team owners vote vettel top driver for 2009

[ISLAMATRON]

Vettle made alot more (costly) mistakes this year than JB, cant exactly see how he was "better" in that respect, but he does seem like a better prospect.

[WhiteBlue]

safety factor = 0.999 is newey policy it seems.
The car can barely survive what it is subjected to. It shows he has a greater grasp of car design more than anyone else does, but it's a huge gamble.

Whiteblue is he your pick to win the WDC next year? And who do Germans like more, Rosberg or Vettel?
There are so many german drivers in F1, almost too much.

I think Germany will cheer anybody who wins. Those who win more get more cheers. Simple as that. Right now it is hard to say who will be on top in some years but by past performance in comparable cars Vettel managed a win where Rosberg managed second. So unless the near future reveals some more potential of Rosberg my view is that Merc will move heaven and earth to get Vttel into that silver car. He is still young and even if they have to wait two or three years they could have a pretty good run with him.

Of course it assumes that Merc will have a car on par with Red Bull the next seasons. One thing is true about Kimi's view of the capped resources. With a greater levelling of the car performance the drivers will make a bigger difference in the future. So driver salaries for the top performers may not take the hit some expect then to get.

[Terrible3]

Horse ---. Vettel has no one else to blame for him destroying engines but himself.

Please post some telemetry to support your argument. Hold on i just figured it out, your full of ---. It was just the way the cards played out with vettel getting some dud engines.

[n smikle]

Interestingly the Renault engines were very reliable in the hands of renaultF1 themselves so sometimes I wonder if the engine guys who renault sent over to RedBull were the "B" team. There were 2 engine failures for Vettel. Monaco and Valencia right?

[Terrible3]

From my understanding he blew two in Spain alone on top of one that he had go in monaco ( i may be wrong here0. Also lets not forget that Mark had an engine go also.

[Confused_Andy]

Also lets not forget that Mark had an engine go also.

No he didnt. Nor did Alonso, Piquet and Grosjean. You dont get 3 dud engines...
http://www.pitlanefanatic.com/engine.php

Kubica is the exception, 2 might have been crap engines, but one race both BMW cars suffered an engine failure within laps of each other so they obviously wasnt the strongest engines.

[Raptor22]

Vettel was the best driver in 2009.
Considering his youth and that this is only his second full f1 season, he has outshon the opposition.
Jenson won his first WDC in his 10th year in f1. He is definately on the decline.
Vettel finished 2nd in this years championship, in a car that had more reliability issues than the competition, did not have a Double Diffusor for the first third of the season.
Also remember he was effectivey number two to Mark Webber and certainly pushed Webber to dig deeper within himself than he ever had to in the past.

Button won the WDC in the best car, that he often could not extract the best from, especially under pressure.
Vettel seemed to get better with pressure.

I would certainly question Button's 2nd ranking as best driver in 2009. He should only be 5th behind:

1) Vettel (2nd full year, 2nd in WDC, nuff said)
2) Hamilton (For coping with a dog of a car for most of the year and getting 2 wins)
3) Webber (for upping his game beyond anything he achieved previously)
4) Raikkonen (for coping with a dog of a Ferrari, winning a race and keeping cool)
5) Button (well the world champion should slot in somewhere right...)


Also you should analyse Vettel's year. He often put in fewer practice and qualifying laps than others to achieve his starting position, often in top 4)

He needs polishing but there's no doubt he was the best driver in 2009.

6)
3

[Raptor22]

Horse ---. Vettel has no one else to blame for him destroying engines but himself.

Please post some telemetry to support your argument. Hold on i just figured it out, your full of ---. It was just the way the cards played out with vettel getting some dud engines.

I would agree. engine troubles with the rev limited V8's are mostly due to manufacturing glitches than driver inputs currently, which is why I dislike these engine rules. The driver element is largely removed from the reliability equation, that is not what F1 should be about.

The fact that Mercedes had little trouble with engines is simply due to better control over the manufacturing and sorting out reliability in the 2005/6 seasons when they had many failures.

[Giblet]

Some people think that the engine being low and the drive shafts tilting up have a lot to do with it. They had trouble with simple sealing boots at the beginning of the year because of this.

A driver should not be the reason an F1 engine fails.

[WhiteBlue]

Some people think that the engine being low and the drive shafts tilting up have a lot to do with it. They had trouble with simple sealing boots at the beginning of the year because of this.

A driver should not be the reason an F1 engine fails.

+1

[Raptor22]

The Renault failures in the RBR5 have been quite strange. Two engines failed on the same weekend suggesting a quality control issue at the factory.

Since only Vettel's engines have given problems some uninformed folk have laid the blame at his door.

Mark Webber tends to have a more aggressive driving style yet his engines suffered no failures. He has had some fuel delivery problems, though. So I doubt the installation of the Renault in the RBR5 is at fault either.

Alonso has had issues with a few of his engine but nothing that could not be sorted out before qualifying or the race.

since the engine problem events are quite close to each other it suggests a QC issue.

if Vettels driving style were at fault then he would have had more frequent problems, randomly.

[Conceptual]

What can you say about Vettel that isnt just outside the norm?

He is very upbeat.
He is very fan/media friendly.
He is his own manager.
He is only 22/23!
He has 2 ROC wins with Schumacher!

If anyone has the talent and the attitude to dominate F1 in the next 10 years, it would be Vettel in my opinion. I was hooked on that boy when he was setting fastest practice times in a BMW in 2007 as the third driver. In fact, he was so fast that he was causing Kubica and Heidfeld fistfights!

Now, THAT is a presence that we don't see every day in the F1 paddock...

[andartop]

I'd choose Vettel over Button for my F1 Team any day, BUT:
a)He still has to prove he can overtake for position.
b)Button won the Championship this year, Vettel didn't.

In my opinion, top driver, best driver, more valuable driver or however you wanna call it can only be the guy who gets the crown at the end, with no buts and ifs..

[Terrible3]

I'd choose Vettel over Button for my F1 Team any day, BUT:
a)He still has to prove he can overtake for position.
.

I wont lie, as much as Vettel is my favorite driver in F1, he did not make any real epic overtaking moves. On the flip side when in formula BMW he did win 18 of the 20 races..... that has to say something. He clearly has the raw pace, give him some time to get brave and then he will be legendary.... i hope.

[hasalard]

Webber in 6th place despite his leg injury he was very fast, most of the time he matched Vettel's pace.Also Kimi must be higher in the ranking.His performance in the second half of the year was fantastic despite the awful car he had.(With a much better car this year Toyota left F1 without wining a race, just explains how great he was in the second half of the season)
So my list is like that;

1.Vettel
2.Button
3.Webber
4.Raikkonen
5.Barichello = Hamilton