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Vettel refuses to give in despite huge points gap to Hamilton

15:15, 07 Oct 2018

byJake Williams-Smith

Sebastian Vettel has refused to admit defeat despite a lowly sixth place finish at the Japanese Grand Prix all but ending his hopes of a fifth world title this season. Vettel would need to outscore Hamilton by 68 points in the next four races to win the world championship.

After a difficult race at Suzuka, the German refused to admit that the fight was over, maintaining that until it's confirmed that they cannot win the title, they have nothing to lose.

"It's difficult from where we are, but what do we have to lose? We'll give it everything we can.

"Let's see what the next races bring. I don't think it can grow any bigger!

"There's still some important things that we can understand and learn about the car. Obviously if races go like this then it's a bit of handover, but we're trying our utmost to fight and resist.

Vettel also spoke about how the team hadn't given up the fight for the championship either, although after their disastrous Japanese Grand Prix weekend they will need to fix their lack of direction fast to stand any chance.

"I find it quite inspirational - you walk in the garage and the guys are all fired up," he added.

"That's certainly helped. Obviously it's not been an easy couple of weeks, but the spirit in the team considering how touch the last weeks is unbroken."