In my opinion - he likes a "darty" turn in, get the direction change done, if things get hairy - catch it mid-corner, and go hard on the exit. That much I gather. It was always visible even in his earlier years, and even pre-EBD. As a child karting in his backyard his back "yard" was very narrow, and so his dad often had to wet the floor using some water so he could slide his tail around to do a 180. There's a video on it in his Letterman appearance.timbo wrote:Yeah, pretty much the same thing was during 2010 season, when for some time Webber had an advantage and then with introduction of advanced engine mapping Seb got the upper hand. It seems he likes planted rear. Interestingly, he is often appraised for his ability to control oversteer. I think, in fact, his style is promoting oversteer, but he needs very stable rear-end to be able to control that.
There is some proof to that - I remember that the Silverstone 2010 wing (let's not discuss the politics of this please - just the driving) it was said that the wing basically gave the characteristic of an edgier turn-in, and Webber's initial comments on the wing weren't positive while it was positive for Vettel. The same was talked of in 2009 - Mark said that something that hurt Seb in 2010 (in relation to Mark) was the loss of that edgy turn in. In Mark's own words:
Perhaps what we are seeing is that Vettel has had to temper his turn-in style slightly as we reach the more aero-dominated formulae such as F1, because the slide could potentially cost him more time than the quicker rotation.The fronts do not bite as extremely and the rears have better lateral stability. Sebastian prefers it the other way around
In this respect I don't think that what turned the tables on Mark in 2010 was the mapping itself as was reported at the time, but that Seb was still using his "toned down turn-in" style, and only realised later in the year that because of the EBD - he could return to his corner entry acrobatics.
The EBD IMO fit him like a glove in that respect - he could set the car up with a darty turn-in (off-throttle) and then floor the throttle. The exhaust gases kick in - and the tail suddenly bites, squelching the slide.
In the quote I posted - I gather that he talks of trouble on the entries. Perhaps the early-season RB8 was such an unstable car at the rear that a darty turn in would be very difficult to catch. After 2 years of reverting to acrobatic-style driving, Vettel would have had to "re-learn" and re-acclimatise the toned-down turn-in style.
