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

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

racecub ... it certainly made it harder for him to pressure Fernando... Hamilton was that much quicker than he pulled away +1 second so SV couldn't even use his DRS the next time around... who knows if SV could have squeezed out a couple of laps and got to within a second of FA... I read a story allegedly quoting FA that the race was a 67 lap qually run... if SV was a little closer maybe FA could have made a small error to bring SV within a second... after LH went around him, it was all over red rover... FA had LH behind him and a 2.5s to 3s cushion that would mask a minor mistake or two without compromising his DRS zone...

 

[racecub]

It did make it harder for Vettel to pressure Alonso that's true but I don't think he had the speed to do that at the end, certainly not if he couldn't keep lewis behind him or retake Lewis. The cars seemed to me to yo yo as to which had the most speed at the end, i mean between Alonso, button and vettel. Sometimes one of them clearly looked to have the upper hand, sometimes the other. Lewis was faster than Vettel when he passed him, he was out on fresh tyres, but his car was damaged. i didnt know this at the time because I was watching French commentary and missed much of it, so i was watching his progress by the gap he had on the next car. he'd been gaining on the cars ahead of him by large amounts(as he should have done in a Mclaren)but suddenly......and this was after he'd overtaken Vettel, the gap stabalised and then he began to fall back. I couldn't understand why, and then he retired so it was clear he had a problem.
Anyway whatever the ins and outs, Lewis was within his rights to overtake a slower car whether he was on the same lap or not. Lewis was in his own race. Best way not to get overtaken is to go faster.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I agree with racecub there is no rule that says a driver cannot unlap himself Lewis had every right to do what he did and if it helped Button then good on him this is a team sport after all, Vettel is just a cry baby, I don't understand why this is even an issue with some people...

 

[Dario Resta]

Don't forget "he didn't say anything to me!" during the podium interviews... Clearly not a guy who is entirely familiar with telling the truth.

I think this was a major error on Vettel / Red Bull's part. Did he/ they really think that his conversation wasn't recorded?

 

[Pyrope]

Who was the last driver that got in trouble for lying?

Don't know, and care less. Why should everything be moral relativism? And please point to the part of my comment where I say that everything he says is a lie. The rubbish is pouring from your keyboard, not mine.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

racecub ... agreed ... he didn't have the pace ... SV is definitely a front runner... when things are going well it is all beer and skittles... when they are not he struggles to deal with it... LH was exactly the same... but in the past 12 months has grown up a helluva in my opinion... and deals with issues a lot better...

 

[siffert_fan]

Pyrope-


what does saying someone is "clearly not entirely familiar with telling the truth" sound like to you?

 

[Viscount]

I think this was a major error on Vettel / Red Bull's part. Did he/ they really think that his conversation wasn't recorded?

When he said "[Jenson] didn't say anything to me, he didn't complain to me." He was referring to the fact that Jenson didn't mention his apparent feelings about the incident (which he didn't, he just told Vettel that the stewards were investigating it), not that Jenson didn't say literally anything to him about it.

 

[Pyrope]

siffert_fan, it means somebody who is a comfortable and adept liar.

That much seems obvious by his behaviour after the last race. On the one hand he claimed that he left the circuit because he didn't see Jenson, when Button was actually ahead of him until after all four of Seb's wheels had left the circuit (check the onboard). So he's either blind or a liar. Secondly, the smooth and easy way the words "he didn't say anything to me" slipped out of his mouth (the hasty correction that Viscount notes above is particularly telling) when Lauda asked him about the move, despite Button having talked to him about the very topic just a minute or so before hand. So, either his mind is going or he's a liar.

I didn't say that everything he says is a lie. The implication was that he's comfortable with lying, not that that was all he does. There are drivers, both present and past, who, when asked a difficult question, would either stonewall or change the subject rather than lie. Some would even give a straight answer. Vettel doesn't always.

 

[Viscount]

Pyrope Here's what Mr Vettel had to say to the media today, "I have a mouth, I say a couple of words, you have ears but it seems that somehow in that process it seems mistakes do happen."

 

[Brogan]

SV originally said this: "If wants to go fast can drop back, find a gap and go fast there. But it’s a bit stupid to disturb the leaders."

Today he was asked whether he had apologised to Hamilton for calling it a stupid decision.

He then said: "If I say after race I thought it was unnecessary and then it gets quoted that I said he is stupid, it’s quite disappointing."

Apparently.

 

[Pyrope]

Viscount please read and re-read Brogan's post above. If Seb wants to try and cover his backside by making out that he didn't say that Hamilton's actions were stupid then that's up to him. The problem is that journalists tend to record quotes verbatim, and playing the poor misquoted and misunderstood cherub is starting to wear a bit thin.

 

[Viscount]

Pyrope He’s not backtracking and claiming he didn’t say the move was stupid, he still stands by the fact that he believes it was unnecessary. What he is trying to clear up is that he was referring to the move with his comment not the driver, as the press tried to portray it. Headlines such as Yahoo’s Vettel fury at 'stupid' Hamilton.

I won’t deny though, that he’s handled it pretty poorly with his original comment and his response now.

 

[Pyrope]

Viscount, clearly he isn't married. Any married man knows that to accuse the action of stupidity is to imply stupidity on behalf of the actor.

 

[racecub]

Ive just heard Vettel has made a music video with R&B star melanie Fiona.I guess that means he's not focused on his racing and hob nobbing with the wrong kind of people.
No.It means he's a normal young man with normal interests, a bit like Lewis hamilton really.

 

[Jen]

Do give over please.

 

[Jos the Boss]

 

[Bill Boddy]

If that is starring then presumably someone walking past the studio is also playing a major part.

 

[FB]

I presume that's and ad for Infiniti cars?

 

[racecub]

further evidence that Vettel is Ferrari bound in 2014, as Massa gets confirmed for next year.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/19941541