Lewis Hamilton has been forced to admit that he can no longer win the world title in 2012. Although it is mathematically still possible after Korea, the 2008 World Champion now sits 62 points off new leader Sebastian Vettel with 100 left on offer.
Statistically, any one of six drivers can still clinch the crown this year. In reality, the battle is fast becoming a two-horse race between Vettel and Fernando Alonso. Hamilton’s own Korean race ended in tenth position, complete with a piece of artificial grass being dragged by the car, following a selection of problems.
“I’m exhausted,” he said. “I was told after the race that my car had suffered a rear anti-roll bar failure a few laps into the second stint. It was safe to drive – and I was trying my best with it, pushing all the way – but it was extremely hard to maintain a good pace. The balance was switching from corner to corner, the car was moving around along the straights and it was eating up the tyres.”
Having been forced to make a third stop, McLaren picked up just a single point with Hamilton as Jenson Button had been hit by Kamui Kobayashi on Lap 1.
“I terms of winning, I think that’s it for us,” Hamilton admitted. “So I guess the pressure is off now…there’s so much work to do and it’s just too far away now, but we’ll keep on fighting to get as high as we can for the Constructors’ Championship.”
To make matters worse for McLaren, not only did Red Bull achieve a one-two result on Sunday but the Woking team has now slipped to third, six points behind Ferrari.
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:36:28.651 |
| 2. | M. Webber | Red Bull | +8.231 |
| 3. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | +13.944 |
| 4. | F. Massa | Ferrari | +20.168 |
| 5. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | +36.739 |
| 6. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +45.301 |
| 7. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +54.812 |
| 8. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | +1:09.589 |
| 9. | D. Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | +1:11.787 |
| 10. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | +1:19.692 |
| Full results | |||
| Lewis Hamilton | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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