People are only this harsh on Vettle now because he was such big news when he won for Torro Rosso. And the hype just got bigger throughout 09. Small crowd was going he’s not won anything that wasn’t from pole has he, an has anyone seen him overtake, or take over a race not just win it through a controlling lead?
An that came Bah and Aus and Sep an people were alll OMG! REAL DEAL: CHAMPIONZ an still a small section though huh? It seems to be the car mostly, he is trashing Webber though, then came Spain and Monaco and that became untrue, Turkey which remains the defining point of the season and one of the most dramatic and tense races ever, an p[erception started turning. It’s now been shown he can’t cope with bad luck, or overtake inferior cars cleanly. He couldn’t take the Ferraris at his home race, where he may well have had the pace to do so, I reckon a Kub Ham or Alo could have won that race from third on the first lap.
Regardless I’ve never considered Vettle to be “among one of the best of his generation” his skill set is that of a quali specialist, he can put in amazing one lap pace and controll a race from the front but what else? Hamilton and Alonso seem to be best rounded of the current gen, both have an amazingly broad range of strengths they can both do what Vettle does, but when fate throws them a swerve they can fight through the feild, fight at the front, gain important positions under preassure, resist enourmous pressure from behind and speed up and slow down when required. Button Vettled for the first 7 races of 09 untill his quali woes started, but he almost always finished higher than he qualied, how often can you say that for Vettle. Kubica has never had a top car, although he may now get one with Renault slowly rejoining the elite an yet he’s 5 points down on Massa and his F10.
This year I rate Vettle at sixth or seventh, an theres no sign to me that he’s anywhere near as talented as Ham Kub and Alo. Don’t really know compared to But Web and Ros but it’s interesting if you consider where he might be in their cars.