Sebastian Vettel

No matter how you cut and dice it, Vettel along with the team have lost this championship race, if Ferrari want to beat Hamilton and the well oiled Merc machine, they need to up their game big time.

The last race summed up Vettel's mind set under pressure.

 

Yep, this year the tifosi cannot use the well-worn excuse that Mercedes had the better car, as they did in the past.

In fact, Ferrari had the best car, but managed to lose its advantage through too many mistakes.

Mercedes has proven to be a better organisation once more.

 

Yes agreed.

 

+1

In Japan the contact with Ferrari was not Max's fault - for once

 

It was just such an impatient and boneheaded move. Max had a penalty, and Seb could have waited for a less risky point to overtake. I'd call it an unforced error, if this was baseball.

 

Yep it sure smacked of desperation.

 

he sucks. Ferrari deserves better.

 

I guess Seb can do nothing right at the moment, could he?
After being at least partially screwed by the team in Qualy he starts in 8th position...Over the first laps he overtakes 4 cars and not position 16-19 but 4-7...if this would have been a certain British driver a few over here would have unboxed their lute starting to sing doxologies, with Seb it was only the faster Ferrari...
So unexpected for many he is behind Max at a very early stage and the Mercedes are still in sight. As he reasonable explained he saw the back lights of the RB flashing so there was no battery power and he went for it. Even Whiting (who certainly is no Vettel fan since a certain incident) said it was a legit attempt but it did not work out...so what?
What would have been the alternative? Waiting for an oportunity within DRS on the straight a couple of laps later? Who would have guarateed that this would have worked out, just ask Ricciardo about Azerbaijan...but what would have been certain is that by then the Mercedes would have been gone and the tire advantage of the start would have dissappeared. So instead of playing it safe and cruising to a third he is criticized for having a try to do "the impossible" and chase the Mercedes. If he had played it safe most likely the same people bashing him for his "bone-head-move" would have come out telling him he is no racer, he gave up and he is broken...
Let´s be clear: at this point of the season it does not make the slightest difference whether he ends up 3rd or 6th, all that counted was his last chance to maybe get by Lewis somehow. So although the crash was his mistake I do not see how he did something wrong....

 

Seb screwed up Spoon in qualifying, not the team. Kimi didn't and look where he started the race. Seb had time to put in a lap and he got it wrong. If Seb knew Max was out of battery, why on earth would he attempt a bonzai pass into such a fast corner when there's literally a long straight immediately after it? The Ferrari powerplant makes more power after all. He didn't get a penalty because in the end it really didn't cost Max anything. If Max had spun as well I'm not so sure that would have been the case.

There's plenty of criticism to be thrown at Ferrari, but there's plenty of criticism to be thrown at Seb too. He's made some seriously boneheaded moves the last two seasons that have cost points. That hurts this season more than it hurt last season because Ferrari had such a fast car and such a legitimate chance at winning it all.

 

I share the exact same sentiments. Although I was far from happy when I learned about Seb joining our team, the minute he donned the red racing suit I cheered for him as much as I did for any of his predecessors. Seb's errors in Baku, France, Japan, Monza and Germany (yes I put the bulk of responsibilty in the Monza debacle at his feet) have slowly erroded at my support of him.

Anyhow, like it or not, he is our guy even though there are others that most likely yield better results for us. The title race is over......but always Forza Ferrari!

 

Bring back Massa! He came closer to bringing Ferrari a WDC than Vettel ever will.

 

Don’t say that too loudly, Felipe likes a comeback and enjoys retirement cake too much

 

There is a difference between Mercedes and Ferrari:

Mercedes has a driver that needs stroken his Ego all the time and so they do to get the best out of him, even if that means to embarrass themselves like Vowles did and like Todt did in changing his story to match Lewis in Germany -> they get the result

Ferrari has a driver that does not cope with pressure according to the majority of the members here. And what did Ferrari do to get the best out of him? They screwed up the tire choice to put the gun on his head in qualy: "now or never"... Now that is what I call perfect team management
And Kimi: well he did not spun but he was also not able to get the best result or why did he start start behind Max despite having the better time in Q2?

It is NOT only Seb, he is just part of the team that fails....

 

Ah, thanks for recognising that Mercedes is a better organisation than Ferrari.

Toto Wolff is the architect of the success, and Hamilton the perfect executant: they get the result indeed !

Arrivabene is out of his depth and Vettel has to improvise. It turns up to be a flop.

 

I like the way you start your quote talking about Lewis requiring stroken, whatever that is .however he seems to be doing ok without it

Max and Vettel are both stubborn won't give an inch type drivers, one has to have thought that by now, Vettel would have taken this into consideration.
So is it any wonder he is getting flak because yet again he throws it all away in a moment of panic and poor judgment, he could have bided his time for a good opportunity to pass Max.

 

I have to agree with this one.
Still sucks we blew it again!

 

It is gutting what Ferrari have done. I will cut the Scuderia the slightest bit of slack for losing the influence of Sergio Marchionne which is really making itself known now.

 

The simple explanation is Lewis drove better than Vettel. If the Mercedes team was so perfect why is Vettel ahead of Bottas in points? Last time I checked both Bottas and Ham had mechanical DNFs this year. Way to go Mercedes. It keeps coming back to the driver in the seat

 

Did I ever said something different??? Mercedes/Hamilton is the better package than Ferrari/Vettel obviously but we are obviously not agreeing on the ratio driver/team/car in that summary

 

Vettel is having a bad season and it’s not entirely his fault. He deserves another year. If he still makes dumb errors then can his butt.

 

In addition: it is actually funny that I tell you for ages (felt) that Mercedes is the better team/car and that several drivers could achieve titles within that "organization" and you called me for "dismiss" Lewis achievements and now all of the sudden you thank me for exactly this statement... one can only shake his head and question whether anything we write here actually reaches you???

 

Vettel is still a good driver. I thought he was gonna drive more like a seasoned champion this year. He had a different aura about him this year, seemed more calm and focused in the interviews. A different person from past years

 

No, you simply refuse to give to Ceasar what belongs to Caesar

The Mercedes has been a good car, but you still have to drive it well to win

When the Ferrari is Superior,Vettel doesn't translate that in wins like Lewis does

3 drivers pedalled Mercedes, but Hamilton is the one who obtained the most of them.

 

Exactly, none of these drivers was Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso, Danny Ricciardo or Sebastian Vettel... Lewis was the best out of Lewis, Valtterie and Nico...Nico beat him once and was not much behind in the first two seasons and Valtterie is a wingman at best, please don´t tell me that this is a proof for him being the greatest and "the one" that can get the job done!!!
And just because the Ferrari was superior at times does not mean that the "organization" Ferrari was better at the same time

 

No neither Verstappen, nor Alonso, Ricciardo,or Vettel, or even Jim Clark; or Lauda, or Schumacher, or Fangio drove Mervedes these last ' years, so I cannot see why you keep mentioning drivers who are completely irrelevent to this conversation.
Stop imagining another scenaro and stay realistic.

There is no point telling me that "So and So" could do a better job than Hamilton in a Mercedes, because it hasnt happened, it's not happening now, and it's unlikely to happen tomorrow. So what's the point? Just to deny Hamilton what he deserves?

You won't see me saying that Hamilton could drive a Ferrari better than Vettel, because I don't know that: it would be pure fantasy.
Do you understand?