F1 News
Date: 23/September/2012
Sebastian Vettel reignited his hopes of a third successive F1 title with victory in Sunday’s Singapore night race.
The Red Bull driver took the lead when pole sitter Lewis Hamilton retired due to a gearbox problem on lap 23 of 59.
The German went on to win his second race of the year by almost nine-seconds from Hamilton’s McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
The result means Hamilton drops to fourth in the World Championship, with Vettel rising to second, 29 points behind Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso. Alonso finished third in Singapore.
“It looks better than before,” Vettel said of his Championship chances. “There are six races left and it’s difficult to predict what’s going to happen.
“I think the pace is there for us and even if we are not quick enough to win, then it is good enough to collect a lot of points.
“It’s a tough championship so far, but we’re still in it. We’re looking forward to the next couple of races, and obviously the target now is to beat Fernando.”
Although concerned at his Ferrari’s ability to match Red Bull and McLaren for pure speed, Alonso admits he would be happy for his nearest rivals to continue their hero-or-zero recent results.
“In Monza it was Lewis winning the race and Sebastian retired. Here it’s
Sebastian winning, Lewis retiring - so for me it’s OK if they keep going like this!” he smiled.
“But for sure we need to improve. We struggled all weekend here. Positions five and 13 for our cars in qualifying is not what we were hoping for, so we need to be in a better position next time at Suzuka.”
For Vettel, McLaren - which had won the three races prior to Singapore - still has the car to beat.
“I think that at the moment McLaren is the fastest car and the Ferrari is a little bit of an all-rounder. It's always there,” he said.
The Japanese Grand Prix will be held on October 7.
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