Vettel's Title?

Six races into the 2011 Formula 1 championship and Sebastian Vettel has already racked up five victories and a second place finish. With other drivers unable to consistently stick behind him, Vettel is now beginning to expand his lead week upon week and has nearly double the points of his nearest rival. Surely at this rate, he is the runaway favourite to win the championship, no?

His near-faultless driving has been backed up with a spot on tactical display. Every race, Vettel seems to be able to pit at exactly the right times, use the ideal tyres at all times and implement perfect race strategies. I think it’s safe to say that if Vettel can remain this consistent all season, he will run away with the championship this year. The important word there being if. It’s safe to say that Red Bull is this year’s top constructor with also arguably the sport’s top race driver, but that by no means means he is garuanteed the victory.

So young in his career, can Sebastian Vettel hold on to his lead and win a second successive Formula 1 championship or will Hamilton and co. bridge the gap to make for an exciting finish to the formula one season?

I don't think many people would call what happened at Monaco the perfect race strategy.

people who keep stating the season is not over are delusional. vettel has dominated this season and won 5 out of 6 races. what is to say he wont win the next 5 out of 6.....there isnt! Vettel has the dominant car, 100% team backing, a weak teammate and rivals such as mclaren who are more interested in destroying lewis' title ambitions than bridging the gap to the german. Mclaren have become an unprofessional joke of a team and everyone knows this including lewis. He is better than the team and its the poor strategy, amateurish pit stops and school boy mistakes within the team that are holding back lewis in his attempts to stop seb. The season is well and truly over in terms of the title and even 'bella fernando' admitted this. They say this is another classic season but in my opinion compared to last season it doesnt come close. We may have more exciting races and the quantity of overtaking has gone up, however we have a runaway leader and the quality of overtaking has drastically gone down. The fact that the sport is now a conservation of tyres world championship instead of actual motor racing this season is also a major disappointment.

Vettel has it won.

Even it you manage to catch him in the race, there's little chance of passing him. He got total mastery over his mind and the rest of the pack.

He's simply awesome.

Funny, isn't it?

People were complaining the last couple of seasons about boring, processional races, despite the title races being very close fought.

Now we have more action on track than we can keep up with, but a runaway title leader and people are STILL complaining.

The facts of the matter are Red Bull have enjoyed a certain amount of luck over the last couple of races and have also had to start out-thinking McLaren and Ferrari to stay ahead, as the performance of the car alone is no longer enough.

Vettel was aided by the poor location of the DRS activation zone in Barcelona. He also has his team to thank for deciding to 1-stop him in Monaco, letting him keep the lead on a circuit where track position is all-important...even above having good tyres.

Red Bull's other advantage, the off-throttle diffuser blowing, is set to be curtailed soon.

So while Red Bull and Vettel may have already done enough to wrap up consecutive titles, I don't think they'll be running away with races like they have done. But for some bungled strategies and pit stops, McLaren would have more points on the board than they do.

On a final note, anyone who believes McLaren would deliberately sabotage either of their drivers is delusional. No team would knowingly risk losing points, which help their constructors' standings, which can affect future sponsorship and their garage slots for next season, not to mention their car numbers.

When the FIA ban the use of the "exhaust management system" . I think that Redbull will not be as dominant as they are now, I think the top 4 teams will be very evenly matched.

There is a long way to go yet... if Vettel were to have a few retirements and get is confidence knocked anything could happen!

Plus it all could and probably will change when they ban the blown diffuser.

This isn't a nice thing to say, but the season could do with a couple of DNFs from Vettel.

That would bring the pack close together.

I still have my doubts about Vettel but he's doing a great job at the moment, making the car advantage work for him.