With five races still to run in 2010, there are still five drivers in the running to be world champion.<\/p>\n
“I wouldn’t want to call it,” said team boss Martin Whitmarsh, whose McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are both contenders.<\/p>\n
Also among the gang of five within a margin of a single race victory of Mark Webber’s lead are his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel and the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso.<\/p>\n
“I think that out of the five, it will eventually just be a duel between Vettel and Webber,” pundit Niki Lauda told Bild newspaper.<\/p>\n
“They have the edge because their package is the best overall,” added the Austrian and former triple world champion.<\/p>\n
Indeed, Ferrari came close to writing off Alonso’s chances before the Italian team travelled from its Maranello base to Monza and won.<\/p>\n
The Spaniard agrees that he is still in the running — but only just.<\/p>\n
“It will be almost compulsory now to be on the podium in each race,” Alonso is quoted in the Spanish press.<\/p>\n
“I don’t know how many points I have but I know I’m 21 behind the leader,” he added.<\/p>\n
His F10 car was the fastest on the long lines of Monza, but team boss Stefano Domenicali is not expecting a repeat this weekend.<\/p>\n
“Singapore is a track where Red Bull will return to its usual levels, McLaren will be strong and it will be a harder fight than what we saw at Monza,” he is quoted by La Gazzetta dello Sport.<\/p>\n
But the Italian acknowledged: “The truth is I think no one really understands what happens this year, in the sense that things happen differently at each race compared to what is said beforehand.”<\/p>\n
Brazilian commentator Lito Cavalcanti surmises: “The Red Bull is good everywhere, but the cars of the rivals are very strong only sometimes.”<\/p>\n
Vettel thinks the RB6 will be strong under the Singapore lights, telling Bild am Sonntag newspaper: “Advantage Red Bull, disadvantage McLaren.”<\/p>\n
But Whitmarsh does not quite see it that way.<\/p>\n
“What I hear people say we’ll be strong here or weak there, I don’t know how they work that out,” said the Briton.<\/p>\n
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