Red Bull, Vettel favorite for the world championship thanks to the new double-DRS

The last five races of the season will be a head-to-head between Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel. The two double world champions will compete for the third drivers' title to add to their palmares. Mathematically, however, there are still plenty of drivers in contention, including Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Jenson Button, Nico Rosberg and even Romain Grosjean and Felipe Massa.

But according to the German newspaper Bild, Vettel "will be world champion" after dominating in Suzuka and reducing the deficit to just four points from Fernando Alonso, who retired due to a contact at the first corner.

Until a few weeks ago the Spaniard seemed the favorite but according to the Austrian newspaper Kleine Zeitung the Suzuka race marked "the biggest turning point" in the battle for the 2012 title.

For many experts, Alonso's misfortune is not the main factor that allowed Red Bull's recovery but rather the aerodynamic development brought about by the genius of the Austrian team, Adrian Newey.

In fact, Red Bull raced at the Suzuka weekend with a new "double DRS" thanks to which the two RB8s were able to run with more aerodynamic load and at the same time obtain excellent top speeds on the straight.

So could Ferrari and McLaren copy the solution soon? “Something like this doesn't develop overnight,” said Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali.

McLaren's Martin Whitmarsh added: "Panicking is not a good idea", but the Englishman admitted that the Woking team has its own double-DRS ready.

Alonso for his part seemed frustrated by the lack of developments at Ferrari: "The car has been the same for six races, we haven't had a single new part" he told Spanish journalists. “Felipe drove a perfect race, riding well, but I see his second place as a small coincidence. There were drivers with faster cars, who made mistakes or ended up off the track one after the other."

Domenicali told O Estado de S.Paulo: “I can fully understand his frustration at the moment. But I can assure you that we are working hard to give Fernando a car with which he can express his talent."