Savour title says Hamilton as Virgin falter

LEWIS HAMILTON has urged new Formula 1 world champion Sebastian Vettel to savour every moment of his stunning triumph.

Vettel yesterday inherited Hamilton's mantle as the youngest champion in the sport's history, doing so in style with victory in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to finish four points clear of Fernando Alonso.

With Vettel flanked in the post-race press conference by the previous two champions in Hamilton and McLaren team-mate Jenson Button after they finished second and third, the British duo were asked to pass on their advice to the young German on how to cope with his moment in the spotlight.

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"It's different for all of us, but it's for him to experience it and take it all in," said 2008 champion Hamilton.

"That's the best advice I can give him, to just enjoy every second of it and try to embrace every minute.

"Don't let anyone take any of your time, or too much of your time. Make sure you save some for yourself."

Last year Button was left so exhausted by the day he retired to bed early in order to reflect on his triumph after spending little more than an hour at a party in his honour.

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He said: "He's going to be busy and it won't feel like his time initially. But once he has got back to his hotel, had a shower, headed out and seen the people he's experienced and enjoyed the season with, who have made it happen, that's when he will really feel like he has achieved something."

Celebrations at the front of the grid were not mirrored towards the bottom, where Virgin Racing failed in their bid to overhaul Lotus in 10th place in the constructors championship.

Needing a finish of 11th or better, the Yorkshire team were not helped by the dry conditions and the fact that only three people failed to finish, with Brazilian Lucas di Grassi crossing the line in 18th.

Virgin were the only team to post a DNF due to reliability problems as Timo Glock's gearbox failed on lap 43 just after he had got the better of the Lotus pairing of Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen.

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Team principal John Booth said: "The option tyre was a bit of an unknown quantity today, so we decided to split our strategy and start one car on each type of tyre. Both drivers had strong races and Lucas finished strongly, despite being on the same tyre for almost the entire race."

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