The remorse was deep, but the ambition still burns as Sebastian Vettel tiptoes through the wreckage of a messy assault on the Formula One World Championship.

The German has phoned Jenson Button to convey his deepest apologies for taking the Englishman out of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa last weekend.

He was anxious to make amends for a silly accident that cost both dearly at a crucial time in the title race.

Neither scored points and lost ground to Lewis Hamilton, who leads the championship, and to Mark Webber, Vettel's teammate.

Vettel has been acquiring a reputation for the same aloof attitude to his rivals as the countryman he seeks to emulate, Michael Schumacher.

But the 23-year-old demonstrated with his phone call that he knows how to say sorry. He also knows how fast things can change - and change could be even faster than he imagined if the FIA, the sport's world governing body, takes its toughest line against Ferrari on Wednesday.

The FIA is hearing charges that Ferrari issued team orders to Felipe Massa to allow Fernando Alonso to pass him to win the German Grand Prix in July.

If the FIA disqualifies the Ferrari drivers, who completed a one-two finish, the third-placed driver could inherit the winner's points - and that would be Vettel.

Suddenly, from being an outsider for the title, he would again be a main rival to Hamilton and Webber, with 10 extra points in the bag.

It is an outside chance but one that demonstrates that, even at this late stage, the championship is nowhere near over.

"I know how good we are - I will take the title," Vettel said on Friday. "The first 13 races have not run completely smoothly, but I am only 31 points behind.

"Assuming we maintain our speed, we can catch up quickly. I put things in the past and look ahead when the next morning comes."

Vettel's upbeat assessment was matched by Button, who is 35 points behind Hamilton and smarting from being punted off the track by Vettel last Sunday when he appeared to have a good chance of second place at least.

"In reality, 35 points is not very much," Button said.

"Under the old points system that would be about 15 points, so a win and a fifth place.

"We know it won't be easy, but we are going into the final six races in full battle mode.

"We know how to win and we want to keep on winning."

All eyes switch to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix a week from today and the state of the Ferrari team, who will know when they arrive at their home event whether they are still in the title race. - © The Times, London