Vettel: Alonso has yet to congratulate me
Although Fernando Alonso did say congrats in his post-Abu Dhabi press release, Seb Vettel has revealed that the Spaniard has yet to say it personally.
Vettel beat Alonso to the 2010 World Championship at the final hurdle in Abu Dhabi, winning the grand prix to take the title by four points ahead of the Spaniard.
Since then it's been a wirlwind week for the 23-year-old, who has been to Austria, England, back to Abu Dhabi for a two-day Pirelli test and then on to his hometown of Heppenheim in Germany.
And although he spent the two-day Pirelli test in the same vacinity as Alonso, Vettel says the Ferrari driver never came over to congratulate him.
"He still has not congratulated me," Vettel told AFP when asked if the Alonso had contacted him.
But, Alonso's lack of personal greeting side, Vettel says this past week has been one of the most amazing of his life as he settles down to life as a Formula One World Champ.
However, he still can't quite believe that it's real even after being greeted by 15,000 screaming fans during a homecoming celebration in Heppenheim, Germany.
"I have been hoping all the time that I don't wake up from this," he said. "It's all a bit unreal for me, it seems my face was on the front page of every German newspaper.
"I find it all a bit hard to take in, because at the end of the day, I am just a normal boy."
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Ricciardo blows other rookies away
Daniel Ricciardo was in class of his own as he dominated the timesheets on the opening day of the young drivers test in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday.
The Red Bull rookie was nearly 1.5 seconds quicker than the next fastest driver on the track and his best time of 1:39.616 was just 0.222 off Sebastian Vettel's pole position time the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. In fact, his time would've seen him qualify P3 behind Vettel and Lewis Hamilton on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Australian, who is the reserve driver for both Red Bull and sister team Toro Rosso in 2010, admitted before the two-day test that there were pressure on him to perform in Abu Dhabi following an excellent showing last year.
"There will be more expectations," he told the Australian Associated Press. "Last year's test went well and now having spent a year with them, they'll expect pretty solid feedback. There is more pressure on me to be fastest, especially as the team has won the Constructors' Championship and everyone knows it's probably the fastest car out there nine times out of ten - but I just want to enjoy it, that's the main thing. Not many 21-year-old kids can drive the fastest car around."
McLaren's Oliver Turvey was next fastest with a 1:41.094 with Antonio Félix da Costa, one of two Force India drivers who tested on the first day, a further 0.287 off his pace.
Esteban Gutierrez from Sauber and Renault's Mikhail Aleshin completed the top five with a 1:41.834 and 1:42.073 respectively.
Ferrari's Jules Bianchi was down in 10th place - more than four seconds off Ricciardo best effort - while Pastor Maldonado, who has been linked with a move to either Williams or Hispania next year, was 11th fastest with a 1:43.940.
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Renault hand D'Ambrosio, Aleshin tests
Jerome D'Ambrosio and Mikhail Aleshin will share testing duties for Renauult at the young driver test in Abu Dhabi.
Belgian driver Belgian D'Ambrosio, the current Renault reserve driver along with Ho-Pin Tung and Jan Charouz, took part in Friday practice sessions for Virgin Racing in Singapore, Japan, Korea and Brazil.
There are strong reports that D'Ambrosio will take over from either Lucas di Grassi or Timo Glock at the Donnington-based team next season.
Russian Mikhail Aleshin, 23, won this year's Formula Renault 3.5 title to earn himself the young driver test.
The young drivers test will take place at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi on November 16 and 17.
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Prac Two: Bulls dominance continues
Red Bull continued to dominate in Brazil on Friday as Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber were once again the pick of the drivers.
Vettel finished the session in the P1 slot and, for the second successive session, he edged team-mate Mark Webber. This time, though, the gap was only 0.104s as opposed to the half a second he was up by in Practice One.
Fernando Alonso came back from his earlier woes to set the third best time, 0.360s behind Vettel, while Lewis Hamilton was fourth quickest.
As for the fifth chap in the Drivers' Championship, Jenson Button, he was P7, finishing behind Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica.
Report: The track temperature was sitting at 44'C as Friday's second practice got underway with a bit of cloud cover building over the Interlagos circuit. Christian Klien was the first out, crossing the line with a 1:19.965 but was soon down to a 1:18.504 before he was dropped by Kamui Kobayashi, who was back on track after crashing as a result of a puncture in Practice One.
