Ferrari’s Vettel hopes to keep the fat lady quiet
AUSTIN, Texas: Sebastian Vettel refused to give up on the Formula One championship on Thursday and found support from title favourite Lewis Hamilton.
Hamilton leads the Ferrari’s German driver by 59 points with four races left and the Mercedes driver can take hi s fourth championship in Sunday’s US Grand Prix if he wins in Austin and Vettel fails to finish in top five.
“In English, they say it’s not over until the fat lady sings,” Vettel told reporters in the US Grand Prix paddock. “We need to make sure she shuts up for quite a while.”
Vettel led the championship from the opening race in Australia in March until last month but three races in the Far East and Hamilton’s string of wins have shredded his chances.
The Ferrari driver was caught in a collision with team mate Kimi Raikkonen in Singapore and crashed out on the opening lap, then suffered an engine failure in qualifying in Malaysia that left him last on the grid.
He raced back to fourth that time but in Japan was sidelined by a
We are still in there, our chances are slimmer than they have been some races ago. There is a chance. We’re going for it.
broken spark plug.
“We are sti l l in there, our chances are slimmer than they have been some races ago. There is a chance. We’re going for it,” said the four-time world champion.
“We need to stay focused. We have a great car, we had a package to win the last couple of races. As it happens, we didn’t. But that doesn’t mean we have no chance to win the next races.”
Hami lton, who has won in Austin four times in the last five years, said talk of wrapping up the title in Texas - as he did two years ago - was overblown.
“I t hink t he t a l k of t he championship win this weekend is silly really...you can’t expect them to have a difficult weekend again,” he said.
Sebastian Vettel, four-time world champion
“They’re going to be quick, they have an opportunity to win. The championship, as long as it’s done in the next four races, that’s my focus. I honestly couldn’t care less if it’s here on the last race, as long as it’s done.”
Hamilton also expected Ferrari to bring some sort of upgrade to Austin.
“They’ve definitely had a couple of hiccups but I anticipate they’ll be very strong this weekend and for the last four races - so that’s why nothing changes for me,” he added. — Reuters