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Vettel vows to ’fight hard’ despite huge lead

"We are going to keep on doing our maximum"

By GMM

8 September 2011 - 10:25

Even with his massive championship lead, Sebastian Vettel is not prepared to relax just yet.

It is mathematically possible that the Red Bull driver will wrap up his second title in Singapore in two weeks.

But he told the DAPD news agency: "If you fail twice, and someone else has a few good races, then things can change.

"So we are going to keep on doing our maximum," Vettel said ahead of the Italian grand prix at Monza.

The German told Kleine Zeitung newspaper: "Unless I have the title in the bag, I have nothing. You never know what is going to happen.

"Of course it’s nice to have a head start so that maybe you feel a little safer, but still you cannot rest — you have to fight hard until the end."

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh insists that his drivers, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, will not give up until the calculator no longer gives them a chance.

"That is the appropriate thing for our team," he told the Die Welt newspaper. "We exist to win. It’s in our DNA.

"Sebastian had an exceptionally good start to the season, but on the other hand Red Bull has only won two of the last six races. It looks to me as though we and Ferrari have caught up.

"In that situation you can’t give up," added Whitmarsh. "As far as I am concerned there are seven races left and we can win them all."

He also denied that Red Bull has stumbled upon a secret recipe for guaranteed success in F1.

"I’ve learned that it is extremely difficult to win continuously," said Whitmarsh. "Just look at Ferrari and what they did with Michael Schumacher, and what happened afterwards."