Sepang: Sebastian Vettel is wasting no energy in his title fight with Lewis Hamilton.
By causing a crash at the Singapore Grand Prix two weeks ago, the Ferrari driver threw away a golden chance to regain the championship lead from his title rival.
It put him 28 points behind Hamilton with six races to go, starting with this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. But Vettel said he has already put it out of his mind.
“I’m not too fussed about the amount of points,” he said. “It doesn’t change anything for how we tackle the last races. It’s part of racing. Not much point looking at it over and over again, your energy is best spent looking forward.”
Vettel said he “moved on” within two days of the incident. However, he does concede that the past two races in Italy — where he finished third — and Singapore were below par for a team of Ferrari’s high standards.
“If you look at the last two races, we’re not happy and we’re not proud of them,” said Vettel, who has won four times in Malaysia.
Mercedes have the upper hand and Vettel’s margin for error is increasingly small. He can ill afford another blip in Malaysia, where the intense heat and stifling humidity make it one of Formula One’s toughest races.
Singapore offered some respite, since it was a night race, but this one is raced in afternoon heat with 80 per cent humidity. Cockpit temperatures reach around 50 degrees Celsius.
“It’s like being in a sauna. We have all of our gear on and the car is hot as well,” Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas said. “The seat itself is warm, and then we’re surrounded in the cockpit by the electrical boxes.”
Drivers can expect to shed five per cent of their body weight in fluid loss.
“Fatigue sets in,” Bottas added. “It’s more difficult to be consistent and, in the very worst cases, you can develop cramps or even problems with your vision.”
The undulating 5.5-kilometre track — a mixture of long straights and quick, sweeping corners — is also one of the most challenging for drivers. Many will miss the Sepang International Circuit, which is hosting its final race this weekend.
“They are taking away one of the toughest, if not the toughest, race of the season,” Hamilton said. “It is sad to think this is our last race at Sepang.”
Neither Vettel nor Hamilton have fond memories of last year, however, with both failing to finish the race as Red Bull clinched a 1-2 with Ricciardo holding off Max Verstappen.
Vettel could use a helping hand from the Austrian team now.
Red Bull have been improving in recent weeks and looked strong in Singapore qualifying, placing both cars ahead of Hamilton and Bottas.
Ricciardo appears particularly strong, with his second-place finish in Singapore earning him a seventh podium position in the past 10 races. Without a troublesome gearbox, the Australian might even have challenged for the win.
On a track that suits Red Bull well, a similar grid position on Sunday would be ideal for Vettel — providing he can avoid crashing again.
That Vettel finds himself in a chess-like scenario is much of his own making, and he must still be waking up at night with cold sweats thinking of Singapore. He made a sloppy error of judgement heading into the first turn, taking out his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen and Verstappen — both of whom could realistically have denied Hamilton a podium finish and crucial points.
Understandably, given that they have not won a driver’s championship since Raikkonen’s title in 2007, Ferrari were not impressed.
Although Vettel deserves huge credit for turning the team into contenders again, he owes them a big performance here, and Hamilton is bracing himself for a strong response.
“Greats generally bounce back, so I have to anticipate this weekend he’ll bounce back,” Hamilton said. “He’s a four-time world champion.”
