[raymondu999]

Here’s the one thing that scares me after today; He actually made some beautiful overtakes. None as beautiful as those who overtook in Eau Rouge , but he did some fantastic non-DRS overtakes. He overtook Webber out of La Source and before Eau Rouge (though FOM missed that) after the safety car period, he overtook Alonso without DRS on the Kemmel straight into Les Combes (I think it was without DRS, no?) and, something that smacked beautifully of Alonso in Suzuka. He passed Rosberg around the outside of Blanchimont; which I did not think was possible for any car on any car. Almost a carbon copy of Alonso on Schumacher in 130R corner in Suzuka.

His defensive driver has stepped up a gear too methinks He doesn’t go up the inside to cover the entry to the corner, but he seems to have a way of beautifully reading the cars behind him; and “controls” their corner exits into the key parts. Spain is a case in point. Another is in Monaco. He was going through Portier and Anthony Noghes very slowly each time, and picking his moment to traction out of the corner beautifully, in a “safety car restart” style fashion, catching his pursuers out by sheer human response times.

Absolutely remarkable.

He hasn’t done much overtaking this year when on the same strategy; most of the ones he’s done this year are based on DRS; or on fresh vs old tyres. But this is the first race which really made me in awe of him. Clearly his overtaking skills are beginning to mature.

Abso-fricking-lutely remarkable.

Couple this with his (we know) superb clear-air race pace, and excellent qualifying skills, and… I’ll stop there.

[George]

As you said, I think that overtake on Rosberg at Blanchimont was absolutely brilliant, at least as good as Webber’s overtake on Alonso. It’s a travesty that #1 it was talked over by Ted Kravits and #2 we didn’t get to see any more angles of it.

I think if Keith does another ‘overtake of the year’ piece this year, that will get my vote.

[raymondu999]

While I am a Vettel fan, and that pass on Rosberg was absolutely gorgeous, I think it’s still much ballsier to pass in Eau Rouge :P

I do remember Massa doing it to JPM a few years back though; but JPM was on an outlap IIRC

[phil9079]

2009: reasonable because it was his first season at RBR, new car, and he was just 22 years old back then.

2010: I had moments where I almost pulled my hair of because seb did many mistakes and it isn’t pleasant if you see your favorite driver losing it all.

2011: Haven’t had such moments since spa 2010. I don’t have a clue what he did throughout the winter break, maybe the WDC did something to him but he changed SO MASSIVLY and yet so soon. In the beginning I said common seb DON’T lose it again, DON’T do anything stupid. But like you said, he can calculate where other drivers are going to be on the exit, just like every other driver needs to do…

I’ve always prefered his drivingstyle on qualifying. He takes risks and attacks the kerbs while taking risks with the DRS (putting it on early) and the KERS (remember turkey where he just pressed KERS and didn’t let go at the exit of what turn was it again?) as well

[raymondu999]

might I add; In the F1 calendar, they say there are 3 circuits which are circuits where the driver can make a difference. Monaco, Spa and Suzuka. He has gotten pole, and won the first two in dominant fashion. AND he has gotten pole and dominated Suzuka for the past two years.

[phil9079]

@raymondu, true+the fact that he wins on circuits where RBR hasn’t even been strong on the past years. Spa is 1 of them. Actually, he has already won those circuits. He has won in suzuka last year and this year it’s spa, monaco and maybe AGAIN suzuka

BTW need to add something too. In fact, seb is closer to the wdc then you think. He needs 2 wins and 1 2nd place to win it all AGAIN.

Seb: 259+25+25+18=327

Webber: 167+18+18+25+25+25+25+25=321

[raymondu999]

As I mentioned in my massive comment about points, he can win the title in Singapore.

He needs to outscore:

Webber by 34 points (17 points average)

Alonso by 24 points (12 points average)

Button by 16 points (8 points average)

Hamilton by 13 points (6.5 points average)

Or if by suzuka:

Webber by 9 points (3 points average).

Webber is the only one “above the curve” in this regard. The others, however, have to catch up a set amount of points. Vettel can let the following happen, and still win:

Alonso has to outscore him by 1 point (.33 average)

Button has to outscore him by 9 points (3 average)

Hamilton has to outscore him by 12 points (4 average)

[phil9079]

Remarkeble season he has had. This season just needs to be the best season he has had so far, if he wins the wdc offcourse. 7 wins (including monaco and spa), 9 poles (if this keeps going on, he can have a record of poles too this year), a record of points (last year he has had 256 and he’s now already at 259 points), overtaking manouvres which I never saw from him or which I didn’t even think it was possible for him to do so,…

So far he has 23 or 24 poles, meaning that he can easaly have 25 poles at the end of this season. He only started from 2006 in F1. 5 years in F1 and he already has got so many records, poles and wins. Just ashtonishing…

[raymondu999]

I don’t think it’ll be his best ever season. I think his mid-season “lull” of an entire 3 races will have strengthened him, ESPECIALLY if he wins the 2011 WDC. 2012 may see an even scarier Vettel; this time to be a complete-r package with strong overtaking and defensive abilities.

[Ell]

Webber’s overtake on Alonso was the best.

[phil9079]

that’s why I said that it was his best season SO FAR… 2012 is doubtfull as you don’t know what the rest of the teams may found out. He needs a strong relliable car like this year but even better. RBR have managed to maintain their corner speed while they’ve increased straightline speed. I hope they can keep this combination as well as the downforce and be as strong as this season, maybe even stronger. They need to have much more info about the tyrewear, but I don’t see pirelli going yet so that won’t be a problem. They also need to have a look at their KERS system. DRS is more then OK.

If RBR can manage to put all this together yet again and be the fastest car on the grid, Vettel is likely going to be WDC 2012

[raymondu999]

Ell – yes; his Eau Rouge pass on Alonso was better than even Vettel’s blanchimont pass on Rosberg. I’m not saying that was the best overtake; I’m saying Vettel’s overtaking prowess is clearly only now beginning to show and mature

[Ell]

He is a very mature and quick guy, as much as i hate him. The big test is watching if he can hold off a much faster car under DRS and race conditions. Look at Canada.

[raymondu999]

And look at Spain

[Ell]

Spain. No massive pressure form Lewis, he didn’t have as much speed as Vettel in the high speed corners, no attempted overtakes. But at Canada Jenson was up to 2 seconds faster, with a DRS zone that produced a lot of overtakes. In Spain, it wasn’t as successful.

[Author]

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