How Vettel lit up the AUTOSPORT Awards

For 364 days a year, if you were to throw a bunch of the motorsport community together at any location in the world, the visors would come down, the intense heat of competition would envelope everything - and that intense desire for each and every individual to achieve victory would take over. Enter seriousness, and enter politics.

Yet there's one night a year when that competitive friction is allowed to cool a little. It's the guards that come down and people come together to celebrate just one thing: the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the season just passed.

Since its early days as a small event at the Kensington Roof Gardens in 1988, the AUTOSPORT Awards dinner has grown into motor racing's equivalent of the Oscars - and the great and the good from the sport have continued to grace us with their presence.

And if you want an example of just how important the event has become - both as an occasion and as a chance for the stars to let their hair down - then you only need to look at Sebastian Vettel.

As a double world champion, and much in demand from the worldwide media, Vettel could have been forgiven for ignoring his invite to attend and, instead, kicking his feet up with friends back home in Germany after the Race of Champions, and perhaps making a short appearance on local television to please his home fans.

But no. Twelve months on from turning down a live television studio interview with German television, Vettel did exactly the same again. So the minute he was kicked out of the ROC, he jumped on a private plane straight from Dusseldorf to Biggin Hill - and then was swiftly taken by car to the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

Vettel enters, James Bond-style, down the 'Stairway of Champions' © LAT

This was not a dash to please sponsors, or even a three-line whip from his team bosses who could have been seeking a bit more publicity after their truly brilliant 2011 campaign. No, this was about a young man revelling in all he is achieving in the sport - and just wanting to feel first hand the appreciation everyone has for him.

Speaking to him after last year's appearance, Vettel's eyes would always widen when he talked about the great experience of walking down the famous 'Stairway of Champions' - to a standing ovation from the crowd below as he moved through them to take his seat.

That huge beaming smile returned on Sunday when he did it again. And at least there was one less uncertainty for him this time - for last year he had to ask me quietly a few weeks later what music had played as he entered the room. You have to remember that the BBC Grand Prix theme 'The Chain' by Fleetwood Mac had been released a decade before he was born...

On stage at the Awards this time, Vettel captured the audience in a way that some suggested nobody had done since Ayrton Senna back in 1991.

He joked about the difficulties of skipping the German television show on Sunday - especially because it was a big thing as Germans liked "cleaning their cars on Sundays".

He also batted off all attempts by host Steve Rider to wind him up - even when he cheekily suggested that Vettel's season had fallen apart after being beaten by Mark Webber in Brazil and then losing to Michael Schumacher in the Race of Champions.

Legends of motorsport, like Carlos Sainz, came out to play © LAT

"I was even berated by Jenson [Button] for not wearing a tie here," smiled Vettel about earlier comments from Button about his attire. "But I will do that when I am 30-plus...."

Touche...

Vettel was the big star of the show, but the AUTOSPORT Awards are not just a night to praise the successful. It's the opportunity to chat to people at length, because during the season - when everyone is flat-chat focused on their own jobs - there is often too little time for idle gossip.

And better than merely having time to talk is that, for once, conversations do not have to solely revolve around understeer, blown diffusers or world championship points.

At what other occasion would Patrick Head be able to enthral a table talking about his idea to improve the UK railways - by creating a standalone GPS unit that, when attached to a moving train carriage's window, would accurately measure just where there are issues with out-of-kilter tracks?

Where else could Ferrari technical director Pat Fry talk about the use of Italian pronouns as he bids to learn more of his team's local language?

And where else could Jo Ramirez remind those of us whose working days are taken over by our motor racing jobs, that there is a life after F1...

Dan Wheldon's Award was accepted by his father Clive and Dario Franchitti © LAT

Yet despite the joy, the laughter and the back-slapping that are an intrinsic part of the AUTOSPORT Awards, this year's stand-out moment for many was the tribute to Dan Wheldon - who lost his life at the IndyCar season finale in Las Vegas.

To an impromptu standing ovation, Wheldon's father Clive, along with IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, took to the stage to tearfully accept a Gregor Grant Award - and offer their memories of Britain's fallen star.

It was a moment when every person present - be they F1 world champion, racing team owner, engineer, corporate guest, or journalist - could not help but feel a lump grow in the throat. All of motor racing was united as one.

And therein lies what the AUTOSPORT Awards is really about. It is the whole racing community coming together for one night - to forget the rivalries and politics for a few short hours, and remember how incredible this thing we love called motor sport really is.