Current Sebastian Vettel

Lots of threads have alluded to having a discussion about the current world champion so lets get it all off our collective chests (oooeer!)

Lots has been has been written about this young man from his testing debut with BMW Sauber in 2006 aged just 19 - he then progressed to the the toro rosso team for his first full race season in 2008 - the memorable race being his drive in the wet at Fuji where he managed to rear end his future team mate Mark Webber who said ""It's kids isn't it... kids with not enough experience – they do a good job and then they fuck it all up." - Little was Mark to know he would be paired with the "Kid" just 2 years later.

His maiden win came at the 2008 Italian GP where he qualified up from, the race started under the safety car in the rain and the young German led from start to finish in the Toro Rosso - becoming the youngest winner of a grand prix ever.

Then we enter the era of the Red Bull. In 2009 he joined the Red Bull team, which got off to a torrid start as he managed to crash into Kubika in Australia, a feat he would go on to repeat during the 09 season.

Last year needs no mention........

So to the crux of the matter. Is Sebastian Vettel?

the real deal, the baby schumi, the new pretender - a genuine racer? - aka Wunderkind

or

A very quick driver, who lucked into a very fast car and can bang it on pole and lead from lights to flag and be the quickest pilot of a car, yet can't overtake for toffee? aka WunOrAother

 

[ExtremeNinja]

A degree with honours in qualifying. Struggling to pass his GCSE in race raft.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

...oh and in case you didn't notice or are Scottish, Vettel only has one 'L'.

 

[Slyboogy]

Struggling to pass his GCSE in race raft.

Race raft? Does anyone have such a thing?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Race raft? Does anyone have such a thing?

Yes.

 

[Slyboogy]

 

[FB]

????????

 

[Sarinaide]

I see the Vettel slamming has started.......and what is he 70 odd points ahead.......I could see this happening.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

I see the Vettel slamming has started.......and what is he 70 odd points ahead.......I could see this happening.

Drivers get judged on thier performances. Don't expect anyone to give Vettel a good evaluation today. Slamming for slamming's sake? Certainly not.

 

[FB]

It will be interesting to see what the RB website has to say early next week as they did mention about rear brake problems. I'll do my usual summary on Monday or Tuesday and we will see what is going on.

Anyway, he's still more than 3 wins ahead and most drivers go through a dip at some point in the season. 4th, and still keeping a big lead in the title race isn't so bad.

 

[Sarinaide]

One race, sure he was horrible, and his only good part of the race was the finish....but this slamming seems to be as afters.

He is essentially a boy still in a mans sport and still he could easily have done something stupid like in the past and take himself and or Massa out as well, yet he just took it to lap 60 and got a fighters 4th.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

One race, sure he was horrible, and his only good part of the race was the finish....but this slamming seems to be as afters.

He is essentially a boy still in a mans sport and still he could easily have done something stupid like in the past and take himself and or Massa out as well, yet he just took it to lap 60 and got a fighters 4th.

As I mentioned on the other post, this was not Vettel's first race and not many people here are likely to have tuned in to F1 for the first time today. For this reason it is unlikely that anybody is making an appraisal of Vettel's performance and quality based on "one race". He has been in F1 for nearly four years. An honest and informed appraisal with a negative tone is not "slamming" either.

I think you need to give people on this forum a little more credit and engage in debate rather than keep making such sweeping and judgemental statements about people's intelligently formed opinions, whether they are to your liking or otherwise.

 

[RayInTorontoCanada]

The Law Of Averages states that anyone will have a bad race weekend or two or three. Alonso's had his (China, Canada and (possibly) Malaysia), Hamilton's had his (Malaysia, Monaco, Canada), Button's had his and Webber's had his.

No one is going to have 16 or 17 or 18 or 19 perfect race weekends in succession. Senna never did, neither Prost, neither Schumacher, etc.

We still don't know what problem Vettel was carrying...and even if he wasn't carrying a material problem, The Law Of Averages will catch up.

At least he's matured enough not to hit anyone and was still able to bag the points that come with 4th.

 

[FB]

I'm giving the goods too soon but here's Vettel's synopsis of his race in Germany.

“It was tough, a difficult race. In the beginning, it didn’t feel so bad but I made a mistake, which brought me back to fifth and from there it was a tough recovery. I think fourth was the maximum we could achieve today – it’s not satisfying, but you have to accept that others were quicker today. I didn’t feel good all weekend and didn’t have the pace that Mark did in the car. The pit-stop at the end was fantastic. You come into the pit lane behind the other car and into your box and you can’t wait to leave as soon as the boys have changed the wheels. As I came out it was nice to see the Ferrari still stationary – that was all down to the boys, they did a very good job. Both Felipe and I were battling for a lot of the race and we were both on the edge. We had a problem mid-race with the brakes, but we managed it well, so we can be happy with the recovery we had from that. Hungary is the next race, which is normally a good track for us, so we’ll see, but we have homework to do. McLaren and Ferrari were very quick in the race and we need to come back to the pace they have.”

 

[ExtremeNinja]

McLaren and Ferrari were very quick in the race a d we need to come back to the pace they have.

Really Sebastian? But you were on thier pace, you just got outraced. Surely you mean you need to get your pace advantage back.

 

[Brogan]

"You can’t expect him to be perfect all the time... It’s easy for everyone to criticise him, just from one race"

Lewis Hamilton on Sebastian Vettel

 

[ExtremeNinja]

"You can’t expect him to be perfect all the time... It’s easy for everyone to criticise him, just from one race"

Lewis Hamilton on Sebastian Vettel

Ever the diplomat.

 

[Slyboogy]

 

[teabagyokel]

http://cliptheapex.com/attachments/CTA-jpg.593/

I published this last year. It shows the races won by the World Champions each year from 1994-2009. It is typical that a successful champion has a dip in form at this point of the year, as Seb did last year. Sucess comes from early season form! Which Seb has had!

 

[RasputinLives]

Vettel only came 4th yesterday? oh no this must prove he's awful!

bad races Seb has had this year = 1

everyone else = at least 2!

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Vettel only came 4th yesterday? oh no this must prove he's awful!

bad races Seb has had this year = 1

everyone else = at least 2!

I don't think anyone believes he is awful. If you have the fastest car he is one of three guys you would have driving it. If you are competing against faster or equal cars there are 5 or 6 drivers you would rather have.

I don't think it is fair that Vettel's defenders claim that his detractors are judging him on one race. Vettel has been around a while now and there is plenty to judge him on. I personally reserved judgement until after Silverstone. I had an inkling that the boy couldn't mix it in the field and he is doing more to bolster this opinion than to dispel it.