Sebastian Vettel insists he and Ferrari won't be giving up on winning the title this season, despite the odds looking very much in the favour of his rival, Lewis Hamilton.
Vettel currently sits 59 points adrift of championship leader Hamilton, but just three races ago, the German was a mere three points behind. Rotten reliability and a Singapore start crash have seen Vettel score just 12 points in the same period when Hamilton has scored 68.
Vettel however isn't giving up on his fifth title until it's mathematically impossible.
"We are still in there," he told the official Formula 1 website. "Our chances are slimmer now than they were a couple of races ago, but there is still the chance – and we are going for it.
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"It would be completely wrong to drift off in your thoughts. You have to stay focused.
"We have a great car and we had the package to win the last couple of races. It did not happen, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t win the next races. We look forward to what is next – and this is the race this weekend."
Regardless of the outcome, Vettel says Ferrari should be proud of what they have achieved this season, despite the poor run of form recently.
"So far we had a very good season. Obviously you are always judged by the last couple of races – and they weren’t super! But overall we are the team that has progressed the most. Everybody had expected Red Bull to be very strong this season, but as a fact they were not – at least not at the beginning.
"It was a given that Mercedes would be strong – and they are – but nobody expected us to be as strong as we are. So there are plenty of positives.
"Sure you are always looking at what you are facing at this very moment and that might be a bit tricky, but there are still four races ahead of us – and we have a great car. There is still a massive potential that is not unleashed completely. This is up to us."
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