Sebastian Vettel
Discussion
leglessAlex said:
As I said earlier though, for much of the race before he retired Kimi was lapping faster, if less consistently.
Kimi was on a different strategy, doing two stops compared to the standard one, so for that middle stint where he was faster he was on fresh rubber when everyone else was on more worn tyres. He put in a few fastest laps, and at least some of his inconsistency was down to him catching slower cars that he was out of sync on strategy with.thegreenhell said:
Kimi was on a different strategy, doing two stops compared to the standard one, so for that middle stint where he was faster he was on fresh rubber when everyone else was on more worn tyres. He put in a few fastest laps, and at least some of his inconsistency was down to him catching slower cars that he was out of sync on strategy with.
And he had some car damage to deal with on top of that.Busso GTA said:
allergictocheese said:
Well done Vettel. Started in style by contacting with his team mate then made me puke into my cornflakes by speaking Italian at every possible opportunity!
But he didn't make contact though did he Mark Hughes - Motorsport Magazine said:
Hamilton took off from the front of the sparse grid and stayed there. Pretty much for the rest of the day, give or take a pitstop.
In his wake into the first turn Rosberg prevailed over Massa’s Williams as just behind them the Ferraris fought over territory. Kimi Räikkönen had got better traction off the line than Vettel but was on the outside, Seb standing late on the brakes to regain the lost ground. Grabbing a lot of inside kerb threw Vettel a metre or so to the left, where Räikkönen already was. Kimi got out of the way as best he could, scrabbling round the outside briefly off the gas to keep from visiting the gravel. Cars darted all around the momentum-checked Ferrari as he tried to blend back into the pack and he was caught a glancing blow by Nasr, snaking the Ferrari wildly out of line back into the Sauber, which in turn flicked Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus heavily into the wall. Sainz took advantage to nip past Nasr for fifth just before the safety car was deployed, neutralising what was shaping up into a messy-looking scrabble. Räikkönen’s car had suffered slight front wing damage from Vettel and a significant chunk out of the rear floor area was missing, courtesy of the Nasr hit, but it was still running OK.
Just to clarify, I don't think Vettel did anything wrong and had a cracking race, but there was contact.In his wake into the first turn Rosberg prevailed over Massa’s Williams as just behind them the Ferraris fought over territory. Kimi Räikkönen had got better traction off the line than Vettel but was on the outside, Seb standing late on the brakes to regain the lost ground. Grabbing a lot of inside kerb threw Vettel a metre or so to the left, where Räikkönen already was. Kimi got out of the way as best he could, scrabbling round the outside briefly off the gas to keep from visiting the gravel. Cars darted all around the momentum-checked Ferrari as he tried to blend back into the pack and he was caught a glancing blow by Nasr, snaking the Ferrari wildly out of line back into the Sauber, which in turn flicked Pastor Maldonado’s Lotus heavily into the wall. Sainz took advantage to nip past Nasr for fifth just before the safety car was deployed, neutralising what was shaping up into a messy-looking scrabble. Räikkönen’s car had suffered slight front wing damage from Vettel and a significant chunk out of the rear floor area was missing, courtesy of the Nasr hit, but it was still running OK.
MitchT said:
btcc123 said:
Vettel is probably the third best driver behind Hamilton and Alonso
He's a better decision maker than Alonso though 
ianj said:
MitchT said:
btcc123 said:
Vettel is probably the third best driver behind Hamilton and Alonso
He's a better decision maker than Alonso though greygoose said:
I think Alonso is a great driver but I can't see him on a podium with McLaren this year unless a crash takes out most of the rest of the field.
Indeed. Even if they make massive progress and overtake RB, they're still looking at 7th. A podium means you've beaten everyone except for Mercedes - that would be an unbelievable recovery from where they are now.Vettel's 4 championships at Red Bull, was it Vettel or the Newey car performance? Last year I would have said they were Newey wins.
I know there's a conspiracy theory that Vettel didn't do as much as he could have last year to trigger the performance clause in his Red Bull contract on purpose to get out and go to Ferrari. Now he's there, he's had a podium and a win, and Red Bull are in the s
t and arguing with Renault 
I know there's a conspiracy theory that Vettel didn't do as much as he could have last year to trigger the performance clause in his Red Bull contract on purpose to get out and go to Ferrari. Now he's there, he's had a podium and a win, and Red Bull are in the s
t and arguing with Renault leglessAlex said:
I really hope Ferrari take a leaf out of Mercedes' book and let them race if they are together on track, but I doubt they will.
