{"id":16741,"date":"2012-10-08T13:14:12","date_gmt":"2012-10-08T17:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/?p=16741"},"modified":"2012-10-08T13:14:12","modified_gmt":"2012-10-08T17:14:12","slug":"vettel-races-into-title-hot-seat-with-red-bull-double-drs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/formula-1\/vettel-races-into-title-hot-seat-with-red-bull-double-drs\/","title":{"rendered":"Vettel races into title hot seat with Red Bull ‘double DRS’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The final five races of the 2012 season will likely stage a head-to-head contest between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, with the protagonists each pushing to add a prestigious third crown to their tallies.<\/p>\n

\"R12Jpn-F1-08\"Mathematically, however, there are plenty of contenders still in the running, including Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and even the beleaguered Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa.<\/p>\n

But Bild newspaper confidently predicts German Vettel “will be world champion” after he won so dominantly from pole at Suzuka, with Alonso’s Ferrari stranded in the first-corner dirt trap.<\/p>\n

Until very recently, Spaniard Alonso was the overwhelming title favourite, causing Austria’s Kleine Zeitung to muse after Japan that Suzuka was “The great turning point” in the 2012 battle.<\/p>\n

Some think it is not Alonso’s bad luck that is the major factor, but Red Bull’s latest – and until now low-profile – Adrian Newey-penned aerodynamic development.<\/p>\n

The new ‘double DRS’ has undoubtedly been a factor as Vettel overcame McLaren’s recent dominance with wins in Singapore and now Japan.<\/p>\n

So will Ferrari and McLaren have to rush out copies now?<\/p>\n

“You don’t develop something like that overnight,” Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport quotes Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali as saying.<\/p>\n

McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh adds: “It’s not a good idea to panic.”<\/p>\n

But the Briton admitted McLaren has a double-DRS “project” on the back-burner.<\/p>\n

Former F1 engineer and manager Joan Villadelprat wrote in Spain’s El Pais newspaper: “Less than a month ago nobody would have bet on Red Bull in this championship.<\/p>\n

“But Ferrari cannot give up because they have the means to develop until the very last race, despite the problems they’re having in the wind tunnel.<\/p>\n

“And they have an extraordinary driver in Fernando Alonso, who even after two retirements is still able to aspire for the title with only five races to go.”<\/p>\n

Alonso, however, is clearly frustrated that a title he once seemed destined to secure is now dwindling.<\/p>\n

“For six races,” he told Spanish reporters after retiring in Suzuka, “we have had the same car, without a single new piece.<\/p>\n

“Felipe (Massa) did a perfect race, driving well, but I see his second place as a little coincidental.\u00a0 There were people with much faster cars, making mistakes and going off the track one after another.”<\/p>\n

Domenicali is quoted by Brazil’s O Estado de S.Paulo: “I can fully understand his frustration right now.<\/p>\n

“But you all can be assured that we are working hard to give Fernando a car with which he can express his talent.”<\/p>\n

But German commentator Christian Danner said: “Red Bull has made such a big jump, and now have such an incredibly good car, that I can hardly imagine Ferrari challenging them now.”<\/p>\n

\u00a9 RIF | GMM<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The final five races of the 2012 season will likely stage a head-to-head contest between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel, with the protagonists each pushing to add a prestigious third crown to their tallies. Mathematically, however, there are plenty of contenders still in the running, including Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Nico …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[2120,3],"tags":[3709,396,5262,149,93,5340,129,164,150],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16741"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16742,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16741\/revisions\/16742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racinginfocus.com\/rif\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}