Good as gold, or is Vettel’s title bid set to leave him red faced?

During the midterm break from Formula One, many have ruminated over the prospects of there being a third challenger to this year’s drivers’ championship.

Prior to the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were the sole combatants for the 2015 crown.

However after his second victory of the season at the Hungaroring, Ferrari’s new leading light Sebastian Vettel appears to be in the frame to drive towards a fifth tenure atop Formula One’s throne.

With a deficit of 42 points to Hamilton, Vettel is just two race wins down, in third position. Podiums on all but two occasions have aided the four-time world champion during this semi-completed campaign.

But is the threat from Vettel and his renewed Scuderia as genuine as the gold on his Mercedes AMG competitor’s necklace?

Ferrari’s solitary ambition, set by its rejuvenated management team, was to attain two race wins and target claiming second in the constructors’ championship, with a full title in 2016.

But with Vettel almost on the precipice, and a team enriched in success as Ferrari, glory at any time would be desirable.

In their two victories over the Silver Arrows this season, Ferrari have proven that the SF15-T can set the pace at the front, with Vettel akin to his domination with the Adrian Newey designed Red Bull chassis in 2011 and 2013.

In fact, both Ferraris in Hungary managed to sustain robust speed while Kimi Räikkönen was running in second place ahead of Rosberg.

So with the combination of a sound chassis, dependable race pace and the nous of Vettel, a stab at the title is certainly possible.

What will derail Vettel’s hunt is one-lap speed, which the W05 Hybrid out of the Mercedes AMG garage is still setting the benchmark on.

Even if Ferrari were to spend all of its development tokens on their power-unit, they still would not yield their Brackley competitor’s qualifying times.

This illusion of Vettel being in with a shot at the title is reminiscent of Daniel Ricciardo at this very point in last year’s championship.

Nevertheless a grey cloud does hang over the Mercedes AMG squad and several of their clutch moments this season on strategy calls. That and the uncertainty of how the revised starting procedures will affect the grid, with an operator such as Vettel tipped to benefit.

Sneaking the title win from under Hamilton or Rosberg isn’t likely, but until the final flyaway are run and done – the wily old Sebastian is still a mathematical chance.