Sebastian Vettel has a very difficult task ahead and is close to missing out on the Formula 1 title to Lewis Hamilton. That is the opinion of former driver Alex Zanardi, who says Mercedes man Hamilton was “almost poetic” at the Singapore Grand Prix.
Sebastian Vettel went into last weekend’s race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit with a 30-point gap between himself and Hamilton. And he stood in good stead to claim a maximum 25 points in Sunday’s race after qualifying behind just Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Hamilton delivered on the big occasion though, while Sebastian Vettel counted the cost of Ferrari’s less than ideal tactics and came in third.
The German now sits 40 points adrift of Lewis Hamilton in the World Drivers’ Championship standings and Zanardi believes the title race is all but over, with Vettel’s face painting the picture: “It was only one race, but it reflected the state of affairs of this season,” Zanardi told La Gazzetta dello Sport – “After Monza everyone had the impression that a victory would put things right again. But Lewis drove everyone into the ground with a perfect, almost poetic performance. You could see on Seb’s face that the balance of power has changed. In pure mathematics, Ferrari can keep believing. But more realistically is that Hamilton is the one who is dominating.” – he explained.
Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey, with whom Sebastian Vettel won his four F1 titles, believes the pressure is getting to the German: “First I have to admit: Sebastian is a friend of mine. We get along very well. He works incredibly hard, sometimes too dogged. Hardly anyone is more self-critical than he is. If he has a weakness, it’s that he can make stupid mistakes in the heat of the moment. If he leads, he is almost unbeatable. But in direct duels he sometimes slips off. In sports, but also in life, there are people who deal differently with pressure. For a racer this can be particularly difficult. In the car, he is not only responsible for himself, but has the entire team in the garage on his shoulders. Some drivers do not care. Take the Finns, Kimi Raikkonen and Mika Hakkinen. But there are others who really feel the pressure weigh on them at the end of a world championship. The harder a driver works, the more he feels the pressure. That’s particularly true of Seb.” – Adrian Newey concluded.
Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton will renew their rivalry at the Russian Grand Prix a week on Sunday.
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