F1 Half Term Report: Rate the Grid - Sebastian Vettel

aphidgod · Aug 20, 2017

Maybe he meant the Ferrari and Merc are just about equal? (Because in that case he's right. Not much between those two cars this year.)

thatmotorfreak · Aug 20, 2017

Setting aside his Baku shenanigans I think he's got potential to be this year's WDC. I just hope his team doesn't drop the ball with the car. I'm still worried about Mercedes catching up with them.

If there's one thing I have to admit, his short temper on-track reminds me of myself.

Celestiale · Aug 20, 2017

aphidgod said:
Maybe he meant the Ferrari and Merc are just about equal? (Because in that case he's right. Not much between those two cars this year.)

Between the "cars"(aka chassis), there isn't. But between engine and power unit it's massive. On every circuit with a little longer straight Mercedes has already booked the win. Nothing more then smashing the throttle, all Mr. Hamilton and Bottas have to do to win on those (Montreal the worst and most obvious of the lot)

aphidgod · Aug 20, 2017

Sure, some tracks suit one more than the other, and clearly Mercedes does better the less time they have to spend cornering, but overall the two cars (car = chassis + motor) are balanced pretty well... especially if you take the previous 3 years as the benchmark.

Terry Rock · Aug 20, 2017

Coffer said:
Best joke in all the half-term report threads so far.

I'd say you simply don't have a clue about power delivery... given the Ferrari's performance in Australia at the start of the season and at other circuits this year.
It's already been proven that the Ferrari is a match power-wise with the Merc's this year, but if it makes you feel better to say Vettel is above in an inferior car...go right ahead.

Jonas Bögemann · Aug 20, 2017

The Baku incident has been the stain of this season and willt ake some time to wash off (if at all) from his whole career. But purely performance wise if he isn't a 10/10 who else is?
Always there, taking the chances and being very consistent. Fair enough, Vettel had some weaker weekends this year, but he was always back when it was race time and this is when it counts afterall.
(And in such cases he actually is sporty enough to admit that he was simply not fast enough, to quote him "Lewis was simply unbeatable today")

Tobiman · Aug 20, 2017

Probably a boxer in his past life.

Leonardo Chaves · Aug 20, 2017

aphidgod said:
Sure, some tracks suit one more than the other, and clearly Mercedes does better the less time they have to spend cornering, but overall the two cars (car = chassis + motor) are balanced pretty well... especially if you take the previous 3 years as the benchmark.

The previous 3 years are not a benchmark for anything, those were 3 of the most dominant cars in history, anything else is closer than that.

Mercedes holds the advantage in a number of tracks, sometimes a large advantage, Ferrari has the super tight tracks in their favor.

Celestiale · Aug 21, 2017

Terry Rock said:
I'd say you simply don't have a clue about power delivery... given the Ferrari's performance in Hungary and other circuits this year.
It's already been proven that the Ferrari is a match power-wise with the Merc's this year, but if it makes you feel better to say Vettel is above in an inferior car...go right ahead.

Yeah, because the Hungary track has so much to do with power delivery

the (by some called) "worst car of the grid", McLaren, was 4th best car in Hungary..what does it tell us about it's power delivery?

John Jorell · Aug 21, 2017

Now if there's only an inclusion of .5 points in the rating's I'd give Seb a 9.5 for this. Sadly, I had to give him a 9 all because of his road rage behavior in Baku.

Tormentor · Aug 21, 2017

Seb was a nice guy in the first years with RB, but now with Ferrari, he shows his true face. All of his crying for blue flags, his curse and "f*ck you Charlie" last year deserved a penalty which never came. And all this was topped in Baku this year with his idiotic move to Ham. In Soccer, ho would have been seen the red card and get blocked for two matches. He is an a**hole. A fast a**hole, but still an a**hole.

Celestiale · Aug 21, 2017

Tormentor said:
Seb was a nice guy in the first years with RB, but now with Ferrari, he shows his true face. All of his crying for blue flags, his curse and "f*ck you Charlie" last year deserved a penalty which never came. And all this was topped in Baku this year with his idiotic move to Ham. In Soccer, ho would have been seen the red card and get blocked for two matches. He is an a**hole. A fast a**hole, but still an a**hole.

I guess it all depends what type of person you are yourself. I am by no means a Vettel fan (Ricciardo my fav), but i like his character.
I prefer an honest, sometimes over the top, showing his anger, but upright person like Vettel, who may not control himself twice in a decade because he is a little choleric over a phony, fraudulent person like Hamilton who says exactly what the people want to hear, but never the truth.

Glaurung · Aug 21, 2017

Celestiale said:
Between the "cars"(aka chassis), there isn't. But between engine and power unit it's massive. On every circuit with a little longer straight Mercedes has already booked the win. Nothing more then smashing the throttle, all Mr. Hamilton and Bottas have to do to win on those (Montreal the worst and most obvious of the lot)

The main difference instead is the chassis design approach.
Mercedes has the longest wheel base that suits better in tracks with fast corners, it also gives a better aero performance regarding the direction of air in the underbody and management of turbulences created by front wheels.
Ferrari with its shorter wheel base suits better in tracks with slow corners and tight chicanes and mid to low speed direction changes. That's why I think that while Spa is definitely Merc territory like Silverstone, in Monza there will be a closer fight between the two teams.
In terms of downforce they are very near, some technics give a slightly advantage overall to Ferrari, but a better efficiency of the underbody and diffuser of the Mercedes.
I expect a quite big advantage will go to Mercedes in the last races because of the FIA regulations about restrictions on oil burning percentages, because Ferrari has invested a lot in the field of using oil to improve the combustion.

FalconX · Aug 21, 2017

Tormentor said:
Seb was a nice guy in the first years with RB, but now with Ferrari, he shows his true face. All of his crying for blue flags, his curse and "f*ck you Charlie" last year deserved a penalty which never came. And all this was topped in Baku this year with his idiotic move to Ham. In Soccer, ho would have been seen the red card and get blocked for two matches. He is an a**hole. A fast a**hole, but still an a**hole.

Road rage at 20km/h and he said "f you", well wow, they better ban him for life to protect all the other innocent drivers who never do anything wrong and all the young kids watching from his bad influence, right?

Celestiale said:
I guess it all depends what type of person you are yourself. I am by no means a Vettel fan (Ricciardo my fav), but i like his character.
I prefer an honest, sometimes over the top, showing his anger, but upright person like Vettel, who may not control himself twice in a decade because he is a little choleric over a phony, fraudulent person like Hamilton who says exactly what the people want to hear, but never the truth.

I could not agree more, thank you.

Michel Forest · Aug 21, 2017

Amazing driver, as long as things go his way. If not, he becomes the biggest crybaby in the paddocks, which is why I'm not a fan. I respect his talent, however, he's one of the fastest guys out there. But try to imagine for a minute his behaviour if he was in a McLaren right now and maybe you'll understand why he's not someone I admire.