Nick Heidfeld took over at the top only to lose out to Nico Hulkenberg before retaining the position. The two changed positions a few times, although their tussle ended when Lewis Hamilton went quickest with a 1:13.603. Jenson Button claimed fourth place before he was dropped by Robert Kubica. Michael Schumacher improved to second place only for Hamilton to further his advantage, which was now sitting at 0.770s. Button climbed to third while Kubica moved back up into second place.
It was all change as Mark Webber took the P1 slot with a 1:12.923 and Felipe Massa second. The Brazilian, though, quickly fell to fourth place as Hamilton improved to P2 and Fernando Alonso went third only for Massa to take the position off his Ferrari team-mate. Schumacher remained fifth ahead of Kubica, Heidfeld and Button.
Webber extended his lead at the top to a 1:12.387 as his team-mate Sebastian Vettel slotted into second place, 0.5s off the pace. Are we on for another Red Bull 1-2? Vettel continued lapping and although he closed the gap he was not able to dislodge Webber. Button ventured out again, climbing to fifth place while Kubica and Schumacher traded blows in a battle for seventh place. The Polish driver eventually won. The two Bulls also returned to the action, however, there were no changes in positions as the drivers put in the laps.
Massa had a small moment at Decida do Lago, running wide before continuing on his way. No improvement for the Ferrari driver, who pitted after two more laps. Heikki Kovalainen was another to run wide. Heidfeld, using the softer option tyres, leapt up to fifth place, 0.8s of the pace. Massa on his super softs also improved, taking third place. But seconds later the Brazilian stopped out on track, bringing out the yellow flags.
Meanwhile, Webber put his soft tyres to great use, lowering the benchmark time to a 1:12.072. Alonso slotted into third place behind the Bulls with Hamilton taking fourth. Button improved to seventh, the slowest of the Championship contenders. Alonso finally split the Bulls, second quickest with a 1:12.328. Vettel headed out and found the edge over his team-mate, taking the P1 slot by 0.104s.
The final few minutes saw the entire field out on track with Alguersuari having a spin, Kobayashi sliding, Schumacher taking off Alguersuari's front wing and Vettel finishing quickest of all.
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Lewis hopes to have Jense in his corner
Lewis Hamilton would be happy for Jenson Button to support him in his quest to win the Formula One World Championship.
It is a matter McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has confirmed will come under discussion before the next race in Brazil.
If McLaren opt to head down that route it is one Button is unlikely to be impressed with given his stance following Sunday's Korean Grand Prix.
After finishing 12th at the end of a chaotic race due to a variety of issues with his car, Button, who trails race winner and Championship leader Fernando Alonso by 42 points, was initially defeatist.
With only 50 to play for, Button admitted his hopes of retaining his title were "pretty much gone".
Yet an hour later after a period of contemplation and being faced with the question as to whether he would support Hamilton, who is 21 points behind Alonso, the response was a touch more steely and insisted that while he was still mathematically in the hunt, he would fight to the bitter end.
Whether Whitmarsh will view it that way is another matter, however, but given Button's strong views this year on being a number two driver it is likely to be an intriguing conversation.
Whitmarsh will be fully aware of Button's stance as the 30-year-old has made it clear he would be unwilling to entertain such a role.
From Hamilton's perspective he can appreciate the awkward position Whitmarsh is now in, although in an ideal world would relish having Button in his corner in Brazil and Abu Dhabi.
"We both push as hard as we can to score as many points as we can for the team," said Hamilton.
"Clearly we're both far behind, him further than me. I'm 21 points behind, so I've got to get a lot of points.
"I don't know what will happen. You will have to speak to Martin on what he thinks he will have to do.
"All I know is I have to get as high up as possible, and it would be fantastic to have Jenson with me."
As far as Whitmarsh is concerned, the issue will be reviewed as he said: "I think at the moment we will think about that.
"We had a disappointing day with Jenson, whilst Lewis is still very much in the hunt.
"Mathematically it's not impossible for Jenson, but it looks quite tough, very difficult for him.
"So we'll talk about that before we get to Brazil."
Of greater concern for Hamilton is that despite a raft of updates on the car for the race, he found himself trailing the Red Bulls by half a second in qualifying.
