Sebastian Vettel is trying to shrug-off the by-now-familiar booing after his Formula One race wins and rather take them as a compliment from jealous Ferrari fans.
The Red Bull driver was jeered again at the victory podium interviews after completely outclassing the opposition again at the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday, which even prompted interviewer Martin Brundle to step in.
“Please don’t do that, that’s not correct,” Brundle told the hecklers.
Vettel’s future team-mate Daniel Ricciardo tweeted “Disappointed to hear some fans response to Vettels domination. Cant have hate for excellence,” and Vettel’s team principal Christian Horner was naturally also not amused.
“It’s so unfair. It’s not sporting. The boy has driven an unbelievable race. Of course he says it doesn’t affect him, but he’s a human being,” Horner said.
Vettel’s total dominance in which Ferrari star Fernando Alonso continues to play second fiddle at best, and the German’s controversial passing move on Mark Webber against team orders earlier in the season in Malaysia appear to be the reason for the boos.
“It’s not nice but I think you should look around the grandstands.
"Most of the fans are dressed in red, Ferrari has a very strong fan base for a reason: they have a lot of tradition in Formula One, they’ve been around longer and won, and they’ve been more successful than any other team.
“Obviously they are quite emotional when they are not winning and if somebody else is winning, they don’t really like it and as it seems they are on a tour. They are wealthy enough to go to a lot of races.” “As long as they keep booing, we are doing a very good job so that’s the way I see it.” Vettel and Red Bull were indeed absolute masterclass under the floodlights, winning a whopping 32 seconds ahead of Alonso who appears more and more inclined to throw in the towel given his 60-point deficit with six races left and no sign of being able to stop Vettel.
“Obviously we have to be realistic. The gap is still increasing every weekend. We need to be honest with ourselves and knowing that we need a lot of luck. We don’t need luck only in Korea; we need luck in Korea, in Japan, in India, in Abu Dhabi. We need luck every weekend if we are one second off the pace,” Alonso said.
Alonso still insisted that he will remain “a very uncomfortable opponent” in the closing stages of the season and ready to capitalise if Vettel should suffer a similar fate as team-mate Mark Webber, who retired in the last lap in Singapore.
“If Alonso continues like this Vettel will only be assured of the title defence when he has achieved it mathematically,” Germany’s Sueddeutsche Zeitung said on Monday in praise of the Spaniard’s latest fight to the podium through the field, up from seventh on the grid.
But Britain’s Daily Telegraph said: “Red Bull’s runaway championship leader extended his lead still further in this year’s title race with a demonstration of such control and power that his rivals may as well give up now.” Vettel was his usual cautious self although the indications are growing that he will clinch the title prematurely as in 2011 and not in the final race as in 2010 and 2012.
In theory, it could happen with four races to spare on October 13 in Japan, as two years ago, if all goes Vettel’s way there and a week earlier in South Korea.
Ex-champion Niki Lauda suggested to declare Vettel champion right away and Britain’s Daily Mail would also not bet a cent on Alonso.
“Based on this saunter in Singapore, it will take North Korea to invade South Korea, an earthquake to hit Japan, dengue fever to take hold in India, a sandstorm to brew in Abu Dhabi, a shooting to convulse Texas and a gunpoint mugging in Brazil to disturb Sebastian Vettel’s serene progress to his latest world title.
“And even then he would probably come through,” the Daily Mail said.