How soon can Vettel win 2011 WDC?

[Traction]

A superior car means squat if you don't have the right driver behind the wheel who can contribute to the team by knowing the dynamiics of setting up a car. The qualifying sessions are there so the drivers can take the cars out, test and provide the team with info on how the car should be set up. Without the drivers input the car is crap. The RB7 is dominating because it has SV behind the wheel and is et up by him...for him. Other teams only wish they had someone like him to provide real time feedback.

Top drivers throughout history have always been able to set their cars up so they drive right on the edge, to extract the absolute most from the vehicle. A lesser driver will not be able to handle a car set up in this way, add to the mix a driver that hits every apex perfectly and knows how to get the best out of a track and, this all contributes to the development and performance of a top car into a car that dominates and a team that wins the constructor championship.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I would say any driver in the top 3 teams could probably set that car up and dominate. Your suggesting that the other drivers are inexperienced F3000 drivers that don't know anything about setting a car up. All of the top drivers have this skill.

SV is not more the 'right driver' than any other driver in the top 3/4 teams. The car is massively superior, the guy who designed it has done it plenty of times before so it's no suprise. Couple that with the full backing of the team, and SV has got all the tools he needs to walk away with this championship.

There's no reason he shouldn't dominate at the moment either, really he should have done the same last year, they just made a big of a meal out of it.

[gridwalker]

The RB7 is dominating because it has SB behind the wheel and is et up by him...for him.

Who is SB? Sebastien Buemi?

</pedantic mofo>

[Jeffsvilleusa]

I was never totally impressed by Vettel because he does have the ultimate car in hand, and he never proved to be able to 'slice and dice' through the field, but I have to hand it to him in consistency, and he has solidified his dominance over Webber, who is no slouch. Also, the fact that he won his first race in a Torro Rosso recommends him.

But I don't think the question is how soon can Vettel win 2011 WDC, but rather will he be the first out of the new generation of drivers to make 3 WDCs?

Historically, sewing up the first 6-7 wins brings the championship- Alonso did it in 06, and that's how Button won in 09.

[Traction]

The RB7 is dominating because it has SB behind the wheel and is et up by him...for him.

Who is SB? Sebastien Buemi?

</pedantic mofo>

oops

[Traction]

I would say any driver in the top 3 teams could probably set that car up and dominate. Your suggesting that the other drivers are inexperienced F3000 drivers that don't know anything about setting a car up. All of the top drivers have this skill.

SV is not more the 'right driver' than any other driver in the top 3/4 teams. The car is massively superior, the guy who designed it has done it plenty of times before so it's no suprise. Couple that with the full backing of the team, and SV has got all the tools he needs to walk away with this championship.

There's no reason he shouldn't dominate at the moment either, really he should have done the same last year, they just made a big of a meal out of it.

No saying that at all....my point is that Vettel knows how to set up a car to extract the most out of it where maybe others might come up short. Read Mansells biography and he explains it perfectly...

[LionKing]

I would say any driver in the top 3 teams could probably set that car up and dominate. Your suggesting that the other drivers are inexperienced F3000 drivers that don't know anything about setting a car up. All of the top drivers have this skill.

SV is not more the 'right driver' than any other driver in the top 3/4 teams. The car is massively superior, the guy who designed it has done it plenty of times before so it's no suprise. Couple that with the full backing of the team, and SV has got all the tools he needs to walk away with this championship.

There's no reason he shouldn't dominate at the moment either, really he should have done the same last year, they just made a big of a meal out of it.

Take Vettel out, Red Bull would have only won 1 of 8 races so far. The previous three races McLaren was faster in race trim, he still won 2 of those races.

I don't think that just any driver in the top 3/4 teams would have done it. Massa, Button and Webber (obviously) bunch could not have done it. Lewis, Alonso and perhaps Rosberg may have possibly matched Vettel's wins.

[PlatinumZealot]

Take Vettel out and put in any half decent driver that knows to turn the tyres on, and is not 0.6 seconds slower than a top 5 driver, and yeah he would still win the WDC six wins or not.

The car is the most dominant I have seen in years. Puts the Brawn to shame, which had obvious weaknesses - this car HAS NONE!

[andrew]

Take Vettel out and put in any half decent driver that knows to turn the tyres on, and is not 0.6 seconds slower than a top 5 driver, and yeah he would still win the WDC six wins or not.

The exact same can be said for several drivers......

[LionKing]

Take Vettel out and put in any half decent driver that knows to turn the tyres on, and is not 0.6 seconds slower than a top 5 driver, and yeah he would still win the WDC six wins or not.

The car is the most dominant I have seen in years. Puts the Brawn to shame, which had obvious weaknesses - this car HAS NONE!

So you think that Webber is not even a half a decent driver? He is not great but he is a very solid driver.

Why did not those McLaren drivers win the previous three races all where they were faster than Red Bull in race?

[i70q7m7ghw]

Webber is probably quite close to Vettel, but he doesn't have the full backing of the team. He says he's struggling to adapt to the Pirelli tyres this year. Let me think, which Red Bull driver was it that attended the first Pirelli tyre test last year? Red Bull had a massive problem with two championship contenders in their team last year, and it nearly lost them the title. It looks like this year they've fixed that problem.

Why did not those McLaren drivers win the previous three races all where they were faster than Red Bull in race?

Because track position is king.

[Thunder2]

Vettel is doing a great job. But RedBull's engineers are winning the championship.
You put an average driver in the RedBull, you loose 0.5 sec. You take Newey& Co out of RedBull, you loose seconds.

[LionKing]

Webber is probably quite close to Vettel, but he doesn't have the full backing of the team. He says he's struggling to adapt to the Pirelli tyres this year. Let me think, which Red Bull driver was it that attended the first Pirelli tyre test last year? Red Bull had a massive problem with two championship contenders in their team last year, and it nearly lost them the title. It looks like this year they've fixed that problem.

Why did not those McLaren drivers win the previous three races all where they were faster than Red Bull in race?

Because track position is king.

With this year tires and the available of DRS, I think it is more important to have the better car in race than the fastest car in qualifying.

If you are fast in race, a lot of opportunities become available to you. Can use DRS on straights, pit a lap early for fresh tires to undercut. The lead car can not cover all the possible strategies. For instance in this race Vettel opened 3 and 4 seconds gap in first and second stints but the gap evaporated when he pitted later than Webber and Alonso.

Webber is nowhere near Vettel. The best he managed out of eight races is one second place which also means that he got beaten by a non-Red Bull car in seven races. As for the tires he should now have ~10K km on these Pirellis.

[LionKing]

Vettel is doing a great job. But RedBull's engineers are winning the championship.
You put an average driver in the RedBull, you loose 0.5 sec. You take Newey& Co out of RedBull, you loose seconds.

McLaren was 0.4 second off Red dull in Q3 and Vettel was ~0.2-0.3sec faster in race than Alonso\Webber. So it is definitely not seconds. This keeps repeated but McLaren was faster in race the previous three so it is a lot closer than suggested.

During the race Vettel did not allow any followers to go under DRS threshold at any point AFAIK, he also manages the races very intelligently.

[i70q7m7ghw]

If Newey left Red Bull, they would slowly go backwards down the grid. You can see this in McLaren & Williams.