Vettel Getting the early feel of the F Scuderia F1

Perhaps like the rest of us Seb is curious to see if his success was due to the RB or to himself.

 

Certainly removing Fred from the picture will boost Seb's opinion of himself.

 

You don't think Daniel has gone a long way to answering that?

 

He wants a second opinion.

 

The 2014 Red Bull car has answered that one for him already.

Vettel joining Ferrari has nothing to do with proving anything to anyone, it's simply the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

If he hadn't have joined them now then chances are it would never have happened!

 

I think majority of the fans besides Vettel fanboys/girls had doubts whether it was truly the car or Seb was that great. I think 2014 has damaged Seb's rep because Daniel was seen as good no. 2. Although, I think this is similar to Alonso vs Hamilton 2007 scenario (I admit the results are different in these circumstances) but when Hamilton went onto win the championship the following year, Alonso's 2007 season wasn't used as 'negative' anymore.

I think even now, 2007 will not really be a negative for Fred, as I suspect Hamilton will go down as one of the all time greats with Alonso himself. The question remains will Riccarido have the same level of greatness and potentially win the championship? If he does then perhaps Vettel's reputation wouldn't be in question as much.

Despite the beating Seb received this season, had he stayed with Red Bull for another season and handed another brutal beating even Ferrari would have likely overlooked him. They're in the business of winning and hiring the best, which is true when everyone says Seb really had to leave and achieve his boyhood dream.

Alonso back in 2013 said this, which I think is really interesting and applicable:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kvgfy2q67kzug9/Alonso%20on%20Vettel.mp4?dl=0

 

IIRC the difference between Vettel and Ricciardo was 75 pts...not so massive considering the amount of issues Vettel had with the car. For the first half of the season (and the majority after that) I don't think he had a car that worked in more than 3 sessions of the entire weekend.

That said, he did get beaten by Ric, no denying that. I also don't think that one bad season must render the driver useless. Similarly to Kimi, Vettel just didn't get along with the car at all. It had no rear end and that's exactly what he needed, and perfected that driving style for 4-5 years. You can't unlearn that quickly, similarly to writing with your wrong hand will not look quite so nice as when written with your right one.

 

Agree in most parts but it was clear over the RB years for Vettel that he cannot deal with change. This is why often Mark would get the better of him at the beginning of the season only for Vettel to finally adapt and catch up and surpass him.

For this reason I cannot understand Ferrari hiring him because obviously any Ferrari he drives will not be like the RB.

So Ferrari now have 2 drivers that are hyper sensitive to car feel. And the worrying thing is they are hyper sensitive to things at opposite ends of the car, ie. Kimi has to have a certain steering feel and Vettel has to be confident that he has loads of rear grip!

I honestly see the Vettel and Kimi pairing being equivalent to the Berger and Alesi days ... .
Pete

 

The best do... They can adapt to the rules and the cars to quickly achieve results and Vettel has shown to be lacking here. Maybe the new cars with more torque and less downforce are too much for him? In all it was not agood showing for him in 2014 without a single win and Ricci with two. I agree with Pete that this could be the start of very bad times for Ferrari. Also who's going to be the development driver? Neither Kimi or Vettel are particularly know for this...

 

man if kimi blows by seb next season, then LOL.

 

Bas, no one is saying Seb is useless; he's an excellent driver. But his 4 WDC's are due to his having had a car worlds better than anything else on the grid. Career journeyman Mark Webber winning races regularly, podium with Seb almost every race, underscores the fact. Daniel took Seb's trousers down, outqualifying him almost invariably, wins and podiums when Seb had none, it was an absurd performance for a 4-time world champion. I hope I'm wrong but I'm persuaded that Ferrari will regret having signed him.

 

What other choice did Ferrari have?

The top five drivers in F1 at this time based on recent records has to be Hamilton, Alonso, Rosberg, Vettel and Ricciardo.

Of those, Hamilton, Rosberg and Ricciardo were not available, and Alonso wants out!

As for the rest, the have not shown anything exceptional over the last few seasons that would make Ferrari show any real interest in them.

With Vettel on board, Ferrari will hope to learn a bit about one of it's main rivals and try to find out the key to Red Bull's success and how it goes about it's racing, and, given a decent car, he is a proven race winner!

Basically, out of all the drivers available, Vettel was the best out of a mediocre lot!

 

They could've hired button! He would've whipped both Kimi and vettel.

With regard to an above post; ricciardo won 3 races not 2.

 

Can't be any worse than their hiring of kimi. Worst ferrari performance of the century easily

 

You are kidding, aren´t you?

 

I'm still hoping all his posts since day 1 are a joke but chances are slim.

 

Anyone know what Vettel's lap time was around fiorano? Just curious

 

Who actually cares? It was just for show anyway or do you really think that they tried hard on a wet day, for the first time in the car for only 20 minutes? As Lauda mentioned this was not a test, this was just PR...

 

+1

 

If they where we would be very well served, i wish that was the case but neither of them is a stalented as Alesi, but they are both very, very good, i honestly don't see anyone better on the grid.

 

Pedro, to tell the truth, I think I'd sooner have Jenson; he's reliable, he's fast, he will help develop the car, however good or mediocre it may be.

As I think about the Vettel hire, I get the sense that it may be a Sergio Marchione publicity move: "Ferrari now has a four-time world champion driving for us", and will divert attention from the mediocrity of the car and the on-going lack of results.

 

Don't think so Seth...Luca never hided he wanted Vettel, he said more than once he clearly prefered Vettel to Hamilton, Seb has been in Ferrari's radar ever since he drove the Toro rosso in a test and Shummi said the guy was the real deal....just has he had done with Kimi when he saw him drive the Sauber at fiorano.
Seb was poised to land at Ferrari, it was just a matter of time and oportunity.
I never though much o jenson, i remenber the way Felipe beat him at Silverstone in 09, with that dog of a car F60 against his super Brawn.....I think Jenson is a good driver, fast, smart, but in 2009 Barrichelo was beating him in the second half of the season.....i thing he raised his game against Hamilton but last year he wasn't better than Perez, and since then i have more respect for him, he's agood fighter but not on the same level as Vettel or Kimmi, no way. if there is a good driver out there deserving a top team, that guy is Hulkenberg, clearly better than anything Mclaren is going to stay with.

 

I think everyone needs to remember the Schumi bank rolled Seb in the beginning of his career and his coming to Ferrari in 2015 has been in the cards for a couple of years now. Having Seb in the red car was a given, just a matter of when..

 

He definitely appears to be excited to be there. I wish him well.
Pete

 

Why would I be kidding? It's not like it's exactly hard...

Kimis form currently puts him in the bottom few drivers in the field. Vettel isn't too great now either. Jenson always puts in solid performances against credible team mates.