FORMULA ONE INDIAN GRAND PRIX:SEBASTIAN VETTEL has reassured his bosses at Red Bull that he has not signed a pre-contract agreement with Ferrari. Vettel found himself put on the spot following his fourth consecutive victory, and his second in India, that has lifted him 13 points clear of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in the fight for the Formula One world title.
Rumours have persisted for months, and been ramped up only recently, that Vettel will join Ferrari in 2014, even though his current deal with Red Bull expires at the end of that year.
But with Alonso sat alongside him after the race, Vettel was pointedly asked whether there was any arrangement, agreement or talk between himself, his representatives and those at Ferrari about a move.
“No, there’s nothing, nothing to tell you, nothing I’ve signed, nothing has changed,” said Vettel.
“I don’t know where it came from. I don’t read much, so it’s quite a surprise when you get to the circuit and get all these questions. Actually, there’s one thing I would like to say about this – you don’t know every single one in the team, and it’s hard to speak to every single one.
“So if there’s some rubbish in the press, obviously there might be some concerns back in the factory. But I’m 100 per cent behind them as I feel they’re 100 per cent behind me.
“Therefore I want to get this straight – there’s nothing to report and I’m very happy at Red Bull Racing.”
That is unsurprising given the turnaround in Vettel’s season over the last four races, from the moment Lewis Hamilton retired with a gearbox failure on lap 23 of the Singapore Grand Prix.
From the 24th, Vettel has led every single lap since, a grand total of 204, a period of dominance matched by precious few in Formula One history.
Around the Buddh International Circuit yesterday, once the five red lights disappeared, not for a single moment did Vettel come under pressure. However, he was wary when asked whether he felt he now had one hand on his third successive world championship.
“This was obviously another good step for us, but there is still a long way to go,” said Vettel.
Alonso did everything he could to stay within touching distance of Vettel, notably after a stunning first-lap battle with the McLaren duo of Hamilton and Jenson Button.
Starting from fifth, Alonso was up to third by the end of lap four, but had to wait until lap 45 and a KERS failure on Mark Webber’s Red Bull to claim second, his best result since winning in Germany in July.
Despite conceding ground to Vettel, Alonso said: “We lost points, but it was the best we could hope for this weekend.
“We were not fast enough to compete against Red Bull, so we lost the minimum amount of points, and as I’ve already said, better races will come.” It is most definitely now a two-horse race because with 75 points up for grabs from the final three races in Abu Dhabi, the United States and Brazil, Lotus’ Kimi Raikkonen, Webber and Hamilton are 67, 73 and 75 points adrift respectively.
That trio are now squabbling over third place on the world title podium.
At least McLaren managed to get two cars home, with Hamilton and Button fourth and fifth, but they are now 101 points behind Red Bull in the constructors’ championship, and 10 off Ferrari.
The minor points placings went to Ferrari’s Felipe Massa in sixth, Raikkonen, Nico Hulkenberg in his Force India, the second Lotus of Romain Grosjean and Williams’ Bruno Senna.
INDIAN GRAND PRIX, New Delhi, India (60 Laps)
1 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 31mins 10.744secs, 2 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 1:31:20.181, 3 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:31:23.961, 4 L Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:31:24.653, 5 J Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:31:37.010, 6 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:31:55.418, 7 K Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 1:31:55.971, 8 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Force India 1:32:05.742, 9 R Grosjean (Fra) Lotus F1 Team 1:32:06.847, 10 B Senna (Bra) Williams 1:32:25.719
WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
Drivers: 1 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 240pts, 2 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 227, 3 K Raikkonen (Fin) Lotus F1 Team 173, 4 M Webber (Aus) Red Bull 167, 5 L Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 165.
Manufacturers: 1 Red Bull 407pts, 2 Ferrari 316, 3 McLaren 306, 4 Lotus F1 Team 263, 5 Mercedes GP 136, 6 Sauber-Ferrari 116, 7 Force India 93, 8 Williams 59, 9 Scuderia Toro Rosso 21, 10 Marussia 0, 11 Caterham 0, 12 HRT-F1 0.
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