Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing have been the best of the Formula One grid for the last four races, with the two-time world champion stretching his lead over Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, who is also seeking his third World Drivers’ Championship.
The two will meet again at the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday, third-to-last of the 2012 F1 season.
“If we speak about the world championship, obviously India was another good step for us, but still a long way to go and we have seen this year how quickly things can change,” Vettel told formula1.com. “It feels fantastic to have a race like that where everything works the way you want it to. But now we are focusing on Abu Dhabi. There’s a lot more to come and we'll try to take things step by step.”
Alonso told formula1.com he hoped to have a better car for his next race. “I hope that we bring some new parts to Abu Dhabi, hopefully improve a little bit more then competitiveness of the car, try to be a little bit closer to Red Bulls on Saturday [qualifying] and hopefully on Sunday [the race] as well,” he said.
Alonso, 13 points behind, needs to win a couple of the remaining Grands Prix, or have Vettel fail to finish. Even if he won twice and finished second once, he would lose if Vettel won once and finished second twice. Basically, Ferrari can only triumph in 2012 if Red Bull breaks or crashes, and so far Vettel has had both luck and reliability on his side.
Vettel can win if Alonso turns in anything but a stellar drive in each remaining race. While the Ferrari driver’s performance has been first-rate, that of the F2012 has been far less. A complete dog at the start of the season, the chassis has improved immensely but still lags behind Vettel’s RB9, which has been the best car on the grid since Singapore.
The past four races have been replays of 2011, when Vettel opened a huge gap and was never challenged. The German driver’s smooth, tire-saving style combined with the superior RB9 chassis gave Vettel an unmatchable edge.
