Vettel's 20 on-track overtakes

The reason he didn't have to overtake anyone is simply because he was plain faster than everyone so jumped them at pitstops. (Whilst taking an extra pitstop!)
 
I've contended for years now that far from a classic, Montreal 2010 (edit -11:embarrassed: ) is one of the most over-rated drives in history.

Valencia was a good drive for Alonso, but he undoubtedly benefited from a dubious SC and Vettel's subsequent retirement.

I can only speak for myself.

The question I want answered is why didn't McLaren have the nous to start Lewis from the pitlane in Catalunya with a revised setup and gearbox ratios so that he could have scored a podium?
Just look at their season operationally. They've made blunder, after blunder, after blunder. In hindsight it's no wonder to me that they missed another opportunity there.
 
Yes, yes, yes, He was lucky to get a podium! Hamilton retired from the lead, without this he would have been fourth.
Raikkonen was also lucky to win because Hamilton easily had this one in the bag, so if he didn’t retire Raikkonen would have finished second.
Alonso was lucky to get second too as without Hamilton’s retirement he would have finished third.

Vettel was also very unlucky so be starting last in the first bloody place as he’d qualified third but far a Red Bull/Renault cock up. And also the two guys who qualified in front of him (Hamilton and Webber) either retired or had a bad start so without that penalty Vettel probably would have won?

So lucky to get third, unlucky not to have won. Its swings and roundabouts really.
 
The question I want answered is why didn't McLaren have the nous to start Lewis from the pitlane in Catalunya with a revised setup and gearbox ratios so that he could have scored a podium?

Maybe McLaren didn't want to/need to.

Let's face it, the only reason that Vettel was on the podium in Abu Dhabi was because of the two safety cars. Just because the ability to change his gearing may have aided Vettel in Abu Dhabi doesn't mean that there was any need to adjust Hamilton's in Barcelona. Also, it is not always an advantage to start from the pitlane, as you can guarantee that you will be in last place after the first corner if you start from the pitlane. If you start from the back of the grid, you have a chance of getting free places at the start!
 
Vettel only qualified that high because he was low on fuel. Any lower would have put him in trouble in the race since he was set up to go from pole position again. I doubt that he would have got a podium if he had not been able to change his setup.
 
So lucky to get third, unlucky not to have won.

Precisely. I'm not sure why it's so hard for some to recognize fortune/misfortune. Nearly everything that happens in racing and in life can be construed as fortunate for one party and unfortunate for another. And it doesn't take anything much more than common sense to realize this. Seb was unlucky on Saturday, and his fortunes changed on Sunday, simple as.

it is not always an advantage to start from the pitlane, as you can guarantee that you will be in last place after the first corner if you start from the pitlane. If you start from the back of the grid, you have a chance of getting free places at the start!

Depends on the underlying pace of the machine. For a top car, passing the tail-enders for position isn't much different than lapping them during the race. Plus the last thing that any backmarker wanted to do was put up a futile effort to keep the Championship leader at bay for a few more corners and end up coming together with him. The first 6 spots were always going to be easy picking no matter where he started from.
 
I think pointing the finger at McLaren for not doing the same thing in Spain is unfair. Firstly, Red Bull wanted/needed to investigate what the issue was and to do that they had to take the car out of Parc Ferme anyway. Secondly, I think Red Bull is a bit of a unique case (they set the car up with the intent of Vettel leading the race from the front) and for most of the rest of the teams their ideal race setup will be a lot closer to their ideal qualifying setup I think. So it's also not clear how much McLaren/Hamilton would have gained from starting in the pit lane, and you lose the opportunity to make up a lot of ground in the first couple of corners.

I personally don't think Vettel's setup was a particularly big factor in the outcome anyway, although it probably did help him to get past the quicker cars he had to overtake (Senna, Grosjean, Button).
 
I know I'll probably get slated for saying this, but I couldn't give a shit.

I don't remember people undermiming Button's drive in Canada last year. The exact same thing happened, except he was involved in two incidents, and simply had the outright fastest car in those conditions, safety cars helped his cause many times (espcially when he got that puncture with the collision with Alonso), as did the double drs zone where he just breezed past others, several retirements, and Vettel going off line giving him the win.

The other example recently, Alonso in Valencia. Two safety cars bringing him into play, cars infront of him having incidents, and 2 crucially fighting him had mechanical failures giving him the win.

Yet, these two drives are hailed amazing when similar things have happened and has involved more or similar luck.

I'm not saying Vettel's drive was AMAZING, I pretty much rate all three of these drives not as special as everyone else does, as a lot of luck was involved.

Now Suzuka 2005, that's a race where hardly any luck was involved.
 
I for one am not undermining Vettel okay I'm not a fan but that doesn't mean I dislike him I don't like it when he buggers off into the distance in a race simply because it makes the races boring I don't wish to be horrible but the fact is that Hamilton's retirement on Sunday whilst not good for him and Vettel's penalty probably made the race much better because of them, without those two things it would most likely have been another Abu Dhabi borefest.

Vettels drive on Sunday was very good but it wasn't anything unexpected from a driver of his ability and that car.

At the end of the day mnmracer it doesn't matter what I or anyone else thinks, if he is your favoured driver then you have every right to be happy when he overcomes the odds no matter how it came about.....
 
According to CTA official data, Vettel made 18 overtakes (not including the first lap).

Here they are:
vettel-overtakes.png


The full breakdown is here: http://cliptheapex.com/overtaking/gps/2012-abu.876/

You can also show just Vettel's progress on the lap chart like so:
lap-chart-abu-dhabi-vettel.png


Hovering over the triangles will show positions and drivers overtaken.
 
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