Sebastian Vettel’s fourth consecutive title win moved a step closer to certainty on Sunday as he pulled 60 points clear of his nearest title rival.<\/p>\n
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso can mathematically close the gap to the dominant Red Bull by November’s Brazil finale, but he now admits it is more than unlikely.<\/p>\n
“We don’t need luck in Korea; we need luck in Korea, in Japan, in India, in Abu Dhabi … if we are one second off the pace, we need a lot of luck,” said the Spaniard.<\/p>\n
Indeed, while Vettel cannot mathematically secure the title in Korea next weekend, from Suzuka onwards – five races to the end – it starts to become a possibility.<\/p>\n
Undoubtedly, with reality now biting hard, it makes no sense to keep pushing the development of the 2013 car when Red Bull and Vettel are so far clear and superior.<\/p>\n
And the huge challenge of the 2014 regulations is yet another argument in favour of downing tools on this campaign.<\/p>\n
“Well, we start from zero next year so it’s our best opportunity to close the gap,” said Alonso.\u00a0 “Really we will put all our effort and hopes into 2014.”<\/p>\n
Boss Stefano Domenicali also confirmed that “99 per cent” of Ferrari’s focus is now on 2014.\u00a0 Alonso suggests the focus actually switched some time ago.<\/p>\n
“When they (Pirelli) changed the tyres, we said bye-bye,” he said.<\/p>\n
Also theoretically still in the hunt is Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, but he admitted on Sunday that he is not even dreaming about tracking down a 100 point gap.<\/p>\n
“We’ll just try and catch Fernando somehow,” said the Briton.<\/p>\n
The fact the title is all but done-and-dusted with six races left to run might explain why Vettel was booed yet again on the podium on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The championship leader blamed the Ferrari fans.\u00a0 “If you look at the grandstand, most of them are dressed in red,” said the German.<\/p>\n
Vettel laughed off the Singapore crowd’s reaction, but Red Bull boss Christian Horner suggested the 26-year-old was actually hurt.<\/p>\n
“He’s only human,” he told Bild newspaper.<\/p>\n
But Felipe Massa, a Ferrari driver for six more races, said F1 should expect more of the same as the 2013 season rolls on.<\/p>\n
“We are seeing an end of the championship with nobody developing the current cars, so it (the results) will probably look something like this,” he said in Singapore.<\/p>\n
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