Vettel admits Schumacher record ’possible’ in 2011

The unique Montreal layout might weaken his dominance for a weekend, but the general view in the F1 paddock is that Sebastian Vettel is on a stroll to back-to-back titles.

Indeed, Germany’s Auto Motor und Sport thinks the 23-year-old could even trouble Michael Schumacher’s record for the most number of wins in a single season.

The record dates back to 2004, when Schumacher utterly dominated by winning 13 of the 18 races on the calendar — 72 per cent. If Vettel wins 8 of the remaining 13 races this year, his winning percentage will be 73 per cent.

Can he do it? "Nothing is impossible," said the young German.

"It is certainly not impossible," agrees record-holder and Vettel’s friend Schumacher, "but I don’t think Sebastian is bothered with statistics, only the end result."

Added Vettel: "If you look at Michael’s records, some of them will be very hard to break. I’m not thinking about it. Each race is very tight, there are too many variables and it’s too far away."

Schumacher’s 2004 teammate Rubens Barrichello, however, would not bet against the feat.

"There is no limit. Everything is achievable," said the Brazilian.

Added Nick Heidfeld: "I think the dominance of Ferrari at that time was quite special. For Red Bull it’s a bit more track-dependant and we could perhaps see that for example here (in Canada).

"I do think he could do it, but McLaren in particular is a tough opponent," said Heidfeld. "If you look at the past few years, they have caught up by the end of the season."

McLaren’s Jenson Button said the record is "possible" for Vettel in 2011, "but hopefully it’s not realistic".

"Our goal is to make sure that doesn’t happen," added the Briton.

"Red Bull’s qualifying pace is outstanding but their race pace is not as strong as they would like. On tracks where you can overtake, like here where there is always a good race, we can beat them."