Sebastian Vettel is the current reigning two-time World Champion, but some doubts remain about how good he is. Quite often, the German is considered behind two of his peers in particular, namely Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton. I believe he at least deserves to share a pedestal with those two drivers.
Part of Vettel's problem in trying to convince people that he is one of the greats is the unexciting nature of his typical victories. Almost all of his 24 victories have been lights-to-flag dominant victories. However, is this a comment on Vettel's style or a comment on F1 in 2012? These are the results this season...
9 of 15 races have seen the leader at the end of Lap One win the race. In addition, Vettel did not finish in Valencia when set for a dominant win. These lights-to-flag victories have been a feature of all drivers in the modern age, but are a stick to beat Vettel with. Why? Its considered he can't fight through the field, but it seems to be that it is a hollow criticism - his weekend was too perfect. It ought to be a feather in his cap - if Vettel's car is quick enough to win a race, it will be on pole!
The other criticism of the young German is that all his titles have come from being in an excellent car, ergo he can't drive a sub-standard car to the title. Well, few can, but I do believe his 2012 form has showed he has the ability to "hang in" to a title race even when the Red Bull isn't at its domineering best. And when it is at its best, he dominates. Much has also been made of Mark Webber's challenges in 2010 and 2012 to Vettel's hegemony in the team. Well, they weren't maintained in the end, were they? A Webber run tends to bring in a couple of great races, but in 2012 as in 2009 and even 2010 evaporated in a sequence of poor races. And that pattern is repeated in 2010, Webber in an RB5 should have taken a lead into the last race against Alonso in an F60 - Vettel won the title in a "bad year"!
It is four years since his first win. In those 4 years he's won more races than Nelson Piquet, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and, yes, Lewis Hamilton have done in their whole careers. Only Senna and Schumacher can best his number of pole positions. And he is only 25 years old. Only 15 drivers had won Grands Prix by their 25th birthdays; Vettel was a double champion.
So to sum up, the idea that Sebastian Vettel is inferior to anyone on the current grid is to me not borne out by the facts. It seems wrong to me to criticise him for not recovering from mistakes he doesn't make in qualifying. It seems wrong to me to criticise him for not driving a good car when all he has to drive is a good car, and when he does so he obliterates his team-mate. He has the consistency of Alonso and the speed of Hamilton. He proved his fighting qualities on Curva Grande last year. Though he is ruthless on occasions, like Curva Grande this year, that ruthless streak has hardly tarnished the reputation of St. Ayrton.
And even in a "crash kid" season, even when it was not all roses for Vettel, he won the title. He was roundly criticised for his driving, and he won the title.
Only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have won three titles in a row. Should he win the title, Sebastian Vettel would be an extremely worthy addition to that illustrious list.
Part of Vettel's problem in trying to convince people that he is one of the greats is the unexciting nature of his typical victories. Almost all of his 24 victories have been lights-to-flag dominant victories. However, is this a comment on Vettel's style or a comment on F1 in 2012? These are the results this season...
9 of 15 races have seen the leader at the end of Lap One win the race. In addition, Vettel did not finish in Valencia when set for a dominant win. These lights-to-flag victories have been a feature of all drivers in the modern age, but are a stick to beat Vettel with. Why? Its considered he can't fight through the field, but it seems to be that it is a hollow criticism - his weekend was too perfect. It ought to be a feather in his cap - if Vettel's car is quick enough to win a race, it will be on pole!
The other criticism of the young German is that all his titles have come from being in an excellent car, ergo he can't drive a sub-standard car to the title. Well, few can, but I do believe his 2012 form has showed he has the ability to "hang in" to a title race even when the Red Bull isn't at its domineering best. And when it is at its best, he dominates. Much has also been made of Mark Webber's challenges in 2010 and 2012 to Vettel's hegemony in the team. Well, they weren't maintained in the end, were they? A Webber run tends to bring in a couple of great races, but in 2012 as in 2009 and even 2010 evaporated in a sequence of poor races. And that pattern is repeated in 2010, Webber in an RB5 should have taken a lead into the last race against Alonso in an F60 - Vettel won the title in a "bad year"!
It is four years since his first win. In those 4 years he's won more races than Nelson Piquet, Damon Hill, Mika Hakkinen and, yes, Lewis Hamilton have done in their whole careers. Only Senna and Schumacher can best his number of pole positions. And he is only 25 years old. Only 15 drivers had won Grands Prix by their 25th birthdays; Vettel was a double champion.
So to sum up, the idea that Sebastian Vettel is inferior to anyone on the current grid is to me not borne out by the facts. It seems wrong to me to criticise him for not recovering from mistakes he doesn't make in qualifying. It seems wrong to me to criticise him for not driving a good car when all he has to drive is a good car, and when he does so he obliterates his team-mate. He has the consistency of Alonso and the speed of Hamilton. He proved his fighting qualities on Curva Grande last year. Though he is ruthless on occasions, like Curva Grande this year, that ruthless streak has hardly tarnished the reputation of St. Ayrton.
And even in a "crash kid" season, even when it was not all roses for Vettel, he won the title. He was roundly criticised for his driving, and he won the title.
Only Juan Manuel Fangio and Michael Schumacher have won three titles in a row. Should he win the title, Sebastian Vettel would be an extremely worthy addition to that illustrious list.
