Faster is not always better.
Hamilton is faster than Button we are all agreed, although button has been faster than Hamilton nigh on 33% of the time in 2011.
Yet we know well the end result.
I would also say that qualifying is nowhere near as important as it used to be. Driver preserving tyres or in some instance not even bothering to go out and set a time indicates that.
So if you want to be a 1 lap hero, you end up losing position in race.
It's this that makes Vettels 2011 season remarkable IMO. 15 poles and he wraps up the championship with GPs to spare.
Yes the RB7 was fantastic, but it wasn't all that great in webbos hands(sorry keep repeating this).
And when you consider how Vettel managed his speed at various stages of each gp, you realise that there was alot of thinking going on in that helmet.
I hazard a guess that if it came down to outright speed, Vettel could also bang it out hell for leather lap after lap just as good as Alonso and Hamilton.
But you have to ask the question, if it harms your cause.... Why attempt to do it 100% lap after lap?