Vettel won’t ‘commit suicide’ as title hopes fade

SUZUKA, Japan: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel insisted he would not take any stupid risks at the Japanese Grand Prix despite being in a virtual mustwin situation this weekend.

The German trails runaway Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton by 50 points with just five races left this season and his Mercedes rival rubbed salt in Vettel’s wounds by dominating Friday’s free practice at Suzuka.

But Vettel, whose hopes of pipping Hamilton to a fifth world title are quickly evaporating following the Briton’s run of five victories in the last six races, refused to hit the panic button.

“Obviously you don’t want to commit suicide,” said Vettel, who has won five races to Hamilton’s eight in 2018. “If we attack we still try to be reasonable -- it’s a long race.”

Vettel was more than 0.8 seconds off Hamilton’s pace in the afternoon after clocking only the fifth fastest time in the morning’s free practice.

He and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen struggled with their tyre life as the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas struck a psychological blow by topping both sessions ahead of this weekend’s qualifying and race.

However, Vettel kept a lid on his emotions after a frustrating day in Japan.

“Today I think we were probably both of us sliding a bit too much, and therefore damaging the tyres a bit more than others,” said the four-time world champion.