Vettel title took ’brutal lunge’ at Spa - de la Rosa

Niki Lauda has scoffed at Spa winner Sebastian Vettel’s claim that the fight for the 2011 world champion is still on.

"Things can change quickly, two races you are out and others have good races," the Red Bull driver said after extending his runaway points lead into the 90s with now just seven races to run.

Vettel has now scored more points in 2011 than he did to win his first title last year.

McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who crashed out heavily on Sunday, acknowledged the near-impossibility of the task.

"Everyone should forget about the title because it is not going to happen," said the Briton.

Triple world champion and now German-language pundit Lauda agrees.

"It’s certainly all over," he said. "No question about it, the only question is when. It (Vettel’s title) could happen theoretically in Singapore. It could easily happen in Japan but for sure in Korea if not before."

McLaren test driver Pedro de la Rosa told Spain’s Europa Press that Vettel’s win on Sunday was a "brutal lunge" for the German "towards the championship".

The veteran said the 24-year-old would "have to do very badly" to fail to win now.

"He already has more points than he scored in total last year, which indicates the alarming situation for the championship with a clear dominance," added de la Rosa.

Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the lead Ferrari driver with a more than 100-point deficit to Vettel, agreed that "there are cars that are normal and one car that is a bullet".

"The earlier the work we can do on the car for next year," he added, "the better."