Sebastian Vettel - If only! - If only!!

[ardclinis]

If it had only but happened that Sebastian Vettel had, unlike another, been "silver-spooned" into either Ferrari or McLaren he would have had the Championship wound up "Lock, Stock and Barrel" by now.

F1 is now lucky that it has the true successor to the two greatest drivers of all time - Schumacher and Senna.

Sebastian's rise will be similar to that of Schumacher and I have no doubt that he has it within his capabilities to equal or beat Schumacher's 7 titles.

[Harrelson]

Young F1 drivers show a passion and hunger for success that the veterans seem to lack. BUT, in my personal opinion, the longer they stay with an underperfoming team, the quicker the deterioration. i.e Rosberg, Sutil

[wrk]

lets just see how he go's in the next dry race....

it has shades of one British, honda driver in the wet.....a one hit wonder...

[WhiteBlue]

lets just see how he go's in the next dry race....

it has shades of one British, honda driver in the wet.....a one hit wonder...

Vettel did not luck into the race win. The qualifying system now requirers a pole sitter to work really hard. The team made a very astute decision with the strategy and he drove the car at the very limit to open up a gap to Heikki. This isn't comparable with the lottery that gifted the Hungarian price to Button.

I agree with Vettel that comparisons with Michael Schumacher are wide off the mark. On the other hand I agree with Berger that Vettel is championship material. He could be as good as Alonso in terms of driver capabilities.

He is also a ray of hope for Bernie to get firmly back into the German market with viewing figures exceeding 10 millions in Germany and Austria. This would give F1 a nice push.

Vettel has a very nice personality and I predict that he will not get into a team mate war or hard ball feuds on track. He will be worth a lot of money for the German premium manufacturers who populate the top spaces of the grid these days and he seems to settle very nicely into an Italian Scuderia as well. So his salary will skyrocket in the near future.

I expect him to reconnect his ties with BMW as soon as his contractual obligations with Red Bull expier. Watch the silver star try to buy him out of Mateschitz's clutches.

[myurr]

I agree that Vettel is a very good driver, and comes across as a great guy in interviews. He drove an immense race on Sunday, and no one can take that away from him.

But one race doesn't make a championship, and it's ridiculous to suggest that he would have sewn up the championship by now. And, at the risk of being shouted at for being a Hamilton apologiser, it would be interesting to see how he would maintain his nice boy image whilst having to fight his way through the field to maximise his championship prospects.

Leading from the front and winning is difficult, and if Massa does win the championship then it would be deserved. But personally I rate Kimi and Hamilton as the better drivers as they can win not only from the front, but have the ability to make their way through the field when they are caught in a lowly qualifying position. Circumstances and the nature of the car don't always allow them to show that, but both drivers have demonstrated that ability at some point in their F1 careers.

Edit: I should add that I do think that Vettel has the potential to join Kimi and Lewis at the pinnacle of driving talents in F1 - but he's not quite there yet.

[WhiteBlue]

He is obviously not quite there yet because he isn't in a top car and probably will not be in one next year. although I think that Newey will get the aero right and Vettel seems to like the characteristic of his cars I feel that the bunch of new technology next year will not favour Red Bull. On top they seem to have a management issue. So I think Vettel may fight for another race win perhaps but certainly not for a championship. I expect that to come later when he has joined a top team in 2010 or 2011.

[myurr]

He is obviously not quite there yet because he isn't in a top car and probably will not be in one next year. although I think that Newey will get the aero right and Vettel seems to like the characteristic of his cars I feel that the bunch of new technology next year will not favour Red Bull. On top they seem to have a management issue. So I think Vettel may fight for another race win perhaps but certainly not for a championship. I expect that to come later when he has joined a top team in 2010 or 2011.

I certainly hope so as he seems like a thoroughly decent chap.

One thing is bugging me though - and that is that Bourdais managed to get his car up there into 3rd in qualifying as well, so I can't help but wonder if Vettel is being flatter slightly by people thinking his car is worse than it is. It is arguable that in that race, and certainly in qualifying, the Torro Rosso was *the* car to be in.

But don't take this question the wrong way - I don't want to take away from what was a faultless drive in the race where he was fast in a whole host of conditions.

[WhiteBlue]

a German site confirmed that Vettel is contracted to Red Bull until the end of 2010.

big Norbert has said that the best drivers will always end up in the best cars. what a flower of wisdom.

[jddh1]

lets just see how he go's in the next dry race....

it has shades of one British, honda driver in the wet.....a one hit wonder...

I disagree. Button's win was not expected at all. Then they go screw up the car for the following year so he never had a chance to even come close.

Vettel on the other had has been doing really well recently. The STR has been improving. Look at their Q positions in the last 3-4 races. So his win is not just all luck. They're not better than Ferrari or Macca, but I think at this point they're on par with BMW and Toyota, perhaps even better then them.

It was great seeing Berger lifting another trophy. You could see it in him how happy he was.

[MattF1]

One thing is bugging me though - and that is that Bourdais managed to get his car up there into 3rd in qualifying as well, so I can't help but wonder if Vettel is being flatter slightly by people thinking his car is worse than it is. It is arguable that in that race, and certainly in qualifying, the Torro Rosso was *the* car to be in.

Mario Theissen said after the race something like that, he said suprisingly the Torro Rosso was the best car.

[lebesset]

face the facts ,,,the TR had the best set up for the day , vettel said he got pole because he went out at the very best moment , the TR has the best engine and a decent chassis

but if you notice , vettel was the 14th fastest driver in the race , but the weather fell perfectly for him

he showed remarkable maturity to make the best of his luck , doesn't often happen

usually , about every ten years , a driver comes along who is in a different league to the others , like hamilton ; maybe , just maybe , we will have 2 this time ..vittel will clearly get every assistance as he is german and germany is of critical importance to F1 and all those empty seats at hockenheim are a big worry !

[ernos5]

yer Hamilton another league cough* Raikkonen pit lane canada 08 cough*

maybe another shitter league lol


anyway yer Vettel seems to be really good, okay he had perfect conditions to win, but he needed that or he wouldn't have won..

[Miguel]

but if you notice , vettel was the 14th fastest driver in the race , but the weather fell perfectly for him

Well, you might have noticed that all the fastest laps (except Fisi, of course) were set at the end of the race, when the track was drying. At that point, Vettel only had to keep the distance from Heikki, saving the engine from unnecessary stress and lowering the risk of mistakes.

Notice how Heikki is 13th, only two tenths faster, and the other Toro Rosso set the second fastest lap at that point. It seems to me that the cars to be on Sunday were the McLaren and the Toro Rosso.

[WhiteBlue]

Well, you might have noticed that all the fastest laps (except Fisi, of course) were set at the end of the race, when the track was drying. At that point, Vettel only had to keep the distance from Heikki, saving the engine from unnecessary stress and lowering the risk of mistakes.

Notice how Heikki is 13th, only two tenths faster, and the other Toro Rosso set the second fastest lap at that point. It seems to me that the cars to be on Sunday were the McLaren and the Toro Rosso.

I agree with this view. I expect the pecking order to stay largely the same for the last four races as no team will do any serious development issues any more. So we can expect STR to have their cars in the top 10 qualifying and race consistently. they are probably 4th fastest car behind BMW. at least Kubica and Alonso see it that way.

For Sebastian Vettel it will be a fantastic opportunity to show what he can deliver.