Sebastian Vettel pleased with less damage to his title lead – Formula 1 news
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull Racing is satisfied as he maintained his lead for the drivers’ title despite finishing third behind rival Fernando Alonso in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Vettel had been leading the divers’ championship with six points over Ferrari’s Alonso after the Korean Grand Prix and went onto widen the gap to thirteen points after having his fourth consecutive win in the Indian GP. However, the points difference finally
narrowed down to ten points after the driver could only finish third in the race this Sunday. Vettel got to start the race from the pit lane as he suffered some bad luck in the qualifying round on Saturday.
The Red Bull car had to be stopped on the circuit after it suffered a fuel issue and failed to make it to the pits. It turned out to be a violation of the rules set by FIA and despite his third position in the qualifiers he was disqualified to start the
race from the end. Vettel is still happy that he could lessen the damage to his chance of winning the third F1 title in a row and remain in lead.
“Yesterday (Saturday) was a surprise for us and I think had we started from third it would have been a different race,” he said. “We can be very proud today, we got the maximum and we lost only a very little bit. We've still got the momentum and the car
is bloody quick so I'm looking forward to the next two races. We are definitely believing in it and that's the target.”
Alonso finished the race second while Kimi Raikkonen of Lotus F1 was in the lead after McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton retired from the race suffering from a fuel pump failure.
Vettel admitted that the safety car issue due to the HRT and Mercedes collision turned out to be in his favour. He had been trying to avoid collision with a Toro Rosso behind the safety car when he hit a track side board marker. He made a pit stop after
that for a new wing and tyres which he used superbly in the rest of the race.
“It was a thrilling grand prix, up and down the whole time, and obviously it's very nice to pick up the trophy,” he added.
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