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[racechick]

Happy 25th birthday Sebastian!


It's incredible to think how young he still is, yet what he has already done.
At this age:
Michael Schumacher just started his first championship season in '94.
Fernando Alonso was only half-way his second championship campaign in 2006.
Ayrton Senna was only in his second season of Formula One, and still one month away from his first victory.
Alain Prost was almost going to drive his first Formula One race.

Of the 10 youngest Formula One drivers, only 3 (Button, Alonso and Vettel) were able to win a race.

Are you sure? Of the current grid, 5 of the drivers are the youngest to win a race Sebastian (21) Alonso (22) Lewis (22) Kimi(23) Schumacher (23) .Button doesnt feature in the top 10.
Unsuprisingly the youngest to win world championships are Sebatian (23) Lewis (23) and Alonso (24)

Yeah, but Jenson was only 20 years and 53 days old when he made his Grand Prix debut with Williams, back in 2000.

Yeah but he didnt win.

[stonemonkey]

I'm

[LewEngBridewell]

Happy 25th birthday Sebastian!


It's incredible to think how young he still is, yet what he has already done.
At this age:
Michael Schumacher just started his first championship season in '94.
Fernando Alonso was only half-way his second championship campaign in 2006.
Ayrton Senna was only in his second season of Formula One, and still one month away from his first victory.
Alain Prost was almost going to drive his first Formula One race.

Of the 10 youngest Formula One drivers, only 3 (Button, Alonso and Vettel) were able to win a race.

Are you sure? Of the current grid, 5 of the drivers are the youngest to win a race Sebastian (21) Alonso (22) Lewis (22) Kimi(23) Schumacher (23) .Button doesnt feature in the top 10.
Unsuprisingly the youngest to win world championships are Sebatian (23) Lewis (23) and Alonso (24)

Yeah, but Jenson was only 20 years and 53 days old when he made his Grand Prix debut with Williams, back in 2000.

Yeah but he didnt win.

Well he did, eventually!

What mnmracer is saying here, is that out of the top 10 youngest drivers to start a Grand Prix race, only 3 have gone on to win in their career. Jenson is one of them. Bear in mind this is a list which is topped by Jaime Alguersuari.

[vaptin]

Happy 25th birthday Sebastian!


It's incredible to think how young he still is, yet what he has already done.
At this age:
Michael Schumacher just started his first championship season in '94.
Fernando Alonso was only half-way his second championship campaign in 2006.
Ayrton Senna was only in his second season of Formula One, and still one month away from his first victory.
Alain Prost was almost going to drive his first Formula One race.

Of the 10 youngest Formula One drivers, only 3 (Button, Alonso and Vettel) were able to win a race.

Are you sure? Of the current grid, 5 of the drivers are the youngest to win a race Sebastian (21) Alonso (22) Lewis (22) Kimi(23) Schumacher (23) .Button doesnt feature in the top 10.
Unsuprisingly the youngest to win world championships are Sebatian (23) Lewis (23) and Alonso (24)

Yeah, but Jenson was only 20 years and 53 days old when he made his Grand Prix debut with Williams, back in 2000.

Yeah but he didnt win.

I don't think it meant youngest to win a race, but youngest to enter into F1 and win a race eventually.

It is pretty interesting, as you'd think drivers who got into g1 younger would be more talented and so more likely to win races.

I think it' because getting into f1 is about connections to a large extent, other drivers need more time to really prove their talent before being given a chance.

[LewEngBridewell]

I don't think it meant youngest to win a race, but youngest to enter into F1 and win a race eventually.

Thank you!

[racechick]

So you could be in F1 for 15 years without a sausage then get lucky and win a race? Hmmm not sure how telling a statistic that is. But statistics are fun and you can do pretty much what you want with them

[stonemonkey]

So you could be in F1 for 15 years without a sausage then get lucky and win a race? Hmmm not sure how telling a statistic that is. But statistics are fun and you can do pretty much what you want with them

Yep, after their first races, Alonso took over a year and a half to get his first win, Vettel over three years and Button over six years. Slow starters :p

[What's Burning?]

Perhaps it's because I'm at a different stage of life but I'd take successful longevity over successful youth any time. The youth factor is simply a shift in the way the sport has evolved, into extremely high dollars, extreme pressure to success and provide results and the short lifespan allowed some F1 drivers to succeed or be pushed out. There is little room for development in F1 today, the expectation is for all of that development to be done in the feeder series. Whether you agree with that philosophy or not, it is a part of the the culture currently.

[Hammer278]

Perhaps it's because I'm at a different stage of life but I'd take successful longevity over successful youth any time. The youth factor is simply a shift in the way the sport has evolved, into extremely high dollars, extreme pressure to success and provide results and the short lifespan allowed some F1 drivers to succeed or be pushed out. There is little room for development in F1 today, the expectation is for all of that development to be done in the feeder series. Whether you agree with that philosophy or not, it is a part of the the culture currently.

I'd agree with this. I like the idea of a driver coming into the sport as a raw diamond and developing into a great racer in a certain time span.

However, what I just stated would be deemed a 'failure' driver in today's F1. Take a look at Massa, Button, Ralf Schumacher, maybe even Coulthard. These guys were quite erratic/average when they first came in....drivers who had 1-3 years experience and spinning off/crashing into pitlane walls/stalling on the grid were deemed to be the norm in their 'development'. However, as you say expectations have increased tremendously thanks to the feeder series, the simulators the drivers are exposed to. So, its not like they have an excuse anymore....it's just the sign of the times.

I still liked the old F1 a bit more though, seeing your favourite driver commit mistakes/mess up and then develop into a very good one (talking about DC here) was enjoyable in its own way. However, if DC had entered the sport today as a rookie, I don't think he would've lasted more than 2 years.

[darwin dali]

However, if DC had entered the sport today as a rookie, I don't think he would've lasted more than 2 years.

Don't say that! He may have blended in really well with today's cubistic cars and nobody would have noticed his camouflaged mug and thus, not fired him either...

[Big Azza]

[youtube]kDkK8a4jHZ8&feature=related[/youtube]

I don't know if this video has been posted before on this site, I would think that someone did post on the Hamilton thread. However, looking at how Vettel drove as a roookie here - absolutely amazing stuff!

Yeah Hamilton eventually won out... But that is some of the best defensive driving I've ever seen. And then we switch back to Spain 2011, when Vettel was able to just keep Hamilton behind him, by building up a lead through the aero corners and pacing his KERS beautifully...

[lodge89]

I haven't been impressed by Seb this year, this man dominated last year with 11 wins, he has only won 1 race this year whilst Mark has won 2. Ever since Bahrain he's only been on the podium once, with constant 4th and 5th places. I feel he will need to win in the Belgium and Monza to really kick start his season and try and get Alonso.

[LewEngBridewell]

He's certainly not having it easy this season. And this is no bad thing.

[lodge89]

Last year everything went for him. This year is a bit like 2010 with him and Webber matched. I'm not overly worried about Mark however, something always goes wrong for him . There was races like Canada for example in qual he was superfast come the race he gets jumped by Hamilton and Alonso at the first stops and never got close to winning after that. Germany you think he is playing the waiting game with Alonso and he never had enough in the end, Button jumped him as well and we all know what happened at the end..

[LewEngBridewell]

After completely dominating in 2011, this season should do a lot of good to Seb, in reminding him that it won't always go his way. One would assume that this would make him an even better driver, providing that he observes it, accepts it and tackles it. There have been a number of times when it seemed like this has not been the case, and frustration has set in instead.