Head To Head Sebastian Vettel vs Daniel Ricciardo

[Titch]

I know most people here don't like Nigel M. But for me he's the one that started it all.
I remember ( a much younger me) watching the last lap of a race,( because that was what himself was watching), where Mansell put the nose of his car over the line just in front of Piquet. I was jumping up and down in excitement. I had no idea who anyone was, other than the fact that NM was a fellow country man, and the underdog, so I shouted for him. It was very exciting.
I hope Ricciardo is turning some newbies into life long fans of F1. He's certainly floating my boat.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Mephistopheles I do rate Button. I don't think he's quite as good as Hamilton or Alonso but still very good.

Vettel's team-mates have been Liuzzi (not good enough to keep his seat), Bourdais (not good enough to keep his seat) and Webber (once rated as good but was very lucky in 2010 and still couldn't take the title, in the three years that succeeded that he was miles away from Vettel). Not exactly sterling, this makes is very hard to judge where Vettel is in relation to the field.

In his whole F1 career Vettel has had two team-mates who have been good enough to stay in the sport, one of them had huge question marks over his performances and the other is solidly beating the German.

I can appreciate your opinion and why you have come to it, I just think that with the way Ricciardo is bossing Vettel this year in addition to Vettel's dodgy team-mates in the past, combined with the fact that he had easily the best car (not as good as the 2014 Mercedes I admit, but still by far the best) overall for a period of four years is enough for me to doubt whether or not he is an all-time great.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Titch

Arr but ee is well boren though.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Nope, Mephistopheles. I think he is a very good driver. One of the best in the world. In the context of that and against his peers, I think, however, that he is nothing special. There are a few drivers around him that I do think are very special. It's all relative.

 

[Josh]

Fernando Alonso's teammates have been Tarso Marques (who never raced a full year in F1), Jarno Trulli (not exactly a world class driver), Giancarlo Fisichella (not really a top driver either), Lewis Hamilton, Nelson Piquet Jr. (no comment needed), Romain Grosjean (who was terrible at the time), Felipe Massa and now Kimi Räikkönen.

I only count 2 top drivers in that list and one of them has regressed so far that it's hard to call him a top driver anymore. The only time he has been up against a top driver he lost (coincidentally also one of the few times in his career where he didn't have #1 status in the team).

Why does Vettel have to prove himself against a top driver while Alonso doesn't?

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Josh Because Vettel is getting spanked by Ricciardo, Alonso held his own against Hamilton.

 

[siffert_fan]

And Hamilton isn't exactly embarrassing an unrated teammate in equal equipment.

 

[Josh]

Did he? Usually when there are discussions about 2007 here I read that Hamilton beat Alonso, but not in this case I guess .

I'm also fairly sure there haven't been many (if any) races where Vettel hasn't had a mechanical issue of some sorts (he had an issue with the battery in Hungary and obviously had to retire 3 times due to mechanical issues to Ricciardo's 1). This is something most people either do not notice or do not want to notice.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Josh Because Vettel is getting spanked by Ricciardo, Alonso held his own against Hamilton.

But wasn't Hamilton a rookie at the time and Alonso a world champion? Surely that goes against the man I believe to be one of the very best.

Doesn't really support your argument against Vettel does it?

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Seems to be a massive circular argument here. Can I just settle it by saying Vettel was the best driver who was driving a Red Bull for the last 4 years.

 

[FB]

I love the idea that Vettel isn't a pleasant human being compared to Ricciardo. One of the things which I like about Vettel is his very British sense of humour and there doesn't appear to be any pretensions about the man. Danny Ricciardo appears to be similarly pleasant as a human being, let's see how much people like him if he wins the next 4 championships on the bounce.

 

[Shogun]

After winning the last 4 championships, I certainly cant blame Vettel for being an unpleasant human being this season, seeing as how he cant even make the podium or even the top 5 on a regular basis.
I like Ricciardo. After Kobayashi, he's my favorite driver right now. I love his attitude, love his energy, love that he's always got a smile on his face and I love the flex when he wins. He's an easy guy to cheer for.
IMO, unless Vettel gets his act together, Red Bull should make Ricciardo the #1 next season. If I were him, Id march into the team manager's office at the end of this season (assuming he continues to outperform Vettle) and demand to be the #1 next season.

 

[Wombcat]

If the gap stays the same, he'll be automatically nr. 1, because he gets the most points. Halfway through the season it'll be quite clear then, especially if he is running for the WDC and Vettel is as much behind him as this year.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I haven't heard Vettel being unpleasant in fact in Monaco he was saying to the garage to let him retire because he was ruining other peoples race, that's not being unpleasant..

The only things that has ever annoyed me about Vettel is his finger and when he does that crazy frog shit.

 

[RasputinLives]

Ricciardo to be made number one.

Errrmmm..... wasn't one of the biggest complaints during the last 4 years that Red Bull were percieved as having a number 1 and a number 2 driver who weren't allowed to race.

Now people want a number one.

Once again I say make up your minds folks.

 

[Mephistopheles]

The only thing Ricciardo will be asking for at the end of the season is an extension to his contract and it won't be a demand, pfft demand no 1 status my arse he's only driven half a season for them and his team mate is Vettel since when has he complied with team orders..

 

[Wombcat]

I think that Vettel has heard a few times "Ricciardo is faster than you, let him pass" and he let him pass.

 

[Mephistopheles]

The only thing I can remember in that respect was Vettel asking what tyres he was on the team said soft and Vettel said tough but Danny got by anyway due to fresher rubber I can't remember any other times...

 

[FB]

There was certainly one race early on in the season where Vettel let Ricciardo by.

 

[Wombcat]

At least one indeed, that's been mentioned on the first page of this thread. I'm pretty sure that in one of the next races there was another occasion.

Edit: there was, see: http://cliptheapex.com/threads/sebastian-vettel-vs-daniel-ricciardo.6779/page-2#post-239259