LONDON: Sebastian Vettel’s status as the youngest triple champion in Formula One history was confirmed last week when Ferrari dropped its probe into the Red Bull driver’s conduct at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Ferrari wanted clarification into a contentious overtaking maneuver performed by Vettel on the fourth lap of the rain-lashed, season-ending race at Interlagos. Vettel finished sixth while title rival, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, was second.

Vettel claimed the world championship by just three points.

World motor sports governing body, the FIA, said last week that out of courtesy to Ferrari, it had looked into the overtaking move and had declared Vettel to have acted within the rules.

“The FIA has replied to Scuderia Ferrari stating that as the overtaking maneuver was not in breach of the regulations, and therefore there was no infringement to investigate. It was not reported to the stewards by race control,” said an FIA statement.

Ferrari then declared that they would no longer pursue their query.

“Ferrari duly takes note of the reply sent by the FIA and therefore considers the matter now closed,” said a Ferrari statement. “The request for a clarification from the FIA regarding Vettel’s passing move on Jean-Eric Vergne came about through the need to shed light on the circumstances of the move, which came out on the Internet only a few days after the race,” added the Ferrari statement.

“The letter to the FIA was in no way intended to undermine the legality of the race result. We received tens of thousands of queries relating to this matter from all over the world and it was incumbent on us to take the matter further, asking the federation to look into an incident that could have cast a shadow over the championship in the eyes of all Formula 1 enthusiasts, not just Ferrari fans.”