Who can challenge Sebastian Vettel from Jenson Button and Mark Webber in the 2011 Formula 1 season?
After a boring race in Valencia for the European Grand Prix, it seems that the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel still has the upper hand as he secured the win by around 10 seconds and extended his lead to 186 points after just 8 races.
Vettel has won 6 race wins, 7 pole positions and 2 second-place finishes in 8 races while the rest of his rivals have been unable to cope up or dominate as a result of which, the reigning world champion has had a mixture of rivals for the championship run.
At first, it seemed that Lewis Hamilton was going to give Vettel a tough time this season but after his retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix, the former world champion’s performance deteriorated massively.
In terms of points, he is currently in 4th place in the drivers’ standings with just 97 points which makes him 89 points short of the current championship leader. It is safe to assume Hamilton’s chances of chasing for the titles this year are
quite bleak.
Other than that, Fernando Alonso seemed like a competitive rival for Vettel at a point after he secured a couple of podiums. However, even he faced a major retirement at the Canadian Grand Prix as a result of which, he has not been able to cope up with Vettel
as well in terms of points as the Spaniard is currently in 5th place with 87 points.
This leaves us to Jenson Button and Mark Webber. Both of the drivers have scored 109 points each which makes them 77 points behind Vettel in the drivers’ standings. Jenson Button has secured a victory and four podiums up until now in the 2011 Formula 1 season
while Webber has scored just four podiums and a pole position in eight races.
The two McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are the only two drivers on the grid who have defeated Red Bull in a race as Hamilton secured the win at the Chinese Grand Prix earlier on in 2011 while Button scored the win at the Canadian Grand
Prix.
Either way, both of the McLaren drivers have not been quite consistent as a result of which, they are way behind Vettel in the drivers’ standings.
The only way anyone can win the title except the reigning world champion is that if Vettel retires from at least 2-3 races out of the remaining 11 races which is very unlikely to happen.
Other than that, we can also say that if Red Bull’s performance deteriorates massively following the off-throttle Blown Diffuser ban, then McLaren and Ferrari might have a shot at the titles.
Out of Webber and Jenson Button, it seems that Button has more chance than the Aussie as Red Bull’s performance is expected to deteriorate after the upcoming race in Silverstone. Since the 2009 Formula 1 champion has secured a victory and proved that he
has the pace to score wins as well this year, it seems that the McLaren driver might have a better chance.
Either way, Vettel has pretty much secured the title this year and all he needs to do is just finish the rest of the races within the points.
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