Is Vettel overrated? What do you think

[andrew]

I would actually pay good money to see anyone from here drive an F1 car. I would wager that most would stall going out the pits or crash on the first corner.

The fact is Vettel's crash was just one of those things, sh*t happens. He hit a bump in the track and the brakes at the same time and was thereafter a passanger. Give the guy a break, he was RACING. Given his comparitive lack of experience and his young age, he will learn from the mistakes he makes now.

[rfs]

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

I've thought of that, but if you look at Alonso and Raikkonen's wiki pages you'll see that they did even less racing in junior formulae. So that's not a valid excuse.

[myurr]

Given his comparitive lack of experience and his young age, he will learn from the mistakes he makes now.

This is the point I will keep taking issue with - he's in his 4th season in F1 and has competed in only 9 races fewer than Hamilton. Should it really take a fifth season to get up to speed?

He's also nearly a year and a half older than Hamilton when he entered F1 and not far off the age when he won his first championship.

Going by Hamilton's example from his first two years in F1, Vettel at his current age, level of experience, and with the car advantage he has should be walking this championship. He has shown that out front he has the speed, but I agree with the others who feel that by being fast tracked into F1 he hasn't developed his racecraft anywhere near enough. And it is astonishing that he hasn't really improved in this area even after four years and 50+ grand prix. Maybe he is destined to never really master that area of driving so that it will always be his weakness.

[Patrickl]

Indeed, Vettel threw away an almost sure WDC last season with all his non scoring races due to his own mistakes (Austalia, Malaysia, Monaco and Hungary) and he's doing the same again this year (Turkey, Silverstone and Spa).

He's not going to be in the (by far) fastest car of the field his whole career.

Even seeing how much trouble he has with Webber (not really rated as a top driver) what kind of trouble will he have when hes at a top team next to a proper racing driver like Alonso, Hamilton or Rosberg?

[segedunum]

Given his comparitive lack of experience and his young age, he will learn from the mistakes he makes now.

Formula 1 is not a finishing school. I don't get putting inexperienced drivers into teams who can ill-afford to miss out on titles given the investment they've put in.

[strad]

Given his comparitive lack of experience and his young age, he will learn from the mistakes he makes now.

Lame excuse for Vettel,,You are supposed to be ready when you get here...Just how long should we look the other way and ignore the obvious?

[andrew]

So it's ok for other drivers to make mistakes but not Vettel? Puhlease!!!!

[Giblet]

So it's ok for other drivers to make mistakes but not Vettel? Puhlease!!!!

It's not OK for any driver to be making the number of mistakes in a top drive that he is.

And it's not just mistakes, it's the sheer consistency of them. Other car in close proximity, hit it! You have passed another car, but not completely, run over it's front wing!

The safety car was the only legit honest mistake he made this year IMHO.

[marcush.]

Some drivers just simply lack in racecraft and sometimes i think you cannot learn this.
car positioning for overtaking is an art that some of them just do not understand.
Hand waving and running into your competitor are not part of the skill used for overtaking.

as said before both RedBull artists tend to commit to rushed ,not well executed moves.

My thesis is :Hamilton would be miles ahead in the championship if he drove for RB,but also Button,Alonso,Massa,Rssberg,Schumacher,Kubica,Heidfeld would easily do as well or better than these two,sorry but thats my view of it.

[Confused_Andy]

Given his comparitive lack of experience and his young age, he will learn from the mistakes he makes now.

Formula 1 is not a finishing school. I don't get putting inexperienced drivers into teams who can ill-afford to miss out on titles given the investment they've put in.

Couldn't agree more.

[DaveKillens]

I would actually pay good money to see anyone from here drive an F1 car. I would wager that most would stall going out the pits or crash on the first corner.

And that's without the pressure of trying to meet the expectations of fans, teams, and sponsors, all while racing their peers. These guys live under a microscope, and with the benefit of slow-motion replay.

