Despite Lewis Hamilton no longer thinking the 2011 title fight is effectively over, not everyone in the F1 paddock agrees with him.<\/p>\n
Renault’s departing team manager Steve Nielsen told Brazilian O Estado de S.Paulo correspondent Livio Oricchio that he thinks Sebastian Vettel will wrap up his second championship long before the 2011 season has ended.<\/p>\n
“I believe the points gap will grow and that will Vettel will do it by Suzuka,” he said, referring to the Japanese grand prix in October.<\/p>\n
After Suzuka, there are still four grands prix left to run, and Telegraph correspondent Tom Cary admits he is also worried.<\/p>\n
“We are entering dangerous territory here; slow death by asphyxiation,” he wrote after Valencia.\u00a0 “Not since Michael Schumacher bored everyone into submission in 2004 have fans been forced to contemplate hegemony on this scale.”<\/p>\n
F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone said before leaving Valencia last Sunday that Vettel is “sure to be champion” in 2011.<\/p>\n
Former Renault team boss Flavio Briatore told Radio Monte Carlo that he reckons Vettel will have won by Monza, two races before Suzuka, but Rubens Barrichello thinks that is unlikely.<\/p>\n
“To win at Suzuka he needs to increase his gap to 100 points, which at this rate is very possible,” said the Brazilian.<\/p>\n
Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali is reserving his judgement until after Silverstone, where the off-throttle blown exhaust clampdown takes effect.<\/p>\n
“There may be a change in what we have seen so far, even if I recognise that Sebastian has a considerable advantage.”<\/p>\n
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