Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel finds himself in a difficult but possible position to win the 2018 Formula 1 title as the season kick-starts after the summer break.
The German is 24 points behind Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton with nine races remaining. It is almost the scenario where he needs to win a race when Hamilton retires to get back on par or ahead of the British driver.
Vettel has had a good season thus far but Hamilton’s consistency has just given him the points advantage. Even though both drivers have a DNF to their name, it is Hamilton’s consistent podium outcomes which has helped him in a better position.
While Vettel can rue the huge mistake in Germany, but his results otherwise especially in China, Baku, Spain and France set him back in points and despite holding advantage at some points in the season, he never had one like Hamilton enjoys at the moment.
But the German seems positive still. He admits the result in Germany hurt him but the positives of previous battles where he fought back well to win the title is the motivation for him to do it again this year, where it looks like he can do it as well.
“It [points gap] is not ideal,” he said. “It could have been better especially after Germany, which probably stands out as the worst race so far this year but I think if we have the speed, we have the power to do something in the second half.
“I am quite confident how the car is now, it is getting better and better. We understand the car more and more, we know where the weaknesses are and we have been able to fix most of them already but there are still some.
“So, I am quite comfortable that if they [Mercedes] have something to fight, we have something to fight back. The 24 points sounds a lot but it is actually not bad. I remember I have been in much worse position when we were fighting. So we will see, still a long way.”
Indeed, Vettel fought back well in 2010 against Fernando Alonso to win his maiden title. Alonso built a 15 points advantage in the second half after being 10 points down, but Vettel won the final race handsomely to take his first championship victory.
A much bigger achievement came in 2012 when he was 42 points down on Alonso in the summer break and went on to win his third consecutive title by three points over the Spaniard after winning four out nine races in the second half.
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