From GMM
Two of Sebastian Vettel's key rivals on Sunday wrote off their chances of chasing down the runaway championship leader in 2011.
By winning on the streets of Valencia, German Vettel pulled out a 77 point lead over his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, setting a record for the first ever F1 driver to stand on the top two steps of the podium in the first eight races of a season.
"It's finished really, in the sense of the championship it's almost over already," conceded Lewis Hamilton, fourth in the standings behind his McLaren teammate Jenson Button.
And Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, a further 10 points behind Hamilton and a whopping 99 points behind Vettel despite finishing second on Sunday, admitted: "The championship is not in our calculations.
"If anyone thinks we can win the championship being eight tenths behind (Red Bull), they don't understand formula one."
Meanwhile, most observers agreed that the European grand prix was - as per usual - fairly unspectacular.
"Maybe from the outside it looked like a boring race but I enjoyed it so much," said winner Vettel.
Added Jenson Button: "It wasn't the most exciting race, was it? We need to get our heads down and come up with something -- particularly aerodynamically I think. We need to take some risks."
"I think we're quite a bit down in downforce," said Lewis Hamilton, "and I think that in the next race we may really struggle again."
Two of Sebastian Vettel's key rivals on Sunday wrote off their chances of chasing down the runaway championship leader in 2011.
By winning on the streets of Valencia, German Vettel pulled out a 77 point lead over his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, setting a record for the first ever F1 driver to stand on the top two steps of the podium in the first eight races of a season.
"It's finished really, in the sense of the championship it's almost over already," conceded Lewis Hamilton, fourth in the standings behind his McLaren teammate Jenson Button.
And Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, a further 10 points behind Hamilton and a whopping 99 points behind Vettel despite finishing second on Sunday, admitted: "The championship is not in our calculations.
"If anyone thinks we can win the championship being eight tenths behind (Red Bull), they don't understand formula one."
Meanwhile, most observers agreed that the European grand prix was - as per usual - fairly unspectacular.
"Maybe from the outside it looked like a boring race but I enjoyed it so much," said winner Vettel.
Added Jenson Button: "It wasn't the most exciting race, was it? We need to get our heads down and come up with something -- particularly aerodynamically I think. We need to take some risks."
"I think we're quite a bit down in downforce," said Lewis Hamilton, "and I think that in the next race we may really struggle again."