In the wet conditions, despite his urgency to race, his car again lacked pace and it was only by good fortune he finished second to Alonso as Red Bull suffered their first double DNF for 51 races.
Hamilton is clearly worried as he said: "The Red Bulls have still got the fastest car, Fernando still has the second-fastest and I've got the third.
"It's just not quick enough. They have more downforce than us at the moment, although I think maybe in the dry we would have been closer to them, but in the wet we really struggled."
Hamilton knows he cannot rely on the kind of luck that came his way in Korea if he is to overhaul Alonso and Red Bull's Mark Webber, who is 10 points ahead of the Briton after he crashed out.
"Generally our qualifying pace isn't good enough, but I think we have some positive things coming for the final two races," added Hamilton.
"It's not impossible. We'll keep pushing and putting pressure on because we saw in Korea things can happen.
"I really wasn't expecting to see the two Red Bulls drop out, but this is how incredibly close this championship is.
"Obviously Fernando and the Ferraris are very, very quick, but it's still not out of reach."
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Button: I'm just going to enjoy the ride
Jenson Button is aiming to simply "go out and enjoy" the inaugural Korean Grand Prix as he tries to make up ground in the race for the title.
The McLaren driver has not been able to match the pace of Ferrari and Red Bull in recent races and is now 31 points adrift of Championship leader Mark Webber.
To haul himself back into title contention, Button is likely to have to end a victory drought that stretches back to the fourth race of the season in China.
And now the 30-year-old feels that the pressure is off and he will have nothing to lose in Korea's maiden Formula One race on Sunday.
"I'm just going to go out and enjoy it and see what happens," said Button.
"It's not the easiest position for me to be in, 30 points behind, but we are going to give it all we can. We've three races to go and 75 points to play for, so it is still possible.
"But we have to hope we can fight on a level playing field with the Red Bull, and that's our aim."
However, the defending Champion realises that McLaren's pace needs to improve if they are to challenge for wins again and is hoping that the upgrades that were rushed onto the car for Japan last time out will come good.
Button added: "We've some good updates and hopefully fingers crossed it will make enough of a difference, and if it does we're still in the hunt.
"Some of the upgrades we had in Japan we knew we had to put them on the car because we want to fight for the Championship.
"But I think we put them on the car a little early because they were scheduled for here.
"But we have them on the car now and hopefully they're going to work correctly - I'm sure they are - so I'm looking forward to driving the car around here."
Button thinks the rollercoaster nature of the season, where no team or driver has been able to establish a significant advantage, will continue in the final three grands prix.
"For all of us it's been quite up and down. We've all had some pretty poor events and some pretty good events as well," Button said.
"It's made the Championship very exciting, so I'm looking forward to the next three races. I'm sure it's going to be pretty mixed up.
"If you look at the last few races Ferrari and Red Bull have had the legs on us. But I'm hoping in these next three we'll be closer and that will make for an exciting fight to the end of the season."
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Button: All the pressure is on Webber
The mind games have officially started as Jenson Button says while Mark Webber he may be talented, he may not be able to cope with the pressure of leading the title race.
With four races to go, Webber is leading the Drivers' Championship by a slim margin of just 11 points over Fernando Alonso. The latter, though, is not the only World Champ in the race as both Button and his McLaren team-mate Lewis Hamilton have a shot at glory.
And it's that trio of Champs who Button is putting his money on as he believes their past experience could help them overhaul Webber as the Red Bull driver feels the pressure of being in an unfamiliar position.
"There are a lot of very talented drivers in F1 and when you feel you are under pressure you can make mistakes, so it could possibly make a difference," said Button.
"We all say that Lewis, Fernando and myself, we have all won a Championship, so maybe that is less pressure - I don't really know. But I feel a lot more relaxed this year than I did last year.
"Mark has found himself in a position where he is leading the World Championship and has worked very hard for that, but it is a very stressful position to be in. And no disrespect to Mark, he is a very talented driver, but it is a position he has never found himself in before.
"We will see how he copes over the next few races. He has a very quick team-mate as well, and is trying to claw points back on him. So there will be a lot of action over the next few races.
"It is about keeping your car clean with no tyre marks on it, but also pushing it to the limit and getting the most points you can. It is a tricky compromise but that is what makes it fun."
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