Are we seeing a Vettel era?

[PlatinumZealot]

Different rules different tyres. Vettel could have actually went much faster than he had to to win these races. And not only that, I see where you are coming from with the speed of the car, but reliability of Vettel's RB7 has been Rock solid, (just a temporary KERS glitch here or there) and that makes a damn fine car to me.

Pole every race, fast enough to win on strategy... (I think China was just a cock-up, Vettel should have won.) Canada was a cock-up too.. Silverstone and Hungary... Vettel come's to every race knowing that he has the car and the backing to win COMFORTABLY. Can't say that for the other guys (Even Webber! lol).

So yeah, RB7 is waaaay better than RB6 in my eyes. I mean, It's the best car at Monza too! nuff said.

[wesley123]

[...] Vettel is an nice guy, but an Vettel era? No way, like was said before, Vettel was defeated by teammates in most of the racing classes before F1 nor does he shows any real racecraft, he drives the car and thats it. To become an great driver you also have to work the team, in which Vettel seems really lazy. He has a bit of an lazy attitude. [...]

[CHT]

Vettel was defeated by teammates in most of the racing classes before F1

I have been reading a lot about this. can someone please provide more details about how bad was Vettel during his junior years, who he lost to and under what circumstance, vs other WDCs in their junior years.

[mx_tifoso]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_ ... er_summary

[WhiteBlue]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_ ... er_summary

Bloody impressive to read. Not only was Vettel showing signs of domination in earlier series, his first F1 carrier steps with BMW Sauber and Toro Rosso demonstrate clearly that he elevated the teams above the quality of their respective cars. Anybody who saw him driving for Toro Rosso in Japan and China in his first year could see that. His 2008 win in Monza was something special again. Every effort of talking that down is foolish in my view.

His first season with Red Bull he outscored Webber comprehensively although Webber had been with the team for years and had tons of experience. Since he is with Red Bull Webber has never been able to outscore Vettel in one season. Again Vettel as usual takes the car higher than it would normally end up, particularly in qualifying.

I think his strength is to set the car up with his engineers to extract the optimum in terms of speed and do this for almost every track on the calendar consistently. If the current politics by FOTA prevail I think there is every reason to believe that Vettel will get competitive cars that compliment his abilities. So we could well be looking at a Red Bull/Vettel era until major changes loom in 2014. I think in 2009 the Red Bull would have been the dominant car had we seen a regular solution to the double diffusor story. So counting 2009 in we could see a five year period of Red Bull/Vettel taking top honors.

[Traction]

[...]

[raymondu999]

Actually Paul Hembery talked to Autosport about how Vettel has been the most hardworking driver. Autosport details it here if you have a subscription: http://plus.autosport.com/premium/featu ... is-rivals/

If not you can still see the sneak preview

We were impressed when he came to see us, and I think it gave us a little insight into what he is like as a driver. What he did with us, he clearly does that in all areas that he operates in. The only other driver that asks us a lot of questions is another German – who is a bit older with quite a few more championships under his belt. We found that interesting. It is like seeing the master and the protege at work.

Whenever you work with the best, there is always a lot to do with the level of detail. At Pirelli we've had the privilege of working with Sebastien Loeb and other rallying greats, and these guys don't sleep at night thinking about how to improve things.

Vettel has picked that approach up from someone, or he was born like that. There could be a temptation from people when they get to F1 to think that they have made it, but the reality is he hasn't stopped – and he probably will not be happy until he has got seven titles under his belt, like the master…

[mach11]

hello everyone,

reading the above posts i do not intend to enter into the argument i do not mean to offend anyone.... I am here to share my view....

In my himble opinion, i must say that vettel has been very impressive with his performance. No one can survive in formula 1 without talent so i must say he is full of it.

But winning with a fast car does not mean he is the greatest. Any driver in formula 1 can do that if he has the talent. When the redbull car does not perform we have seen a dip in his performance and if vettel could pull out strong performances with an underperforming car, then we can say he is unbeatable.

To me in the near future vettel will dominate but i do not see him becoming the greatest driver.

All in a healthy discussion sake. Not to offend anyone.

[HampusA]

wait until the rbr is not the fastest car on the grid...

[...]

[wesley123]

Have read the wiki page and must say there he doesnt seem any worse then a Hamilton or so, still keeping my point though. Plus laughed my ass off at this(although i shouldnt be supposed to): 'his finger was almost sliced off by flying débris in an accident,' Now we can see where his 'finger' comes from

[MIKEY_!]

If i'm not mistaken Schuy had the best car in the years he won. As for wait till RBR is not the best car on the grid, well vettel won at monza for TR (admittedly that was a bit lucky). He is one amazing driver and I think had he been selected by a top team when he was younger rather than going through the Red Bull program he would have had a few more titles as well.

Still wish he'd put that finger away though

[jamsbong]

The win in Monza 2008 is not about 'luck'. He saw the opportunity and grabbed it by the balls. Just have a look at his teammate Sebastien Bourdais and the difference is perfectly clear.

About his finger. I wonder if the other drivers sees it as a form of taunt? If so, Vettel is definitely excelling even with 4 world Champions chasing him down.

I won't be surprise if Vettel ends up breaking endless number of records like Schumacher used to.

[raymondu999]

I don't get the finger criticism actually. Other drivers give it too when winning. So what's the problem?

[MIKEY_!]

Can't recall seeing other (current) drivers doing that, could be wrong though. Got any pics? I think the finger is silly. When I said luck i didn't make myself very clear. He was presented with an opportunity (the luck part) but he still had to do the work to get the win.

[raymondu999]

I asssureyou these aren't the only times

2011 China:


Can't remember when:


After Brazil 2009:


Hungary 2011: