Is Vettel overrated? What do you think

[raymondu999]

I personally disagree. I think we see in him one of the greatest talents in F1. Schumacher-Alonso-Hamilton level. (I mean old Schumi though, like before his comeback )

I saw this link and this is what got me started:
http://forums.autosport.com/index.php?showtopic=121193

Here;s another that claims he's just too inconsistent: http://www.sport.co.uk/features/MotorSp ... nship.aspx

I'm personally a Vettel fan. Back when everyone was on about the Hamilton hype in 2006-2007, I had Vettel in my sights and quietly supported him through his Toro Rosso years and when he started to bloom last year in 2009 I was so happy. What do you all think? Please vote in the poll, and post your comments on it (Rational comments only please. No fanboy chatter here)

I mean, personally I find he's clearly very good. With that RB6, give him a clear track and he's clearly going to just pull in 60 laps of qualifying and just leave the rest racing each other (Suzuka 2009, anyone?). Even in 2008. You could see that once he had the Toro Rosso in clear air he was good. I don't think anyone needs reminding of what happened on the 14th of September. Or was that 13th? I forget Some say he's inconsistent, but then again, you can't really say that. Most of his DNFs have been due to reliability or other coming together with other people.

However, we see that he has terrible racecraft sometimes. Once he's stuck behind someone else he can't really overtake. But then in the wet, he becomes part of an overtaking demon, on a par or maybe even better than Hami. Hami took 3 laps to pass Schumi, Vettel took half. Interlagos 2008, he was in 6th. But then it started to drizzle and he just cruised pass Hamilton.

[Giblet]

He is quick but has yet to prove himself as a racer. He has made few passes that have impressed me outside of the first corner. He seems to be best with clear track, but hasn't had a lot of chances to cut through the field. His clear track pace is undeniable.

The poll requires a third option, "he needs more time" as neither option works for me.

[RH1300S]

Future WDC =D>

He's very good

[raymondu999]

Editted. Sorry for those who've voted.

[Giblet]

The option I need to cast my opinion isn't there. I can't side with any of those four options.

If there was "I need more time to make a decision" then I could vote. I feel that because of weather, race pace, qualy position, and other factors, he has not been in a position where he got to carve through the field, proving himself as a racer.

Mark has been in that position however.

[WhiteBlue]

Vettel is close to the finished product. In winter he was voted the highest rated driver by the F1 team bosses. He consistently wrings more performance out of the Red Bull than his vastly more experienced team mate and is now leading him the second season in the points standing. The bookies have Red Bull and Vettel as favorite because they are consistently fastest in the dry. Only irregular weather interfering and bad luck have held back Vettel so far. This season he has made very few mistakes like the aggressive pit lane maneuver in China. He got away with a reprimand there and so his board looks pretty clean to me. I don't see a particular weakness in his overtaking. The Red Bull's strenght is aerodynamics and downforce. That means he practically never has an advantage on the straight and his aero advantage is destroyed by driving in dirty air. Red Bull don't have a blown rear wing like McLaren which can be used to generate more top speed in the dry or more downforce in the wet. So any comparison with Hamilton this year is inappropriate.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

Vettel is in danger of being cast as overated IMO

He was nowhere in China, although there were stories of the RB6 being wet weather prone. In his defence, and why i used the phrase "in danger of being overated" is that the RB6 has let him down quite badly in 2 of the 4 races so far.

But my issue with Vettel is that generally speaking he needs a spectacularly fast car to win. This is by no means a tragedy, Hill, Villenueve and Raikonnen are examples of this. But is he a scruff of the neck driver where he can transcend the boundaries of what is possible? Not really, not yet anyway.
4 drivers instantly spring to mind, and in no particular order

1 Senna, no explanation needed, just magnificent to watch =D>
2 Schumacher, for his all round technical prowess and wet weather capabilites
3 Hakkinen, for his ability to ring a cars neck and for those magical flying quali laps a true master of speed.
4 Hamilton, amongst these hallowed legends for his ballsy overtaking manouvres and love or hate him, the ability to keep us awake on some sunday afternoons!

Vettle is in not there yet, I cannot recall him have a race like Hamilton did in a pouring silverstone in 08, Or Schumacher in spain being stuck in 5th gear or Hakkinen doing Schumacher in Spa or Senna doing everyone in a soaking wet Donninton in 93.

He is young hungry and has the talent,
but as a betting man I think there are 2-3 better drivers than Vettel in F1 right now(Hamilton, Alonso, Kubica) with Rosberg not far off these.
Vettel wouldnt shine as brightly with on of these alongside him and that is no disrespect to Webber.

