I harbor no resentment against Vettel. Am I tired of seeing him steamroll the competition, yeah. But I'm a huge Ferrari Fan, when Schumi did the same I wasn't bored. The fact that Seb can do lap after lap at the same pace and then dig deeper when the team says turn it up some is amazing. The talent level is very high with this one. That impresses me. The first time he was booed was funny. Now it is becoming sad and a shame that the masses don't recognize there is greatness right under their noses. We are seeing something spectacular with Seb. I think we'll really see if he is a truly one of the great ones next year if the team can provide a competitive car.
I am more a fan of drivers first teams second. I started as a Mansell fan and loved watching him fight Sena and Prost. When he won his championship it was great. But he was in the best car in the field with all of the active devices on the car. The technology was amazing. After Mansell retired I saw Schumi pull off some amazing drives (before he won any championships) and said this is the guy to watch. When he switch to Ferrari I became a Ferrari fan too. Ferrari designed the car around him. It is the natural thing to do for a team to insure the team/driver car win. The FIA had to keep changing the rules the try and stop Ferrari and Schumi from winning and finally did so with the 1 tire set for the entire race. When I saw Vettel win for TR in the rain at Monza I said this the the guy to watch. Of course the team is going to build the car around the 3 time champion. It would be stupid for them not to. So do the other teams design around their star driver? If not then they deserve what they get. For Ferrari, are they to pick one or the other driver to design around or the grand compromise?
I'm not sure you all should just give this season to Vettel......two DNF's with two wins by Alonso and the championship is up for grabs......and with the transmission troubles they'd had lately, it can happen. However, if it doesn't, it's hard to write off Alonso for runner up.....if not him then one of the Benz boys. Seems like Hammy wants it more than Rosebug.
True enough, if it rains hard enough we could see Valteri Bottas in the #1 spot! That kid can drive in the rain!
The rain really shows who can drive, takes the car out of the equation. The cream rises to the top as they say. Love rain races.
I think Bottas could be a new one to watch. If he stays with Williams I hope they get the car running better. If Brawn goes there it could be really great.
Minardi questions Vettel's Singapore superiority Almost a week after the Singapore Grand Prix, former team owner Gian Carlo Minardi has admitted to being mystified by certain aspects of Sebastian Vettel's dominance during the race. "Waiting for the Korean GP, I would like to bring back all the wonderful memories linked to my experience at the Marina Bay Street Circuit and make some remarks about the Singapore GP, which I'd like to share and try to find some answers," writes the Italian. "I was enthralled by Singapore," he continues. "It was a brand new experience, which was completely different from any other experience I was used to. I had the chance to monitor all drivers' on-track deeds from a suite located at the end of the pit straight (which leads to the first chicane). The monitor I used to watch the race displayed also all drivers' lap times. Since I left Singapore however, I've been keeping in my mind the 2.5 sec advantage of Vettel over his teammate Webber and the other drivers. "It's not my intention to devalue Sebastian Vettel, who always manages his Red Bull the best way and I don't want even to jab at anyone, I just want to tell what I personally saw and heard during that three-day-event. According to my experience, I think that a 2.5 sec advantage each lap is really too much. It's like a three-generation development gap, it's a huge gap. Furthermore, the time gap between Vettel and Grosjean in FP3 and the Red Bull driver and Rosberg in qualifying was only few tenths. The German driver could have played cat and mouse on Saturday, anyway, something is still not clear for me. "From my suite, I chose some mainstays as a reference point in order to monitor and compare the drivers' way of driving. My mainstays were the kerbstones located on the corner which leads to Republic Boulevard. Their function is to avoid passing on the kerb. I was impressed by Vettel's neat way of driving on that stretch of the track. He was able to drive all that stretch without making any corrections, unlike all his rivals (also his teammate). His lap time was also remarkable in T3, which is the track's sector with the highest concentration of corners. "On the same stretch, Sebastian was able to speed up 50 m before any other driver, Webber included. Whilst all the other drivers speeded up on the same stretch, Vettel was able to speed up before them. The thing that surprised me the most was the engine's output sound. Besides speeding up 50 m before any other driver, the Renault engine of the German's car grinded like no other French engines on track, neither like Mark's. That sound was similar to the sound made by the engine when the traction control system got into action in the past seasons. "Furthermore, that sound was only heard when Vettel chalked up his excellent performances. For example, after the safety car went off, he took a great re-start and chalked up many excellent laps, gaining a 32 sec. gap over Alonso, then he leveled off, taking precautions in the case he would have had to pit one more time. In those moments the Renault engine was more powerful than any other engines (Renault and other brands). "There are some aspects, Vettel's very neat way of driving, Vettel's speedup 50 m before the other drivers, the abnormal sound of the Renault engine and Vetter's more than 2 sec. advantage over his rivals that make me think and I would like to have some answers. All those doubts are even more serious if we consider that Webber wasn't able to do that, since he's a common human being… I don't want to blame anyone , I just would like to get into the deep of the matter." ????????????????????????? Thoughts?
I like Minardi, think F1 was better with him and Jordan running their own teams. You could count on them to kick up a bit of dust from time to time. Interesting to see him getting into this stuff again and he's not the first to question that particular aspect of Red Bull's performance. I'm surprised he didn't mention the strange tire marks, etc, coming from Webber's car and pounced on by all the pundits in Montreal. Here's an example as a reminder for those who need it, and we discussed it a bit as well. On the other hand, I suspect he's targeting Vettel in particular and hopes to show where, how and why even Webber is being outpaced by him now. I imagine the only reason there's even room for argument about this is the FIA's definition of traction control doesn't include whatever it is Red Bull are doing...though I'm not sure I think that's a bad thing.
He says he likes how Vettel could drive a section without corrections that the other drives did. But some how driving smoother therefor faster must be because of tracking control. When I read this article else where it was added that Vettel tends to drive one foot on the gas and one on the break to be able to control wheel spin. So how is the FIA going to ban that one???
They all left foot brake in F1, why most the drivers come out of carting, their left foots have been sensitized over the years. Now Sebastion is a master at it, but the technique Is not his alone.... Heck even this not very good amateur uses the left foot brake and the gas peddle at the same time in certain places on certain tracks.... Minardi may be sour graping but his observations are sound.
No, they are not sound..... Vettel gets on the power 150 feet (50 meters) before anyone else? do you realize how far that is? No freaking way....I think Mr. Minardi may have been sampling a wee bit too much grape from his skybox.
Analysis: Vettel’s astonishing speed in Singapore – here to stay? One of the most commented aspects of the Singapore Grand Prix was the astonishing speed of Sebastian Vettel, particularly in the opening laps and the initial laps after the safety car. There have been many questions about how this was achieved and some interesting observations, such as Giancarlo Minardi’s comments about a strange sound coming from Vettel’s exhaust in these phases. Here with the input of JA on F1 technical adviser Mark Gillan, former Williams F1 team chief operations engineer, is our analysis of Vettel’s speed and a consideration of why it was so noticeable in Singapore and whether it is here to stay for the rest of the 2013 season. Analysis: Vettel’s astonishing speed in Singapore – here to stay?James Allen on F1