Sebastian Vettel believes that the title is still within his grasp
Although he has been dubbed an 'outsider' by critics in the contention for the 2010 Formula One title, Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel is confident that he still has a chance to claim the F1 crown.
The 23-year-old prodigy is currently fifth in the championship standings, 24 points behind teammate Mark Webber, who leads the table with 187 points. ”In pure mathematics, I am the last in the row if you
look at the title hunt,” the German acknowledges.
“Felipe [Massa] is sixth and in theory still able to win the championship, but if you look at the five who are close together [Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Vettel], then I am
the last one in the queue. So I am the outsider if you want to put it that way, and the others are favourites. But everyone has to focus on their own. Some people have to get along with the role of being the favourite or being the top drivers and some, like
Jenson [Button] and myself, are seen as more or less a bit more the outsiders and Fernando as well, because we are close in points. But we want to change this.”
He added that being the fifth-placed contender did not change his approach to racing for the title, and that striving for the win is what he has always done. “I try to focus on myself, and try to achieve
my optimum. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, but surely we will always try. We have a very good chance to win this championship still, but we are not the favourites any more. We will see.”
Vettel also reflected on the drastic unpredictability of the title race. “If you look at this championship, the last 14 races have been pretty much up and down, so things can change quickly. If you just
take Fernando [Alonso] for example, he has been written off in this championship twice already – so we will see.” The Ferrari racer, who is third in the rankings, fought back into contention with his dramatic win at Monza earlier this month.
As for Vettel, regardless of the pressure to bring himself higher up in the points table, there is only one goal to focus on – the win. “I know what I want to achieve. I know why I am here, I want to win
races and I want to win the title. If there is anyone putting pressure on me it is myself. All my career, all of this year, if people expect something from me it is a nice thing. But in the end it doesn't really affect me. In the end all I can do is focus
on my own. If the car is only good enough for fourth place, like in Monza, then we have to make sure that we finish fourth and not fifth or sixth or seventh or worse.”
He concluded, “If the car would be good enough to win here, we have to make sure that we win. It is as easy as that and, in the end I think, if I score 25 points more than anybody else it is fine.”
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