Formula One news

Vettel still confident for championship

Sebastian Vettel's five-place climb in the Belgian Grand Prix saw the German clinch a podium result to move back into third in the Drivers' Championship. With five races remaining in 2009, the Red Bull pilot believes that the title could swing in any one of four directions before the end of the year.

With the non-finishing Jenson Button now leading Brawn team-mate Rubens Barrichello by 16 points, Vettel is three points behind the Brazilian with the second Red Bull of Mark Webber a further one and a half in arrears.

"I think we got more points that the rest, except those two!" Vettel laughed in the press conference alongside Giancarlo Fisichella and race winner Kimi Räikkönen. "If you look at the championship, it's a good result - I got a good start but unfortunately on the first lap I lost a position to Nico (Rosberg).

Italy, Finland and Germany share the spots on the Spa podium

"I had to catch up in the first stint on the restart but obviously we lost too much ground to the guys ahead; I made no single mistake and I was pushing for every single lap, like qualifying."

With his engine issue still at the back of Red Bull's mind, how does Sebastian rate his chances of picking up the crown this year? "I think it's still open," he continued. "This championship is a bit crazy, to be honest. We saw this weekend that Force India were quick here and will be quick at Monza - it is up and down, so it's important to be consistent.

"Today we took six points out of Jenson, the championship leader. I don't know what happened to him. It would have been nice to finish first today but, after the result yesterday, it is the best we could do."

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