F1 News: Red Bull’s 'Crash-Kid' Sebastian Vettel Defiant Over Title Hopes In Spite of Setbacks
Red Bull Racing driver Sebastian Vettel remains bullish over his 2010 championship title hopes despite losing out on advantage in the championship standings in the past couple of races. The German driver, who many in Europe have touted as the next Michael Schumacher, has failed to deliver on the hype in recent runs after a number of costly blunders.
Even though Vettel has the huge advantage of driving the Red Bull RB6, easily the class of the field this Formula One season, the German nevertheless stands a whole 31 points behind the championship leader Lewis Hamilton. In an interview with the Auto Bild Motorsport magazine, Vettel conceded that his disadvantage to Hamilton and indeed his own teammate, Mark Webber, was courtesy of his own failings.
Prior to the Belgian Grand Prix, Vettel had been within touching distance of the championship leader’s points tally. However, in the aftermath of the event, the German fell further behind in the race for the title after earning a drive-through penalty. Vettel’s costly error meant that he left the Spa-Francorchamps track empty-handed. The Red Bull racer instigated the race stewards to punish him after bumping his car into the faultless Jenson Button’s McLaren, forcing the Englishman to retire from the run. Button was left unimpressed by the German’s faulty driving, having to pay a dear price through no fault of his own.
After the race, Button said that he was at a loss to understand what Vettel had been meaning to do when his RB6 had come colliding into his car. The Englishman was left ruing the crucial points that had been squandered, and said the blow was a bitter disappointment for him. Button remarked that he would be looking to make up for the loss at the upcoming Italian Grand Prix in Monza. About Vettel’s mistake-ridden overtaking manoeuvre, Button said that the German was too error-prone a driver to be a serious contender for the 2010 Drivers’ title.
Button’s McLaren boss, Martin Whitmarsh, shared the sentiments of his driver, branding Vettel as a “Crash-Kid”. The principal said that Vettel’s error was unworthy of a Formula One driver. Whitmarsh further stated that the main threat for McLaren was Vettel’s far more experienced teammate, Mark Webber, who currently stands at the second spot in the championship standings just 4 points behind Lewis Hamilton. However, Whitmarsh was quick to point out that the Austria-based Red Bull management was so much in favour of Vettel that it was highly unlikely the team would throw its full weight behind Webber for the 2010 title.
Belgium is the not the only venue where Vettel has made a mess of matters this season. The German also squandered away valuable points at the year’s Turkish Grand Prix after sensationally bumping his car into Webber’s in an audacious overtaking attempt. At the recent Hungarian Grand Prix, Vettel returned to his error-prone ways again after failing to follow safety car rules and earning himself a drive-through penalty.
Following the barrage of criticism hurled at him, Vettel said that his mistakes did not make him proud, and that he accepted full responsibility for the damage done. However, the German claimed that his title dream was still very much alive since he was only 31 points adrift of championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
Meanwhile, the Red Bull management has jumped to the defence of their mercurial young driver on every occasion that he has messed matters up. In the aftermath of the Turkish Grand Prix saga, the Red Bull side initially blamed Mark Webber for the mishap when the vast majority of Formula One pundits could clearly see that Vettel was in the wrong. Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, has once again jumped to the defence of his driver following his latest mistake. Horner said that Vettel would bounce back and that it was Jenson Button who had been partly at fault for the accident in Belgium. Most experts, however, are likely to disagree with Horner’s unique world view.
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