Does anyone actually like Vettel?

[ajprice]

I like him away from the car and when he doesn't have his race head on. Away from that, he's a decent and funny guy. I think I've posted this before, it's a video on Sky F1 from June this year with him and Ted Kravitz doing an interview while playing backgammon (which he's quite handy at). The championship was still pretty close in June, so I'm not sure what an interview setup like this would be like now that the wheels have fallen off for the year, but he's a good guy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MY7iRD3kb-8

[Mr Tidy]

No - he's just another arrogant German tw*t with limited talent IMO!

I hope he enjoys not winning the WDC this year.

[KevinCamaroSS]

Exige77 said:

TonyF said:

Both drivers are great drivers but whilst Hamilton is enjoying his red bull moment in the Merc and vettel is trying to chase him down, I think that if they ( Hamilton & vettel ) were both in the mercedes then Hamilton wouldn’t see which way vettel went.

Hilarious

Actually Tony F is quite correct, but not in the way he meant. SV would be so far behind, LH would not be able to see him in his mirrors.

[anonymous-user]

KevinCamaroSS said:

Exige77 said:

TonyF said:

Both drivers are great drivers but whilst Hamilton is enjoying his red bull moment in the Merc and vettel is trying to chase him down, I think that if they ( Hamilton & vettel ) were both in the mercedes then Hamilton wouldn’t see which way vettel went.

Hilarious

Actually Tony F is quite correct, but not in the way he meant. SV would be so far behind, LH would not be able to see him in his mirrors.

Of course, you’re both wrong.

They’d be very close in the same car. Only a fool would say differently.

The past few years tells us that Hamilton can’t beat Vettel if he has an inferior car and vice versa.

Even this year tells us that, though the moments that the Ferrari has been the better car have been fleeting.

[Teddy Lop]

REALIST123 said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Exige77 said:

TonyF said:

Both drivers are great drivers but whilst Hamilton is enjoying his red bull moment in the Merc and vettel is trying to chase him down, I think that if they ( Hamilton & vettel ) were both in the mercedes then Hamilton wouldn’t see which way vettel went.

Hilarious

Actually Tony F is quite correct, but not in the way he meant. SV would be so far behind, LH would not be able to see him in his mirrors.

Of course, you’re both wrong.

They’d be very close in the same car. Only a fool would say differently.

The past few years tells us that Hamilton can’t beat Vettel if he has an inferior car and vice versa.

Even this year tells us that, though the moments that the Ferrari has been the better car have been fleeting.

I don't like vettel but credit where its due; he has speed and he's a tenacious b4rstard; I recon he'd have a rosberg in him.

[glazbagun]

I find I view him in the opposite light to Hamilton- I like Vettel best out of the car, and like him more when he's losing than when he wins.

The piling on of mockery & pressure since his mistakes is unfortunate but a common consequence of failing publicly- see also any football manager in the Premier League.

He's one of the few drivers I'll go to the trouble of finding post-race comments for, accepting that he has the usual F1 driver blind spot for his own mistakes.

[Vaud]

glazbagun said:

I find I view him in the opposite light to Hamilton- I like Vettel best out of the car, and like him more when he's losing than when he wins.

Some of the funniest stuff was in the Hamilton vs Rosberg battles.

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPhfA5XNaE

[KevinCamaroSS]

REALIST123 said:

KevinCamaroSS said:

Exige77 said:

TonyF said:

Both drivers are great drivers but whilst Hamilton is enjoying his red bull moment in the Merc and vettel is trying to chase him down, I think that if they ( Hamilton & vettel ) were both in the mercedes then Hamilton wouldn’t see which way vettel went.

Hilarious

Actually Tony F is quite correct, but not in the way he meant. SV would be so far behind, LH would not be able to see him in his mirrors.

Of course, you’re both wrong.

They’d be very close in the same car. Only a fool would say differently.

The past few years tells us that Hamilton can’t beat Vettel if he has an inferior car and vice versa.

Even this year tells us that, though the moments that the Ferrari has been the better car have been fleeting.

