F1 boss Ross Brawn has backed Sebastian Vettel to bounce back and continue to fight for the 2017 title. After Singapore, where the Ferrari driver was blamed for the first-corner crash, the Italian press said it was the death knell for Vettel's title hopes.
But Brawn, the F1 sporting boss, does not even agree that Singapore was clearly the German's fault. "Such a thing can always happen," he told Germany's Sport Bild. "It was a typical first lap accident," Brawn added.
And the Briton, who was the technical boss at Ferrari throughout the super-successful Michael Schumacher era, also backed Vettel to recover his 28 point deficit to Lewis Hamilton. "The world championship is by no means over," said Brawn. "There are still six races to go. Vettel and Ferrari are so strong that they can still win the world cup on their own power."
Brawn admitted that he has a soft spot for Vettel and Ferrari, saying the pairing reminds him of his time at Maranello with Schumacher. "It's inevitable that Sebastian and Ferrari remind me of my time at Ferrari," he admitted.
"Sebastian resembles Michael very much in the way he stands by the team and sees himself as part of the whole. And I recognise the same discipline and focus in bringing Ferrari back to the top. It will remain a tough battle between Lewis and him, but if he does it, he will have earned it," Brawn said. (GMM)
Ross has to be the diplomat - it comes with the job. My heart tells me Lewis has the tied up now, head to head he's better than Vettel for me, sure he has highs and lows, don't we all? but when it comes down to it - Id put my money on Lewis doing the business every time. The only thing that Im worried about is reliability - I think Mercedes showed last year they were not as reliable as the Ferrari - it's surprising the issues they faced last year haven't resurfaced and I really hope they do not again this year ! Reliability cost Lewis the title in 2016, we could have been talking about Lewis heading for his fifth..... Vettel's good, but he's a hot head and when the pressure is on, he makes more mistakes, just look at the car ramming incident a couple races ago - that's why when it comes to it I don't think he would handle the pressure of a tight run in better than Hamilton - so, if its tight because of reliability, I;d still pick Hamilton ahead of Vettel in a tight run in. Hamilton's to lose. Roll on next race !
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Replies (4)
Login to replyRindtchamp
Posts: 304
As much as I admire and respect Ross, I have to disagree , its now a done deal.
Congrats Lewis!
f1dave
Posts: 782
As long as they keep penalizing drivers for mechanical failures there is no drivers championship.
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
The constructor's championship is probably over, but with some luck it might not be too late for the driver's championship.
blade
Posts: 341
Ross has to be the diplomat - it comes with the job. My heart tells me Lewis has the tied up now, head to head he's better than Vettel for me, sure he has highs and lows, don't we all? but when it comes down to it - Id put my money on Lewis doing the business every time. The only thing that Im worried about is reliability - I think Mercedes showed last year they were not as reliable as the Ferrari - it's surprising the issues they faced last year haven't resurfaced and I really hope they do not again this year ! Reliability cost Lewis the title in 2016, we could have been talking about Lewis heading for his fifth..... Vettel's good, but he's a hot head and when the pressure is on, he makes more mistakes, just look at the car ramming incident a couple races ago - that's why when it comes to it I don't think he would handle the pressure of a tight run in better than Hamilton - so, if its tight because of reliability, I;d still pick Hamilton ahead of Vettel in a tight run in. Hamilton's to lose. Roll on next race !