Vettel adamant he can win title

Date published : 30 Aug 2010 - 14:00:42

Sebastian Vettel is adamant he can still win this year's Formula One world title despite throwing away yet more points.

For the third time this season Vettel failed to score a point as he trundled home a lowly 15th at the end of a Belgian Grand Prix that turned into a disaster for the German.

Assessing the title situation, Vettel, who is now 31 points behind Lewis Hamilton and 28 adrift of Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, said: "Let's wait and see. There are still six races to come and we have all seen how quickly things can change. I know I should have been on the podium at least. But everything is still possible. I can still make it happen."

Vettel was running third behind McLaren duo Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button when the 23-year-old attacked the latter on lap 17, only to lose control of his car under braking into the bus stop chicane.

As he wrestled with his Red Bull, Vettel skewed one way then the other before spearing into the sidepod on the left-hand side of Button's car, bursting the radiator and forcing him into retirement.

It was an error scathingly criticised by McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh as "not what you would expect to see in Formula One, more reminiscent of junior formulae".

After serving a drive-through penalty, Vettel's woes were later compounded when he suffered a puncture after running over the front wing of Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi.

Explaining the incident with Button, Vettel added: "What happened, happened and we can't change it now.

"Obviously I'm not proud of it. I lost the car going over a bump as I was braking and unfortunately hit Jenson. I'm sorry for him."