Lauda: Vettel could beat Schumi's seven

[Scott Webber]

Niki Lauda believes Sebastian Vettel has the talent and the time needed to break Michael Schumacher's record of seven World titles.



The Red Bull claimed his second on Sunday with four races to spare in a season that has already seen Vettel claim 12 pole positions, nine race victories and additional five podium finishes.


And Lauda reckons it is just the start of Vettel's climb towards being the best driver to have ever raced in F1.
"It is the best performance so far in Formula One, at his age to win two," Lauda told Reuters.



"To win the first one is always the most difficult because all your career, starting from go-karts all the way up, is years and years of work for this particular day. The second one is easier in a way because there is less pressure."
Asked whether Vettel could win more titles, the 62-year-old: "He has all the circumstances to do it.


"If the car and his career and where he drives and which car continues in the right direction, then yes.

source

 

[Xosé Estrada]

Wow wow wow... just relax Niki.

To beat Schumi's seven the couple "great driving + great car" has to happen 7 times during a driver's career which is not easy, and then the driver has to take every one of this opportunities.

It's possible of course, specially considering drivers arrive in F1 younger and with better cars, but Vettel still has a long way to go.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

I guess I heard the same for Alonso and for Hamilton too before! Now that would take a little bit of time!

 

[My993C2]

Mr Lauda is getting ahead of himself here. Time for your meds Niki. Vettel has a long way to go before he is remotely close to equaling 7 titles and I am sure McLaren and possibly some other teams will give Red Bull a real run for their money in 2012. I fully suspect Red Bull to be good next year, but I would be shocked if one of their drivers (mainly Vettel) runs away from the competition like Vettel did this season.

 

[William Levesque]

Don't forget 2014 too !

Big changes in rules might mix things up a lot !

 

[speedometer]

not to mention the downside V6 engines...

i hope he wont break that record i still remember i stopped watching a few seasons and pretty much predicted the outcome
race after race i started to dislike schummi back in the days.
ofcourse he is a great driver, he still is today and my feelings arent the same.
these days i actualy like his effort and he is still fast.
but it would make F1 boring when the same driver wins season afters season.
well see wat happens, if he manages to win 3 more seasons ill stop watching again, so i wont have to look at those V6 engines.
ill start watching A1 grandprix or superleach formula instead

 

[William Levesque]

To be honest I expect nice things for these new engines

Hopefully with the Turbo and all it's gonna be more manly and better sounding ! (The sounds since the end of the Turbo era are just awful, yes, even the V10/V12)

 

[Péter Bártfai]

I have no problem with him winning all championships coming up, as long as he needs to fight hard for them! This year I was watching separate races instead of the championship, and you know what this is a good year!
Would be great though, if both would be exciting, championships decided at last race by one point.

 

[Chris Preston]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/formula_one/15241395.stm

I personally like that article better.

"Michael's record is very unlikely ever to be beaten," Hill told BBC Sport.
"They changed the rules because he was winning too much. It's much more competitive now than it ever was. Vettel has that to contend with."

 

[Prithvi R Shankar]

I'd like Vettel to win as many championships as possible. But I hope he wont get into much controversies like Lewis or Schumi. Im still a fan of Michael Schumacher and i still admire him. But the only sad thing about Michael is the number of controversies he's got into like team orders, hitting others, etc etc. Hope Vettel never gets into such kinda things. If he maintains this form, We can see Vettel in F1 at least for the next 10 years without any doubt..

 

[Diego Lopez]

with regulations constantly changing, no one will equal or get more than Schumacer.

 

[Chris Preston]

with regulations constantly changing, no one will equal or get more than Schumacer.

Not only changing in the present, they've changed in the past so that teams can no longer dominate like Ferrari in their day.

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/3213/7235227/DC-RBR-won-t-dominate-like-Ferrari

I think David Coulthard hits the nail on the head with this article.

 

[Diego Lopez]

I like DCs points. very valid and agreeable. Sry RB, ur time is over. Silver and Red will bring pwning competition, unless the SAS can raid Neweys office xD

 

[Jax Humanhater]

Good article by DC. If Vettel is going to win seven or more, he is going to have to be lucky for the remainder of his career.

 

[Myles Thomas]

Yes DC does make valid points, i think the main ones are the test track they had and the team orders. Look im not saying RBR are going to dominate for next seven years but there is one tinny little point you guys have missed, RBR has Adrian Newey.

 

[Luke McVicar]

I think most of the people saying rbr won't dominate the years to come are hoping not knowing, there is no real sign of them falling from the top, heck when newey was at Williams they had the fastest car for half a decade(1992-1997) they didn't win every title but they where the fastest in that period, then he continued that at mclaren for another 2 years.

I think redbull have had the advantage on focusing on next years car earlier then there rivals as the points lead was massive by mid season, in the last few races it's noticeable how much mclaren have caught back up.

 

[Chris Preston]

I think most of the people saying rbr won't dominate the years to come are hoping not knowing, there is no real sign of them falling from the top, heck when newey was at Williams they had the fastest car for half a decade(1992-1997) they didn't win every title but they where the fastest in that period, then he continued that at mclaren for another 2 years.

I think redbull have had the advantage on focusing on next years car earlier then there rivals as the points lead was massive by mid season, in the last few races it's noticeable how much mclaren have caught back up.

I don't really think people are saying they WON'T dominate, I think people are just saying the odds are stacked against them and it will take extremely hard work and a miracle to be able to stay on top. Besides what's to say Vettel won't want to go to (I'll make something up) Mercedes to help them improve, or Adrian Newey doing the same thing. We've also seen throughout the season that Red Bull aren't unbeatable and their pit stops seem to need some work, probably costed Vettel the win at Suzuka, and that McLaren are coming on strong again.

 

[Diego Lopez]

Adrian has been wanted @ Ferrari for years...wonder what he really wants. a cookie? a nice red bull flavored cookie worked for the RB team

 

[Chris Cronshaw]

Adrian has been wanted @ Ferrari for years...wonder what he really wants. a cookie? a nice red bull flavored cookie worked for the RB team

He want's power. That's why he left Williams, and that's why he left McLaren. They both refused to give him the control he wanted. Red Bull do give him what he want's you could say it's his team.

And as far the equal equipment thing at Red Bull that DC talks of, it's Red Bull S**t. Horner said last season that future cars would be designed around Vettel. That means that Webber (and rightly so as Seb was champ) has to fit into a car that is designed for his team mate.
McLaren are on the back foot in that sense as they design a car to suit both drivers.

I have no doubt though that McLaren will be back. You only need to look at their factory to see that they won't be off the top for long.