Vettel the ultimate professional

Foaad

Rookie
There is an article on autosport website that only Vettel took time out to visit Pirelli factory to understand the tyres and prepare in advance. I cant get access to the full article but it again goes to show his professionalism and focus on getting every advantage possible for success.
 
I dont have access to the details of the article, but considering that autosport have made a whole article on it, there must be something about it. Plus I think there is a difference between getting the data and talking to the engineers themselves.
 
Having read the whole article, it seems Pirelli were very impressed with his approach. He asked questions about what the tyres were going to be like and their impact on race strategy and so on. All the teams were invited to visit the factory, apparently several sent team members but only one driver went.

According to Paul Hembery, the two drivers who ask him the most questions are the two German world champions.
 
Schumie raised the bar on professionalism in F1, appears Seb is addressing the "emotional" side of relationships with suppliers. I bet the engineers at Pirelli at better disposed to helping Red Bull after this, a very clever move.
 
I wonder what Pirelli told Seb about exceeding the recommended camber angle?

I bet the engineers at Pirelli at better disposed to helping Red Bull after this, a very clever move.

If they ever were, I doubt they are anymore. RBR made a mockery of the proceedings on Sunday morning at Spa. They put Pirelli in a very awkward position by going overboard with their safety concerns in order to try and gain an advantage. And now they have ushered in a de facto regulation by forcing the teams to follow their recommended camber settings precisely.
 
I agree with FB, I think it's easy to underestimate the importance of those personal relationships. And even if nothing comes of it, what harm has it done? I'm surprised more didn't take up the offer.
 
But what could they actually do? With everyone on the exact same rubber it would seem rather shady if Pirelli were providing RBR with information/recommendations they weren't distributing to the other teams.

This strikes me as one of those articles written about a World Champion during a run to his second. It's always quite easy to find new ways to extol one's virtues as they're in the midst of a dominant season.

To be clear, I'm not questioning Seb's professionalism, but the ability of Pirelli to provide his team with worthwhile data unavailable to other teams that would give them an on-track advantage.

.........On second thought..........Maybe this is the reason Vettel is walking away with the title. Yep, let's go with that. :D
 
I agree, Keke, fawning articles are going to be ten a penny for the next few months.

But this was a time when the teams had only had the Abu Dhabi test to go on (which, it should be noted, newly-crowned champion Vettel took part in, when several other leading drivers went off on holiday).

So getting an insight into Pirelli's thought processes - which compounds were going to change, and in what ways, whether they were looking at constructions or compounds, any idea about early allocations for specific races, all of this might have been stuff that they could have at least got some early wind of, before there was any hard data to be distributed?

We don't know, of course. But I say credit to him for at least having a go.
 
Surely for a driver the data that's of any use to him is gathered by using the rubber on the track, learning from how they feel under the seat of his pants. Seems to me that the visit is PR and that if it really was going to be that useful then there's no way the other teams would have ducked the opportunity.

This is only my opinion but based on my own experience of using the tyres recommended for my bike. Until taking a punt and trying something different have I now found (several options later) that I've got a rear boot that I really get on with. All of the data told me I should have liked every tyre I've tried but only by riding the thing have I found the characteristics I wanted.

Vettel or anyone else using a race tyre must find the feel of the boot they're given since they are prescribed by the FIA reg's and the tyre supplier. Gone are the days when Schumacher worked closely with Good Year and then Bridgestone to tailor the tyres for Ferrari leaving the other teams to adapt to their preferences. I seem to remember that that was a big bone of contention in the Schumi/Ferrari dominant years.
 
Didn't McLaren completely forgo the chance to actually test the tyres with everyone else pre season?

Would have looked funny if one of their drivers had then gone to the factory of his own accord
 
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