Singapore - A drive-through penalty in Sunday's Singapore Formula One Grand Prix might have killed Sebastian Vettel's chances to stay in contention for the world championship, but his Red Bull team tried hard to keep its spirits up. "There's always the chance. We want to do the best we can and see what happens," said Vettel after finishing fourth in the Singapore night race, thus missing the chance to gain ground more than a point on championship leader Jenson Button.
Vettel's teammate Mark Webber, who started from fourth place, had to retire from the race in round 46 due to brake problems.
Vettel was caught speeding in the pit lane during his second fuel stop and was given a drive-through penalty.
"I had no rush, I had no reason to do anything stupid in the pit lane," said Vettel, noting that he was "very surprised" to get a penalty for speeding.
He said that "maybe it's an electronic problem" with his car.
"It's a pity, we could have been second," said the disappointed Red Bull driver.
With just three races remaining, the German is a distant third in the driver's championship, 25 points behind Brawn GP's Button.
The Briton finished fifth in Singapore, a result which felt "like a win" for him after a disastrous qualifying.
Red Bull sporting director Christian Horner said it was impossible to predict the outcome of the championship as the season had "so many ups and downs."
"On that basis, I wouldn't write off Sebastian," he said.
Red Bull had lost some opportunities during the season, said Horner, but the team could hold their heads up going into next weekend's race in Japan
"We still got three races to go which is the opportunity for three potential race wins," said Horner.
"We will attack every race," he added.
