Hakkinen tips Vettel for title
Two-time world champion Mika Hakkinen has leapt to the defence of two of Formula 1’s leading figures.
The 40-year-old Finn, who retired as a McLaren race driver in 2001, said his countryman Kimi Raikkonen will bounce back to form after a lacklustre season with Ferrari this year.
“Kimi did not have a good year, but in 2009 he will attack again and win races,” Hakkinen told laola1.at.
“He knows what went wrong and will stop it from happening again.”
Hakkinen also backed the sport’s 78-year-old chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, following suggestions the time for the so-called ’supremo’ to step down may be nearing.
“In the past decades he was the one who moved Formula 1 forwards,” the winner of 20 Grands Prix insisted. “He is absolutely the right man for the job.”
Meanwhile, Hakkinen tipped 21-year-old Sebastian Vettel, the youngest ever race winner following his 2008 Monza victory, for a F1 title within a “few years”.
“Vettel has the right stuff,” he said. “He is still very young, but exceptionally fast, performing like an old hand. Certainly in the next few years he will take the title.”
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Keith, I guess the name of the post should be Hakkinen tips Vettel for title, not Raikkonen.
Finn confusion error fixed…
Vettel first needs to get his hands on a car in a top team though. Not sure where he might go. But then he still has a lot of time left. Just hope he doesn’t end up like Button or Rosberg who were also tipped to be WDC by many.
Difference between Vettel, Rosberg and Button is that Vettel’s won his maiden win in his first full season, on merit (not through attrition) with a smaller team. As long as he keeps up his form, and not see the follow-up season disappointments some make, he will be a championship contender.
Whether or not he wins it, is another matter.
The right time with the right car and team has always been a fact in F1. Look at Schumi, everything happened at the right time and place. Even his retirement is spot on, as there is a crisis in F1 and more to come. Being good or the best isn’t good enough, the element of luck plays a major role in success. Hamilton has been very lucky also, but for how long?
You do need to have the right car, but you also need to be (one of) the best driver!
Lewis got a great car in 2007 and a pretty good car this year, sure, but you still have to win the races!
F1 seems to have become so much more competitive over the past two or three seasons. The diffence in qualifying times in the top ten seem to have become much smaller and the number of mechanical retirements in the races seems to have reduced significantly (am I right, Statisticians?).
The result of this is that we’ve had two very tight Championships and almost any driver from the top three or four teams is capable of consistent podium places or wins.
If the dice shake out one way, we could have three or four drivers all in the hunt for the title; if they shake out another way, we could have the opposite set in the chase.
2009 will see an entirely different car requirement and there could be a significant disparity in performance between one team and another. But, by the time we reach Monaco, I expect that the field will have closed again and we will see remarkably consistent performances across the the top half of the grid.
If Vettel can steal some advantage over other teams in the early races, there is no reason why he could not emerge as a significant contender in 2009.
The lad’s undoubtedly good, but the dice might not quite fall his way.
@ 7: One simple reason F1 became more competitive in recent seasons. The end of the Schumacher era.
A simple illustration to all the naysayers of just how good he was…