Is Vettel overrated? What do you think

[segedunum]

All you ever think you have to do is not accept the facts. Keep not accepting all you want..Break out one of your graphs why don't you? Your boy tears stuff up.

Vettel might be getting a lot of things wrong, but this is nonsense. You might as well ask why Hakkinen's car started falling to pieces in 2001 that cost him a shot at the championship or why Raikkonen, Montoya or Coulthard had a few Mercedes engine blowups.

It's all pot luck and what a driver does not have much to do with reliability as it once might have done in decades gone by.

[i70q7m7ghw]

I'm afraid we simply have to question Vettel's ability in traffic yet again. Like Webber he simply seems to make completely the wrong decisions about whether to go to the inside, the outside or simply leave himself in position for the next corner.

I know people keep talking about Vettel maturing. I'm afraid that's tough. This is Formula 1. As Coulthard said once, it is not a finishing school. If he's not the finished article then he needed to spend more time in other formulas.

100% agree with you there. He really lacks talent when it comes to wheel-to-wheel racing. When he does pull of a move it always seems to be messy, usually with contact, and when he doesn't pull a move of he's usually wrecked his race and the unfortunate victim.

I've been more impressed with Petrov's race craft this season that I have with Vettel's over his entire F1 career.

He's very very fast, but his judgement is very poor by F1 standards. He's very quickly earning himself a bad reputation which is going to be hard to get rid of.

[marcush.]

At RedBull I would ask myself if i got the right drivers sitting in the cars.Both Webber and Vettel have thrown away so many points already that itis really bizarre to see the second best car stretching out the lead ..without being really lucky this season...Yes Vettel is overrated he´s surely not a bad driver but noways in a league with Hamilton .His championship dreams are starting to fall apart now entirely for reasons he has to take responsibility for..

[raymondu999]

It almost makes me wish he'd done what Schumi did in 1996 and joined a struggling team (perhaps such as HRT/Lotus?) and helped to build the team from the ground up, playing a major role in the car's design, and building the team around him.

I think that's exactly what he did, isn't it? Red Bull is his team, and he's got a car this season that can do the job. But he's choking when it matters the most, letting his less talented team mate take the glory.

No no, what I mean is building a struggling team from the ground up. Almost like what Schumacher did for Ferrari in 1996, and what Heikki is doing now for Lotus

[rfs]

Did anyone watch Vettel while he was in Formula BMW, Formula Renault and F3? I'm curious as to how his overtaking skills and general racecraft were in Junior Formulae. Because I wanna know if his issues with overtaking stem from a lack of talent or something in his head affecting his driving.

[raymondu999]

Formula BMW I don't think he had to fight much. He pretty much dominated the season, clearly the fastest qualifier, and fastest racer there. I don't know if Formula BMW has reverse grids though. But AFAIK, he took something like 14 pole positions (out of 20 races) and 19 wins with a single 2nd place?

All from memory, so... be nice

[mx_tifoso]

From sniffpetrol.com

[raymondu999]

I'm wondering actually how he'd fare in an MP4-25, in terms of racecraft. We know that the RB6's advantage is raw downforce, which in turbulence becomes unpredictable. However the MP4-25 is a straightline killer, and easeir for overtaking

[fausto cedros]

To me, it looks like he makes too many mistakes, and i think that lots of guys have raw speed. Kubika in the same car would likely be in a much better position, as well as maybe rosberg, or even sutil. He should read something about Fangio and meditate over it, maybe.

[mrleisure]

I think he is one of the best no2 drivers going around atm , look at all the help he has givin Mark Webber in the last couple of races .

[myurr]

I'm wondering actually how he'd fare in an MP4-25, in terms of racecraft. We know that the RB6's advantage is raw downforce, which in turbulence becomes unpredictable. However the MP4-25 is a straightline killer, and easeir for overtaking

In Spa the Red Bull was 3km/h slower in a straight line than the McLaren. That generalisation doesn't really hold true to the degree you suggest.

[SiLo]

I'm wondering actually how he'd fare in an MP4-25, in terms of racecraft. We know that the RB6's advantage is raw downforce, which in turbulence becomes unpredictable. However the MP4-25 is a straightline killer, and easeir for overtaking

In Spa the Red Bull was 3km/h slower in a straight line than the McLaren. That generalisation doesn't really hold true to the degree you suggest.

Mclaren were also running more wing than anyone on the grid, and they were still faster. If they were running similar levels of wing I think the difference would be a lot greater.

[raymondu999]

In Spa perhaps, as the Red Bulls seemingly (?) trimmed some wing off. And maybe McLaren had the confidence to pump in a lot of wing, such was their confidence in their F-duct. However in other places they've had sometimes 9-10kph advantages on the main straight though, I seem to recall.

However, is that speedtrap data from the Sector 1 timing, or from the speedtrap? The speedtrap is just after eau rouge and so not necessarily representative of full flat-out straightline pace

[donskar]

Diesel said it well:

He's very very fast, but his judgement is very poor by F1 standards. He's very quickly earning himself a bad reputation which is going to be hard to get rid of.

I'm confident Vettel has the raw skill to be a WDC. The problem is with the "raw." Vettel's long term success might actually be helped by Red Bull naming Webber as #1 for the remainder of the year. I think Vettel needs some seasoning under less pressure than he now faces.

[747heavy]

If you look at his vita/CV , you will see, that the guy did not do all that much car racing before entering F1.

from Wiki



and apart from Formula BMW, did not win any major championship.

I think, there is little question, that he is quick, and that he has the speed&talent to become a F1 WDC, but this is only one side of the coin.
Race craft, and the mental thoughness to win and fight for a championship is best learned/honed while doing so, as often as possible.
Maybe it´s time for the FIA to look into the requirements for the Superlicence, and demand a minimum amount of races done in a top level open wheel racing series.
I still feel that some people get rushed into F1 too quickly.

The last part is a general comment, and not aimed specificly onto Sebastian Vettel.
But over the years we have seen many people being rushed into F1, and then cracked under the pressure there., and disapered from the the scene.