Ferrari let there two drivers race against each other? Where did you get your flying pigs? If anything, Kimi's just going to become Seb's b
h. Will be another Schumacher situation.LeeThr said:
leglessAlex said:
I really hope Ferrari take a leaf out of Mercedes' book and let them race if they are together on track, but I doubt they will.
Ferrari let their two drivers race against each other? Where did you get your flying pigs? If anything, Kimi's just going to become Seb's b
h. Will be another Schumacher situation.I'm not sure Kimi would just roll over for Seb but then I'm not sure he cares enough to assert himself. I guess we will find out, he has had bad luck so far but it won't be long before we see them qualifiying and racing right next to each other.
leglessAlex said:
Yeah I know it's pretty optimistic but hey, you gotta have hope right?
I'm not sure Kimi would just roll over for Seb but then I'm not sure he cares enough to assert himself. I guess we will find out, he has had bad luck so far but it won't be long before we see them qualifiying and racing right next to each other.
Assuming Kimi refuses to roll over into the number 2 position, I suspect that whenever he is too close to Seb, Kimi will suddenly find some bad luck; a slow pit stop, a wrong strategy. There are any number of ways to drop a driver a couple or more places.I'm not sure Kimi would just roll over for Seb but then I'm not sure he cares enough to assert himself. I guess we will find out, he has had bad luck so far but it won't be long before we see them qualifiying and racing right next to each other.
Let's be honest here, if you stuck Vettel in a McLaren he'd be nowhere. Neither would Hamilton. People talk about the drivers like they make a huge difference, but at this level they just don't. Most of the drivers on the grid are within touching distance of eachother in my opinion, I think even the backmarkers would probably be tough to beat in the 2015 Mercedes.
It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
Durzel said:
Let's be honest here, if you stuck Vettel in a McLaren he'd be nowhere. Neither would Hamilton. People talk about the drivers like they make a huge difference, but at this level they just don't. Most of the drivers on the grid are within touching distance of eachother in my opinion, I think even the backmarkers would probably be tough to beat in the 2015 Mercedes.
It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
Regarding drivers, The key factor seperating our multiple championship winners from our pay drivers and back markers is consistency. It's points over a season which maketh the champion. In a single race though? Yeah why not. I can't disagree with much of your first paragraph. It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
The second, though- What I feel is significant about the [TONY2OR4 LOOK AWAY NOW] Vettel victory at the weekend is that everybody, myself included, believed that the Mercedes was so efficient (and powerful) that they could go a second a lap quicker and had more pace in their back pocket just in case. Malaysia showed that, in those admittedly quite exceptional conditions, this is not the case. Vettel was able to more or less gap Hamilton for the second half of the race even with Hamilton being encouraged to push and being told he's on for the win.
Ferrari, in my opinion, have clearly made a lot of progress over the winter and they demonstrated this throughout the weekend.
McNish did a lap comparison between Kimi and Hamilton in the BBC's qualifying coverage and it revealed that the Ferrari was actually faster in a straight line than the Mercedes so your assertion that the Mercedes has 'the power difference they've always had' is probably false.
Are we going to see Ferrari challenging for wins all season? I don't think so... but does everybody still believe that the mercedes is still untouchable to the tune of a second per lap with more pace in hand? I don't. This shows that we don't necessarily have a two-horse race for the championship and this makes everybody much happier.
BritishRacinGrin said:
Durzel said:
Let's be honest here, if you stuck Vettel in a McLaren he'd be nowhere. Neither would Hamilton. People talk about the drivers like they make a huge difference, but at this level they just don't. Most of the drivers on the grid are within touching distance of eachother in my opinion, I think even the backmarkers would probably be tough to beat in the 2015 Mercedes.
It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
Regarding drivers, The key factor seperating our multiple championship winners from our pay drivers and back markers is consistency. It's points over a season which maketh the champion. In a single race though? Yeah why not. I can't disagree with much of your first paragraph. It speaks volumes how people are hyping one race where arguably Mercedes made mistakes in an unconventional climate that this is somehow a sea change for the sport, or that Ferrari is going to be keeping them honest all year long. The reality is next race Mercedes is still going to have the power difference they've always had.
And I'm not sure a I agree with your definition of consistency. It's not just over A season but over a number of seasons and different cars and getting the best out of them. It's understanding subtle differences and nuances of driving styles, why they get the best and extract the maximum consistently more than others which separate the greats from the not-so-greats and those who are merely race winners.
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