Vettel sets goal of winning every remaining race

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Sebastian Vettel has set his sights on winning all six races that are left in the 2018 Formula 1 world championship.

"If we win every race from now on, we are safe. That must be the goal from now on," he told Auto Bild.

It's the only way the Ferrari driver can see to stay in control and salvage his waning title campaign, after slipping 40 points behind chief rival Lewis Hamilton following the Singapore Grand Prix.

"Nothing is lost," he insisted to La Gazzetta dello Sport this week. "We will be calm and determined for the last races and fight to the end."

If Vettel were to win every race, forcing Hamilton to settle for second on each occasion, then he would gain 42 points over his rival by the time the chequered flag flies in Abu Dhabi on November 25.

That would be enough to make him a five-time world champion. And Vettel says he believes his past track record proves he's more than up to the challenge.

"First, because I can. I've proved it four times," he explained. "My driving style has given me four world titles and 52 victories.

"Second, because we have a car that is on par with Mercedes," he added. "I can still become world champion with my own power and so I'll continue to fight.

Vettel: 'The way we raced, we didn't have a chance'

"Singapore didn't help," he admitted, having finished in third place while Hamilton romped to victory. "It's disappointing if you can win races and you do not. But I still think we can only beat ourselves."

Vettel has defended the 'risky' strategy employed by Ferrari at Singapore which ultimately didn't may off in the race.

"Everyone is afraid to fail, and I'm as aware as anyone that sometimes when you risk, it goes wrong. But you can't let it paralyse you.

"Ayrton Senna said that if you don't go for a gap anymore then you're not a racing driver, and I agree. The same applies to risky strategies as we saw in Singapore. I will always defend my team," he insisted.

Vettel's former boss, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, is backing the German driver to come back in the final races of the season.

"Obviously it looks as though Lewis is in charge, but Seb is very good under pressure and certainly will not give up," Horner said to Brazil's Globo. "Ferrari has a very fast car and there are 150 points available."

But former Formula 1 driver Alex Zanardi feared that the moment has passed for Vettel's current campaign, citing the disappointment of Singapore.

"It was only one race, but it reflected the state of affairs of this season," Zanardi told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"After Monza everyone had the impression that a victory would put things right again. But Lewis drove everyone into the ground with a perfect, almost poetic performance.

"You could see on Seb's face that the balance of power has changed.

"In pure mathematics, Ferrari can keep believing. But more realistically is that Hamilton is the one who is dominating."

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.