Vettel Lead Overtaker In 2012

[Johnny Russian]

Below are the statistics for number of overtakes in 2012. As you can see, Vettel leads all the categories. When you combine this with the fact that he was driving the 2nd fastest car this season [McLaren were the fastest - see here: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2012/12/03/2012-f1-car-performance/ (credit to Markus Neumann for originally posting that)], these statistics are even more impressive. So what does everyone think? Do you still think Vettel can't overtake?

All overtakes
1. Sebastian Vettel - 74 on-track overtakes
1. Mark Webber - 74
3. Felipe Massa - 65
4. Lewis Hamilton - 55
4. Romain Grosjean - 55

All overtakes, without backmarkers
Disgarding the overtakes on the teams of HRT, Marussia and Caterham
1. Sebastian Vettel - 51 on-track overtakes
2. Lewis Hamilton - 46
2. Mark Webber - 46
4. Felipe Massa - 45
5. Jenson Button - 41

All overtakes, without backmarkers, with equal tires
Disgarding the overtakes on the teams of HRT, Marussia and Caterham
Disgarding overtakes on cars with more than 5 lap older tires
1. Sebastian Vettel - 29 on-track overtakes
2. Jenson Button - 26
3. Mark Webber - 24
4. Kimi Räikkönen - 23
4. Felipe Massa - 23

All overtakes, only on 5 top teams
Counting only overtakes on the teams of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes
1. Sebastian Vettel - 28 on-track overtakes
2. Lewis Hamilton - 25
3. Jenson Button - 22
4. Kimi Räikkönen - 21
5. Felipe Massa - 16

All overtakes, only on 5 top teams, with equal tires
Counting only overtakes on the teams of Red Bull, Ferrari, McLaren, Lotus and Mercedes
Disgarding overtakes on cars with more than 5 lap older tires
1. Sebastian Vettel - 17 on-track overtakes
2. Kimi Räikkönen - 16
3. Jenson Button - 14
4. Lewis Hamilton - 13
5. Felipe Massa - 12

Source: http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14360&sid=1c623577a773f5453f73df6b8ce9afea

 

[Victor Ivanov]

Hm he's become a racer this year

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Problem is lap 1 is not counted.
Basically an overtake just before start finish line on lap 1 is not counted but one just after start finish line is counted.

Also not that hard to calculate considering he had to overtake half the field twice in Abu Dhabi with his tricked up top speed car.

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

Hm he's become a racer this year

A Better racer than Vettel of 2011

 

[Shivayernena]

Nando did many overtakes on 1st laps itself.............Nando s true overtaker of 2012season............ Undoubtedly BEST OVER TAKER of 2012.....

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

Problem is lap 1 is not counted.
Basically an overtake just before start finish line on lap 1 is not counted but one just after start finish line is counted.

Also not that hard to calculate considering he had to overtake half the field twice in Abu Dhabi with his tricked up top speed car.

I don't think it's Easy To overtake Yes the car has More top speed but that was what Mclaren and Ferrari have for Most of Season the TOP SPEED. They knew with General RBR Method they can't overtake on Straights that's why they decided to Change the Top speed to give more opportunity for Drag racing on both straights.

 

[Shane Butler]

I think I saw a graphic before Abu Dhabi where it said that Vettel had gained something like 18 positions in the race from his starting grid spot. Compare that to Alonso... 46

Yes Vettel can overtake and I'm tired of people who say he cant.. but this season he was not the best overtaker. Alonso was..

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Interesting also if you look at who he actually overtook in Abu Dhabi.
With two DRS straights and a tricked up top speed car and 2 safety car periods. ¨

 

[Victor Ivanov]

Interesting also if you look at who he actually overtook in Abu Dhabi.
With two DRS straights and a tricked up top speed car and 2 safety car periods. ¨

And after the first one he had to start everything again Alonso is not god guys, he's just good starter but overtakes at the start are not the same at the ones done for position in the race.

