http://www.planetf1.com/race-features/6863569/The-Conclusions-From-Malaysia... Interesting comments on Vettel and his 'racecraft' or its unknowns about his skills.
No doubt Hamilton will also have a struggle to understand precisely why the stewards singled him out for retrospective penalty for allegedly making more than one move when defending against Fernando Alonso given that Vettel made three separate distinct moves to block the McLaren off the line into the first corner. This pisses me right off. I did not see any weaving whilst FA v Ham his tyres were shot at anyway. I did see Vettel over blocking. Todt better nip this sort of thing in the bud otherwise he will be joining Mosley on my wall of hate.
After reading more about the penalities dished out on a apparent whim. I still feel they are at the top of the pathetic scale. If drivers are going to get punished for fighting for position then this will discourage them, and the one thing I want in F1 is overtaking battles. Apparently Alonso's rear spoiler was not working, so he was having trouble overtaking Hamilton, Hamilton tyres were shot at Alonso would have taken him at some stage, based on his newer tyres and sheer lap time speed compared to Hamiltons. However Whiting did not consider the collision to have been sufficiently serious to warrant an investigation during the race, so he must therefore have looked at it again later and decided to report the incident to the Stewards. So Alonso made a mistake pure and simple, you could argue he was trying to slice Hamiltons tyre, so maybe he got punished for that. In the case of Hamilton there was no mention of any report from Charlie Whiting, which means that the Stewards were probably acting because of a complaint from Ferrari as Whiting obviously did not think anything had been done wrong. It stinks.
One way that it makes sense is if the stewards suspected Lewis of brake checking Alonso but didn't want to make the accusation public. Have I missed something or is McLaren taking the penalty w/o protest? If so that may tell us something. BTW What color is that wall of hate? Paint or wallpaper? Indoor or out?
Webber had better step up if were going to see any challenge to Seb this early part of the year. However China's straight may play into Mclarens (KERS) hand. If the stewards are going to hand out random penalties it might start with the guy walking away with the season. I thought the discretionary penalty was a thing of the past.
All the skills you need is what makes you win. Taking anything away from a winner, be Vetter or whoever else, is childish. When passing, you never know if the driver being passed is going to do anything stupid, hence trying to avoid that in the first place. It's like saying a boxer who knocks his opponent out it not a true winner because the other had better endurance. Winning is what matters, even when luck was on your side. No driver or athlete is going to be the best on every aspect of the sport. In racing, being the fastest is what matters the most, and nobody can take that away from Vettel . But yes, hope McLaren, Ferrari and MB mount a better challenge to RBR to make the season interesting. A major factor that hasn't played out yet is RELIABILITY, and RBR didn't fare well in that department last year. We should start to see who has an edge on that soon. Good day gang.
True but being the fastest doesn't make you the best which is what the article was saying. I agree with the article - Vettels victories are incredibly one dimensional and until he impresses in nose-to-nose combat I will never regarded him as one of the sport's greats.
I dunno ... it seems like breaking off your opponent's front endplate with a brake-check wouldn't be worth the risk of cutting your own tire in the process. Looked like an accident to me. Ever notice when most drivers drag a wheel, Speed TV says "oops, lockup there." But when Lewis does it, "OHHHHHHH! MASSIVE LOCKUP FROM HAMILTON!!!!!!!" But I wish he'd think more before interviews. "Red Bull are just a drinks company," says Lewis. If so, he better start drinking some of what they're drinking.
From what I understand, Hamilton was punished for a move on the previous lap before the incident. What Planet F1 suggests is that the reason it was given to him, is because it is not his first time and he has been warned already when "breaking the tow" infront of Petrov last year. It was because of complaint from Ferrari, but Hamilton said he expected it, which is like admitting it. When McLaren found out, they filed their own for the Alonso move.I think that the Stewards gave the penalty to Alonso, just to shut McL up, as it did not change anything at the end. Although I don't know if searching for logic in FIA's decisions is the right thing to do. LOL
I've looked at the replay a few times, and I still don't see a penalty on either side. Lewis appears to have lifted going into the s-bend and Alonso clipped him while going to the outside. Considering the conditions of Hamilton's tires, it's not too much of a stretch to believe he had to lift to keep from going into the kitty litter. That caught FA off guard and an accident ensued. I didn't really see an overt block by LH or ANYTHING nefarious from Alonso. Maybe it's just me....
One answer: Webber. They have the same car, but Vettel is driving with a confidence Mark doesn't have currently. That said, Vettel seemed to come unglued under pressure last year. But, as long as he remains the front-runner, I don't think he's going to have too may mental issue.
I wasn't suggesting that I saw any check braking but that if there was it might explain the penalties.
Me thinks the only penalty that should have been given out was to buemi and they f'd that up too...should have been a drive thru, not a stop and go... As for the article it's bad if we have to wait to see if rb can get their kers working cause if they do it's over....
Sorry but I think Webber is a better driver than Vettel - maybe not faster but definitely better. Considering he had no KERS at all in the whole race ( vettels was on/off during the race ), fell way back into the field at the start and had 4 pit stops he put in a solid driving effort to finish in 4th. I'd love to see what would happen to Vettel it was the other way around and he fell back into the field - I'd be willing to bet it would have ended in some kind of collision resulting in a DNF and a typical vettel sooky session in the pits.
based on your description of the differences between vettel and webber's driving style i don't think you can conclude webber is a better driver. he might be a bit safer when working his way through the field but vettel is just plain fast. when he has an open track he really knows how to rip it.
and when its not open he really know how to rip into someone else. Takes a lot more to be great driver than just posting fast times on an open track - unfortunately that's all you need to be world champion it seems though.
So do you consider Button to be the fastest driver in F1? Most people don't - yet in 2009, he won 5 of the first 6 races, kind of like the streak Vettel is on. What's that you say, but he had the fastest car?
I may not be the most seasoned F1 fan, but I'd take Vettel's speed over Webber's "tact" any day of the week. In my opinion, Vettel has at least a few tenths a lap on Webber when he wants to put the hammer down. Additionally, he's still very young and will only get better as he ages. Webber, he is reaching his use by date. I'll agree with yout that Webber may be better at working his way through the field, but I'd rather take the driver that doesn't have to make up for short comings in quali or mistakes. Mark
In the end that's all it ever took. Seb is going to have a tough time proving himself in tight situations if he continues to be so much faster than, and so far ahead of, everyone else.
Rubens had the same car though and button made the most of it. Did he get lucky, absolutely. Very lucky for being in the right place at the right time but he still drove well and did what was required of him to win.