Of course Vettel misjudged his braking and wrecked. He made a mistake. But I can think of countless examples of drivers overshooting their marks and going wide at Spa. It's just that they were near the front, and there was an injustice because he took out Button while being able to keep running himself.

So what's worse, to mess up in a tough braking area by millimeters, or lose it on the last lap when leading and not under immediate pressure. Think about it, because I consider Hamilton's last lap as a poor example of how a Grand Prix driver should do his job.

Most likely Vettel will not win the WDC title this year, the door is now closing, and there's a lot of ground to make up. So what, Hamilton threw away his first title chance in monumental fashion, in a much worse story. And Hamilton had what I consider the best team around for coaching a driver and making the correct decisions during a race, while Red Bull is obviously lacking in those areas.

Sebastien Vettel is young, brave, and quick. Of course he's incomplete as a Formula One driver, but then again just about every driver was at that stage in the beginning. And have you ever heard of the term "win or crash"? Right now Vettel is at that stage, he only wants to win, and obviously when off his game plan, may make mistakes.

As far as being quick and aggressive, Vettel is as good as it gets. But as far as being able to make the best of a bad situation, he is still weak.

I would give a year's salary to see Vettel and Hamilton on the same team and driving identical cars. Vettel would obviously be the quicker, and thus I rate Hamilton and Vettel as being equal right now.

[Professor]

Check this out. The Video at the end is a compilation of stuff from this season. Vettel has a tendency to squeeze people to the right. His Spa effort was a loss of driver control. I am ok with that, stuff happens at the sharp end, but I have a problem with his history of squeezing other drivers. He must have grown up watching Herr Schumacher.

The other thing I see on this post is that he cannot seem to translate pole positions to wins or points. He has the most poles (7) but has only 2 wins. His racecraft is in question.

http://www.formula1journal.com/2010/08/ ... d1.html#tp

[clarkiesyeah]

I would give a year's salary to see Vettel and Hamilton on the same team and driving identical cars. Vettel would obviously be the quicker, and thus I rate Hamilton and Vettel as being equal right now.

So you are basing your opinion that Vettel is equal on your other opinion that vettel is quicker?

What facts do you have to suggest either of those opinions?

What an insult to Hamilton to drop him into the class of the reckless eternal rooky Vettel. Crikey, Seb can't even hold off his team-mate, who has never been credited as being one of the best drivers around. No Seb needs to do a lot more growing up before he's in the class of the 2008 world champion (2 years ago).

Vettel is like a poor version of the rooky hamilton, from his very first year, not forth or fifth year. Its time to stop making excuses for the ignorant Vettel. He should have some respect, the little punk.

[rfs]

So what's worse, to mess up in a tough braking area by millimeters, or lose it on the last lap when leading and not under immediate pressure. Think about it, because I consider Hamilton's last lap as a poor example of how a Grand Prix driver should do his job.

Vettel messed up in a tough braking area AND wrecked another driver's car. Also Hamilton's mistake wasn't on the last lap and he was driving with slicks on a track that was getting wetter all the time. Vettel's mistake was worse IMO.

Most likely Vettel will not win the WDC title this year, the door is now closing, and there's a lot of ground to make up. So what, Hamilton threw away his first title chance in monumental fashion, in a much worse story. And Hamilton had what I consider the best team around for coaching a driver and making the correct decisions during a race, while Red Bull is obviously lacking in those areas.

I suppose that's a fair argument.

I would give a year's salary to see Vettel and Hamilton on the same team and driving identical cars. Vettel would obviously be the quicker, and thus I rate Hamilton and Vettel as being equal right now.

Vettel quicker than Hamilton? Maybe he's just as quick but not at all quicker. Also Hamilton has superior racecraft and is more consistent. If anything Vettel 2010 is equal to Hamilton 2008, in that he's making plenty of mistakes and loads of people hate him.

[raymondu999]

I don't think we can make any judgments on how quick Vettel and Hamilton are relatively to each other. They've never been in the same machinery.