Hamilton says F1 title race is almost over

"I think it's finished really," the McLaren driver told reporters after finishing fourth in an uneventful European Grand Prix. "In the sense of the championship it's almost over already."

Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, beat Vettel in China in April but that victory was achieved with better strategy rather than a quicker car. He is now fourth in the standings and 89 points behind Vettel.

The German is 77 points ahead of his nearest challengers, McLaren's Jenson Button and Red Bull team mate Mark Webber, with 11 races to go and a maximum 275 points to be won.

Since Hamilton's win in China, all the signs are that the Red Bull has speeded up while McLaren - who won a rain-hit Canadian race two weeks ago with Button - have fallen further off the pace and behind Ferrari in normal conditions.

"In all honesty we weren't as quick as the Ferraris so even if I was ahead of them I would have really struggled to have stayed ahead," said Hamilton.

"It seems like we've take a step backwards perhaps this weekend in terms of performance or the others have taken a step forward again."

Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, second on Sunday, is fifth in the championship and 99 points behind the leader. He too was pushing title talk to the back of his mind.

"At the moment, I don't think we can think of the championship in a proper way," said Spain's double world champion.

"It's not in our hands. At the moment we're one second behind, or eight 10ths behind so if anyone thinks we can win a championship being eight 10ths behind it's because maybe they don't understand Formula One."

Hamilton could at least take some comfort from a collision-free race after two controversial grands prix in Monaco and Canada but that was the bare minimum. Kazinform cites China Daily. See www.chinadaily.com.cn for full verison