Sure, it would be close, but nothing like as close as LH vs FA or DR. The past few years actually tells us LH can, and does, beat SV when SV has a superior car. LH has won several races this year that SV should have won. Ferrari had the better car for a fair period of this year, until the last few races when Ferrari have gone backwards.

Edited to add: SV is much more likeable out of the car, as others have said. In the car he appears to have the 'win at all costs' mentality, probably learnt it from his fellow countryman MS. As a driver he is not in the same league in terms of race-craft and wet weather skills as shown this year.

Edited by KevinCamaroSS on Sunday 14th October 10:45

[Bullitt Five-Oh]

Vaud said:

glazbagun said:

I find I view him in the opposite light to Hamilton- I like Vettel best out of the car, and like him more when he's losing than when he wins.

Some of the funniest stuff was in the Hamilton vs Rosberg battles.

e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PPhfA5XNaE

Sorry but this is too much cringe for me to watch through the whole thing. Two Germans trying humour and failing badly...

[Sa Calobra]

Watch some YouTube clips of him dickin about out of the car in press conferences etc. He's funny.

He'll never be as good as Hamilton. The Merc isn't the best

[Kraken]

From the personas that Hamilton and Vettel project to the public I much prefer Vettel. The fact that he wants nothing to do with social media is something I really admire as the pressure to conform must be enormous.

As far as racing goes I'm not really a fan as he makes too many unforced errors but there's no-one on the F1 grid currently I'm really that much of a fan of anyway. When they're all driving so far off the ultimate pace of the car it's hard to look up to them as the super human beings that I used to think Mansell and Senna were.

[NoddyonNitrous]

SV is a very private bloke - keeps family life out of the limelight.
Could he have been coping with something at home that has been taking the shine off his concentration/performance in the last few months that he doesn't mention?

[The Dictator]

I have a gut feeling on this.

I don't really like Hamilton, but support him to win

I like Vettel, but hope he loses.

I believe it boils down to supporting a fellow countryman, over anything else.

[DaveE36]

Am I the only one who likes most of the drivers in the field? Most of the top drivers are arrogant pricks. It's part of the mentality required by most to be the best in the world.

I've always been a Hamilton fan since he joined the sport due to his style of driving. I watch F1 for what they do in the car, but whatever they do outside of the car is their own business. Do I care what they wear or who they're seen with? Why should I? If you feel the need to attack someone because of how they look or who they hang around with, it says more about you than it does about them.

The anti-Hamilton comments do appear to have subsided a bit this year on F1 and F1 fan pages this year though - I guess he's silenced some of his critics?

If you want a soap opera go watch one.

[swisstoni]

DaveE36 said:

Am I the only one who likes most of the drivers in the field? Most of the top drivers are arrogant pricks. It's part of the mentality required by most to be the best in the world.

I've always been a Hamilton fan since he joined the sport due to his style of driving. I watch F1 for what they do in the car, but whatever they do outside of the car is their own business. Do I care what they wear or who they're seen with? Why should I? If you feel the need to attack someone because of how they look or who they hang around with, it says more about you than it does about them.

The anti-Hamilton comments do appear to have subsided a bit this year on F1 and F1 fan pages this year though - I guess he's silenced some of his critics?

If you want a soap opera go watch one.

Bang on.

[Teddy Lop]

swisstoni said:

DaveE36 said:

Am I the only one who likes most of the drivers in the field? Most of the top drivers are arrogant pricks. It's part of the mentality required by most to be the best in the world.

I've always been a Hamilton fan since he joined the sport due to his style of driving. I watch F1 for what they do in the car, but whatever they do outside of the car is their own business. Do I care what they wear or who they're seen with? Why should I? If you feel the need to attack someone because of how they look or who they hang around with, it says more about you than it does about them.

The anti-Hamilton comments do appear to have subsided a bit this year on F1 and F1 fan pages this year though - I guess he's silenced some of his critics?

If you want a soap opera go watch one.

Bang on.