[ringo]

Vettel is overrated, or should i say he is over hyped. hasn't really shown anything outside of making the most of his car. He is definitely fast, but how fast? I have no clue.
He is definitely a time attack king, but it would be disrespectful to drivers like Alonso, Shumacher, Hamilton, and even Button to say Vettel is on the same level.
I like his qualifying ability and race pace, however he is lacking in many departments. He is also going to fall behind the other new drivers in this department because he has the fastest car and is not getting much experience outside of leading from the front row.

Vettel is like a Rosberg to me, consistently faster than his teammate and always gets the most out of the car. And Rosberg is a little better because he can actually defend and overtake.
Come to think of it, all the german drivers are very similar. Very clean driving, very fast, and make full use of the machinery.
Vettel could be a WDC in the future, ie if he stays in the fastest car. I can see guys like Rosberg, Petrov, Hamilton, Alguashari challenging him in the future if they get the right car.

Until Vettel goes up against Alonso or Hamilton then i cannot rate him in the same class. I can't even put him above Rosberg as yet, even though rosberg doesn't have the wins and poles.
In fact he went up against Hamilton in china and was embarrassed, while people were saying he is the rain master, and there will be a showdown with Hamilton More like a no show, so yes he is over hyped. Good in the rain , yes, but not the best.

I wont be surprised if Kimi comes back and is faster than him in the same car, keeping in mind kimi is top 5 for speed.

[raymondu999]

he has the fastest car and is not getting much experience outside of leading from the front row.

Errm... where were you when he was at BMW and Toro Rosso? And he utterly dominated Formula BMW when he was there. What was it, 18 wins and 2 podiums out of 20 starts? He had 387 points. Rosberg had 264 and only 5 wins, + another 8 podiums in that same series, where it is a spec series and everyone uses the same car.

He also won in the ex-Minardi (Toro Rosso) car. Monza 2008. Alonso never did anything in Minardi and look where he is now. But to be fair I think Vettel's Toro was more competitive than Alonso's Minardi.

[ringo]

Well speaking of being an F1 "racer", Rosberg has the edge on Vettel. Rosberg hasn't won as yet, but his 2009 drives were more memorable to me, especially his monaco drive.

Vettel monza is a self explanatory race. I saw it, good clean race, nothing jaw dropping. Drives are memorable when you don't have to dig deep to prove to yourself and other fans that such and such had a dominating and awesome race. Highlights say it all.
Show me an impressive Vettel highlight reel, then i can say he can overtake, or wrestle a dog of a car to a win.
Torro Rosso was perfect at monza at the time, and coupled with the weather, it was not a difficult race for Vettel.

I like Vettel's raw speed, since i rate drivers based on what is plainly obvious. Some people even go as far as to use a flimsy "passes" to say Vettel is a good overtaker, and other little unnoticed things to force f1 fans to accept a certain driver as top tier. If that has to be done then it means that driver is being over hyped.

Rosberg is a better overtaker and better racer. He is in fact underrated.
His stock is increasing now, and if he does end up partnering Vettel, he may very well beat him if he can manage to be faster.

I rate Vettel highly with speed, handling qualifying pressure, some amount of wet weather ability, winner and championship mentality and extreme competitiveness. He is up there, but is a boy compared to the likes of Alonso, Massa, Hamilton, Raikonen, Button.

He is best compared to Rosberg, Kubica,.. these guys are more his speed in terms of potential and future accomplishment. Alonso, Kimi, etc. have been there and done it.

[raymondu999]

Actually, (and I could be wrong about this, I didn't watch the race. I just read reports of it) Vettel did have a proper field fight-through though. Brazil 2009.

But my issue with Vettel is that generally speaking he needs a spectacularly fast car to win.

Sounds like a certain British world champion that I know of, who partners his preceding world champion.

[frackk00]

I don't think he is overrated. He has real talent to back up the hype surrounding him. I can definitely see him becoming a world champion, if not this year then maybe in the next few years.

[xpensive]

I don't think he's such overrated, but I think he's being flattered by he's current teammate who definetaly is.

[WhiteBlue]

But my issue with Vettel is that generally speaking he needs a spectacularly fast car to win. This is by no means a tragedy, Hill, Villenueve and Raikonnen are examples of this.

So what about Monza 2008? The Toro Rosso wasn't the fastest car by a long way. He dominated the whole weekend in the wet and did not make a single mistake to take his first victory. For me the whole race weekend was like a poem.

All drivers need fast cars to consistently win but only very few can win in a car that isn't even top three and on merit instead of by attrition.

[xpensive]

Vettel is little doubt one ofthe best ofthis generation, but I think he could benefit from better team opposition.