faster Williams, while in 1996 he dragged his struggling Ferrari to an excellent third-place in the championship.

Aryton Senna and four-time champ Alain Prost found a true equal in each other during the late 80s and early 90s to prove that there was a high level of competition in the sport.

With the advantage Vettel has with Red Bull, it is hard to guage whether he is in the same league as other triple world champions or if he is even the greatest driver of his era.

And until he faces the likes of Alonso and Lewis Hamilton in equal cars, unfortunately the doubters will always shout loudest.