My Mrs gets some of her soap opera kicks out of F1, so we enjoy it together and everyone's a winner.

[LDN]

The Dictator said:

I have a gut feeling on this.

I don't really like Hamilton, but support him to win

I like Vettel, but hope he loses.

I believe it boils down to supporting a fellow countryman, over anything else.

Your gut feeling might be more to do with Hamilton being able to fight wheel to wheel; to great effect.

[anonymous-user]

LDN said:

The Dictator said:

I have a gut feeling on this.

I don't really like Hamilton, but support him to win

I like Vettel, but hope he loses.

I believe it boils down to supporting a fellow countryman, over anything else.

Your gut feeling might be more to do with Hamilton being able to fight wheel to wheel; to great effect.

It’s a long time since anyone ‘fought wheel to wheel’ for more than the odd corner.

Unless you class DRS overtakes and fuel and tyre management as fighting.

[Kraken]

REALIST123 said:

It’s a long time since anyone ‘fought wheel to wheel’ for more than the odd corner.

Unless you class DRS overtakes and fuel and tyre management as fighting.

Why I can't be bothered with F1 anymore. When I saw the difference between quali and the race at the last GP I went to lost all interest. It's driving miss daisy not racing.

[GuitarTech]

DamnKraut said:

Interesting answers so far. Removing the whole nationality bias from the equation (I’d expect asking the OP’s question in a German F1 forum would basically result in him getting told to fk off and then some more), there are quite a few aspects about SV that makes him a truly likeable person IMO:

- He’s been with his high school girl friend since they first met as teenagers. She doesn’t want or embrace the publicity that comes with his work and he is not interested in affairs with supermodels and those things. Polar opposite to that plastic lady (Scherzinger) LH is (or was - don’t know or care about their current issues or non-issues) with and all the ridiculous drama between those two girls. Call me old fashioned but the partner at a man’s side speaks volumes about his personality IMO.

- He’s a modest guy, no social media attention seeking wh*re like LH with his Floyd Mayweather bling bling lifestyle, plastic girls, big yachts, tax evading private jet planes, pimped up supercars and comparable other tasteless ste/ nonsense that bears witness to everyone that money can’t buy class or style.

- He’s an honest guy telling it how it is, similar to Alonso and Kimi. He admits to making mistakes and sometimes being a dick, does not blame his team when something didn’t go his way or they made mistakes- knowing quite well that he fked up quite a few times this year. Fully agree that he has annoying habits (finger) but who hasn’t got any? I think SV’s bad traits come mostly from being a dedicated racer who wants to win above all. Remember him crying when he screwed up his race at his home Grand Prix this year - seems quite human and likeable to me given Hockenheim is 50 kms from his home town and he wanted to win for his local fans from the region.

- He’s on very good terms with Kimi (afaik not following F1 in detail), which says a lot already. Kimi doesn’t need to be friends with anyone as he’s the Iceman and cool as fk. Anyone who gets along with Kimi can’t be a bad guy.

Do I consider SV a great driver? Probably not one of the greatest, but definitely one of the best 4 to 5 of the current bunch next to LH, FA and MV.

Is LH a better driver? I would say yes, but difficult to compare at the moment as the Merc just works like a Swiss clockwork, has the speed to boot as well and Merc as a team are better organized than Ferrari.

Is LH overall a more likeable guy? No way IMO. I am probably biased being a Kraut and having liked MS (not however his brother RS) and NR quite well. But all of the above are positives for me about SV which I quite often miss about LH.

Now, everyone in opposition to SV: if you see through your dislike of us damn Krauts, is SV truly such an unlikeable guy?

Most of what you've written hits the nail on the head, and I like him too. I understand more about the German mentality than most here, and can speak and read and write the language fluently, as I've been living here for over 30 years. And when you're judging someone, an understanding of their national mentality is very important. The "Krauts" have a reputation for being humourless,: it just is not true: but you have to speak the lingo before you understand it. Anyone who thinks that Vettel isn't likeable should watch this video. You don't have to understand German, the video speaks for itself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2s_i3yktCA