- 05 Sep 12, 17:43#318811
That last sentence in the article drew a retort from me... Vettel does not have to race Hamilton or Alonso in the same car to prove his greatness.
This year so far from Vettel is amazing... Totally unlucky at Valencia (he would've won in a similar fashion to Button last weekend) AND Malaysia. He is also overcoming the trial of having his car scrutinised and pace reduced. (Look at Webbers' results for an indication of a drop in car performance - now down in 6th or 8th place). Spa showed that with a dog of a car, Vettel can have a good race. You also saw the car's dismal top speeds. I think he is triumphing over misfortune again, in a similar fashion to 2010.
This is exactly what everyone has asked for - Vettel is now fighting for the championship and race wins in a car that is not the best. It could be really close between him and Alonso.
And just because Vettel does have a faster car, doesn't make himself any less of a driver. His former teams have praised his mechanical aptitude. He stays back with his engineers working on and understanding the car. He works at setting up the car over the grand prix weekend to be fast come qualifying and a good race package. It's not just the team.
The fact that he is struggling so much this year can be attributed to the tires. (HECK - if the excuse worked with Webber last year, why can't it apply to Vettel this year?) Webber has his tracks that he is good at - Monaco and GBR, and he did well there (coinciding with car being at it's quickest pace so far this year). Mark has always been good at these tracks, and I am not surprised that he has more victories than Vettel in the first half of the season.
But I am very confident about Vettel's chances so far this year. If you look beyond the obvious, you can see that he is doing very very well, consistent with a legend of the sport.
This year so far from Vettel is amazing... Totally unlucky at Valencia (he would've won in a similar fashion to Button last weekend) AND Malaysia. He is also overcoming the trial of having his car scrutinised and pace reduced. (Look at Webbers' results for an indication of a drop in car performance - now down in 6th or 8th place). Spa showed that with a dog of a car, Vettel can have a good race. You also saw the car's dismal top speeds. I think he is triumphing over misfortune again, in a similar fashion to 2010.
This is exactly what everyone has asked for - Vettel is now fighting for the championship and race wins in a car that is not the best. It could be really close between him and Alonso.
And just because Vettel does have a faster car, doesn't make himself any less of a driver. His former teams have praised his mechanical aptitude. He stays back with his engineers working on and understanding the car. He works at setting up the car over the grand prix weekend to be fast come qualifying and a good race package. It's not just the team.
The fact that he is struggling so much this year can be attributed to the tires. (HECK - if the excuse worked with Webber last year, why can't it apply to Vettel this year?) Webber has his tracks that he is good at - Monaco and GBR, and he did well there (coinciding with car being at it's quickest pace so far this year). Mark has always been good at these tracks, and I am not surprised that he has more victories than Vettel in the first half of the season.
But I am very confident about Vettel's chances so far this year. If you look beyond the obvious, you can see that he is doing very very well, consistent with a legend of the sport.
#5 Vettel!
