Sebastian Vettel: the driver debates
The debate over who is the most-hyped driver in Formula 1 is a short one. But who is the second most-hyped driver in F1 after Lewis Hamilton?
Sebastian Vettel may be a candidate. He arrived in the sport at a rude young age last year and is apparently already being considered for a promotion to Red Bull in 2009 from its Toro Rosso ‘junior’ team. What do you think of the young German driver?
On his way through the junior ranks Vettel achieved what must be one of the most dominant performances ever seen in a championship. In 2004 he claimed the German Formula BMW championship with 387 points from a maximum of 400, winning 18 of the 20 races.
He narrowly missed out on the 2006 Formula Three Euroseries title to Paul di Rests, but interrupted his campaign with a brief foray into the World Series by Renault, where he won on his debut.
Last year Vettel was on duty as a BMW test driver while leading the World Series, when Robert Kunica’s crash in the Canadian Grand Prix gave him the chance of a one-off start in the United States round.
In his maiden F1 race he qualified inside the top ten and, despite going off at turn one, brought the car home in the points on a day when few of the front runners retired. That made him F1’s youngest ever points scorer.
Vettel returned to F1 with Toro Rosso following the sacking of Scott Speed. Although Vettel had spent several years with BMW, it was Red Bull who had priority on his services for the future and he joined the team full-time for 2008.
The more experienced Vitantonio Liuzzi ran him close over the final races of 2007 but Vettel was in the right place at the right time to score a fine fourth place for the team in the Chinese Grand Prix with a masterful strategic call.
It wiped the slate clean a week after he had taken fellow Red Bull driver out of the Japanese Grand Prix while Webber was running second under the safety car and eyeing a tilt at race leader Lewis Hamilton.
An exasperating start to 2008 saw Vettel retire from the first four races, partly due to two first-lap collisions for which he was largely blameless. At Melbourne he qualified in the top ten.
Although he has comparatively few starts to his name he is already considered by many to be a star of the future. Even Michael Schumacher has spoken highly of him.
How do you rate Sebastian Vettel? Does he deserve a top-line drive in 2009?
Pink Peril said on 16th May 2008, 0:51
i think the Webber/Vettel pairing at Red Bull for 2009 is a foregone conclusion.
For me, though, remains to be seen if Vettel is Ferrari material. Lets see the lad actually complete more than one lap, and I’ll decide then
Vertigo said on 17th May 2008, 12:43
Nik, the other rookies (Glock and Piquet) are up against seasoned racers, while Vettel is against Bourdais, another rookie. You can’t compare them like for like.
Number 38 said on 17th May 2008, 14:11
Out-QUALIFYING one’s teammate is meaningless.
Out-RACING one’s teammate is performance.
Bourdais 2, Vettel 0
Nik said on 17th May 2008, 14:28
Vertigo: The other comparisons are more about the rookies up against those in the same car as them.
Hamilton was a rookies last year, and in the same car as Alonso did much better than what these guys are
I dont think team bosses expect rookies to be a second or two slower than team mates in their first year, since most of the guys have done at least a year of testing and are supposed to be good enough to get a car around a single lap fast enough anyway
Number 38: Qualifying is just as important at most tracks, like Catalunya, Monaco etc. Show me a rookie who is 1-2 seconds slower than a team mate but is then about to ‘out race’ them
Who wants to wager wether or not Piquet will still have his seat at the end of the year? There is no doubt that he in theory is a capable F1 driver, he just isn’t showing it. Renault are depending on him to bring in points if they want that 4th place..
DG said on 20th May 2008, 8:31
Nik – considering what happened at McLaren when Hamilton showed he was equal to Alonso, I don’t see Renault allowing Piquet to show how good he is this season, although they are probably expecting better than they are getting from him, but why should he bother?
Vettel – Have you seen the announcement that because STR are debuting the new car this weekend, Vettel has to take a penalty for effectively ‘replacing his gearbox’. Is his bad luck or a stupid rule? Haven’t the FIA Officials noticed that the whole car has been replaced too? He should be able to start again from zero, surely?
Nik said on 20th May 2008, 8:48
DG – I think while having Piquet obviously eases internal tension, but I can’t help to think that Renault would at least like to see Piquet within a few 0.1′s of Alonso, and at least able to race the car. It must be embarresing for them having their #2 driver fighting with and bumping into STR and Force India cars while at the same time they are trying to claim the #4 constructor spot.
There is no way they will lead the midfield with Piquet performing as he is now, they need him to start bringing in points otherwise they might as well have a one car and one driver team.
Pete Walker said on 20th May 2008, 9:04
@DG – It does seem fairly harsh on Vettel but I guess it would be unfair on the rest of the grid racing with used gearboxes if he turns up and races with a new one penalty-free. He shouldn’t worry though. Starting at the back at Monaco can help avoid the mid-rear pack chaos at the start. And lets face it, Seb can’t really afford another lap one shunt.
DG said on 20th May 2008, 10:03
Pete – to quote the official F1 site ‘Vettel’s team mate Sebastien Bourdais will escape sanction, however. The Frenchman failed to reach the finish in Istanbul Park, meaning he is free to start his first Monaco Grand Prix with a new gearbox.’
So perhaps Vettel should have crashed out in Instanbul too, since he knew the new car was coming? Its one thing to escape a penalty when you deserve one, but maybe his old gearbox was good enough for a 4th race anyway. This seems to be a rule to stop teams introducing new cars part way through the season – its going to affect all the teams unless they get the timing right!
Nik – I agree with you about Piquet, having seen how well he performed in GP2, I am very surprised at his lack of ability so far. Renault do need him, but something must have made him decide it’s not worth it, otherwise he would be on Alonso’s tail I’m sure.
Alianora La Canta said on 20th May 2008, 11:09
Retiring would have been an easy thing for Vettel to do – it would have been quite plausible to pretend that the first-lap crash with Sutil caused terminal damage. Of course, as a proper racer, Vettel never would have considered doing that…
It underlines the stupidity of the multi-race component rules.