Vettel needs more than one win to reach top
SEBASTIAN Vettel won his second Formula One title in Suzuka last year but it will take more than another Japanese Grand Prix victory this weekend to put the Red Bull driver back on top of the world.
The Red Bull driver lags Ferrari’s championship leader Fernando Alonso by 29 points with six races to go and everything to play for.
Consistency is the key, with Red Bull plagued by alternator failures and Vettel’s win nine days ago only his second in a surprising season.
The 25-year-old has been on pole at Suzuka for the past three years, however, winning there in 2009 and 2010, and will fancy his chances even if Alonso, runner-up last year, has a knack for getting onto the podium.
“I love the Suzuka circuit. In short, it has the most amazing corners and brilliant fans, I really like coming here,” he said. “I wish I had won in 2011, it was my third Formula One race on my favourite track and it still bothers me a bit that I took my world title with a third place.”
McLaren’s Jenson Button, who considers Japan a home from home because of his Japanese girlfriend and his long association with Honda, denied Vettel victory last year but will have a five-place handicap on the grid this time around due to an unscheduled gearbox change.
His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, remains the talk of the paddock after it was announced last week after months of speculation that the 2008 world champion will move to Mer- cedes next season to replace Michael Schumacher. McLaren will want to shield Hamilton as far as possible from attention as he is their best shot at the title, although his retirement in Singapore while leading left him 52 points adrift of Alonso.
“Clearly there will be cause to be distracted in the next days and weeks,” team principal Martin Whitmarsh told reporters last week.
“We’ve got to try and protect him from that,” said Whitmarsh, who has already signed Mexican Sergio Perez from Sauber to replace Hamilton.
“If I know Lewis, he wants to win this year’s world championship, he wants to win the remaining six races. He’s assured me that he’s a McLaren man for the rest of this year and that he’s going to be completely focused on winning,” he added.
Schumacher, the seven-times world champion who has enjoyed some of his most memorable career celebrations at Suzuka, will also be in the limelight at what could be his farewell to the Japanese circuit.
Kimi Raikkonen, who still holds the race lap record from his McLaren days in 2005 when he came from 17th on the grid in one of his finest victories, will also be a man to watch in the Lotus.
The Finn has yet to win this season, despite being third overall, but Suzuka offers probably his best chance of the remaining races. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi will be the local hero, with Japanese fans more revved up than ever after he put his car on the front row in qualifying at the Belgian Grand Prix little more than a month ago. Reuters