 

[ENDR]

(...) but overtakes at the start are not the same at the ones done for position in the race.

Sure they aren't - they're harder. Everyone has the same amount of KERS, everyone's on fairly fresh tyres, you can't use DRS and there's A LOT less room for maneuvering.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

And after the first one he had to start everything again

Exactly. And people wonder why he´s leading the charts.
that´s a massive load of overtakes on "nobodies".

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Same guy who made that made another one about who would win with no problems like DNF´s etc.

Rather than ending the season in 4th, a distant 91 points beind Vettel and 88 points behind Alonso, without mechanical failures and other misfortune Lewis Hamilton would have won the 2012 world championship, 24 points ahead of Vettel and a massive 92 points ahead of Alonso.

http://www.f1technical.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14409

 

[Michael Brown]

Yeah he can overtake, his drives in Australia, Spa, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil showed that. But he also made a few mistakes. Overall, this season has really improved him as a racing driver, and he won me over as a fan.

People are bringing up him being at the back, which added to his overtakes. I won't argue that. But that was also the case for the top overtakers in 2011 - Schumacher, Buemi, and Alguersuari - who had a faster car that started lower in the field.

 

[Metalfreaky]

Those statistics are useless scince we have DRS.

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

Sure they aren't - they're harder. Everyone has the same amount of KERS, everyone's on fairly fresh tyres, you can't use DRS and there's A LOT less room for maneuvering.

Yep but not all the cars are Ferrari's and Not all Drivers are Fernando . So for him the Overtake after Lights out is not much difficult as we all knew Ferrari is very quick off the Line and Alonso Reaction time to his clutch after Lights out is 0.14 sec which was His Personal Best at Valencia

 

[Kartik Sri Harsha]

Yeah he can overtake, his drives in Australia, Spa, Abu Dhabi, and Brazil showed that. But he also made a few mistakes. Overall, this season has really improved him as a racing driver, and he won me over as a fan.

People are bringing up him being at the back, which added to his overtakes. I won't argue that. But that was also the case for the top overtakers in 2011 - Schumacher, Buemi, and Alguersuari - who had a faster car that started lower in the field.

I think we need to Discard abu dhabi as Remaining are a Complete Proof of his Skill. I rate Spa and Brazil for his Best Charging through the Field.Also these are flashes of his True Skill.

 

[Ivan Mills]

Rather than ending the season in 4th, a distant 91 points beind Vettel and 88 points behind Alonso, without mechanical failures and other misfortune Lewis Hamilton would have won the 2012 world championship, 24 points ahead of Vettel and a massive 92 points ahead of Alonso.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

Not bad, just remember to include:

* One interesting thing to consider about Hamilton's 'alternative championship' this year though, is that counting back the 'championship without misfortune years', Hamilton would still only be a one-time world champion, as he would have been short of the championship in both 2007 and 2008.

 

[Johnny Russian]

glad this thread has started some healthy debate would like to point out i'm not a Vettel fan by the way (McLaren 4 lyfe), but i posted those stats because i think Vettel gets a lot of unfair criticism directed at him, with people saying that he can't overtake, he can only win from pole position, he can only win in the best car, etc.

I think a lot of people criticize him because they don't like him as a person and/or find him annoying, but you have to admit that he is a really talented driver, regardless of whether or not you like him as a person.

sure a lot of his overtakes were made in Abu Dhabi, but every seems to forget his amazing drive from 11th to 2nd at Spa, where he made some amazing non-DRS overtakes.and sure overtaking might be easier with DRS, but everyone has it, not just Vettel. considering the Renault engine has lower top speed compared to say McLaren or Ferrari, Vettel is probably at a disadvantage when using DRS compared to some other teams.

 

[Johnny Russian]

Also want to add, Vettel has put in some really good drives even when he has not been in the best car, and even before DRS.

some examples:
China 2007: started 17th, finished 4th
Monaco 2008: started 17th, finished 5th
Canada 2008: started from pit lane, finished 8th.

all of the above with Torro Rosso.