Belgian Grand Prix 2014, Spa-Francorchamps - Race 12/19
- Thread starter Shimmy
- Start date
Oh come on. Everything he has done in F1 up until now - that first BMW practice drive, his BMW debut, his first season at Toro Rosso, running continuously in the top 10 in a Toro Rosso (think back to how good he was in Hamilton's champion-winning season - he nearly denied Hamilton the title too), pole and a lights-to-flag victory in a Toro Rosso, four time straight WDC. He is undoubtedly a fantastic driver.
His recent domination is because he mastered the mashing of the throttle and letting the diffuser pick up the gasses from the exhaust, and he was the only driver in the field capable of believing the car would stick so readily (hence him opening up 4 second leads in 2 laps). That was his era.
The confidence you must lose from that to the extreme torque these 1.6s have must be enormous. That he is struggling to adapt to these completely different cars might be a blemish against him if he doesn't get the upper hand in the next couple of seasons, but it is only a blemish that would mark him outside of the very top echelons of F1 greatness with Fangio, Clark, Senna, Schumacher and Alonso, but he's right behind them in the next bracket alongside the likes of Moss, Brabham, Stewart, Prost and Hamilton.
I'm not taking anything away from Ricciardo, who's clearly a champion in the making, but the fact Vettel is struggling relatively does not suddenly mark him down as average.
Vettel is anything but average. People said he couldn't overtake but look at his tenacity against Alonso at Monza when he was almost pushed off the track, then look back a couple of months ago to Copse at Silverstone, that was absurdly brave stuff. If Vettel had have made contact on that corner both those cars would have flipped over and barrel rolled to Milton Keynes.
People said he can't overtake. He proved them wrong. These are the same people who are now saying he's average, he isn't.
I'm sure one of the reasons Vettel is struggling in comparison to his team mate right now is for the fact that he was driving a much better car for the last 4 years.
Ricciardo has had an inferior car which hasn't been as stable through the corners, a car with which he has had to fight in order to stop the back end stepping out or fighting front end understeer. Vettel has had a car which was pretty much on rails.
So it's easy to see why Ricciardo is adapting to this years quicker than Vettel; put simply it's a car which Ricciardo is more or less used to.
Vettel is having to rewire his brain in order to forget about the off throttle blown diffuser he mastered, and start all over again with what must feel like a different formula of racing.
Having said this Vettel has been showing signs of improvement recently and indeed out qualified Ricciardo this weekend.
I'm not saying Ricciardo is a bad driver though, love the guy, great personality, and oozes talent. I just think the pair of them will be a lot more evenly matched once Vettel has adjusted to the new regs.
Well that's not really true as 'everyone' didn't think that way. If you weren't so easily swayed by his smiles then it came as no surprise when his arrogance came out. There were a few occasions when his real personality broke through the smiles but people (mostly his fans) didn't really see it.Everyone used to say what a lovely happy smiley guy Vettel was. I hope DR stays as he is, I just can't see it happening
Ricciardo on the other hand, he is different imo because I personally don't see early rumblings from his personality like I did with Vimto.
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Had a good chat with a German at calais earlier today.
In German accent: "so, you enjoy the race? What do you think of rosberg hmm?"
Me: "he's a cheating *******
"
Him: "ja I know, but he is German, I have to support him you know ja?"
Just made me chuckle.
In German accent: "so, you enjoy the race? What do you think of rosberg hmm?"
Me: "he's a cheating *******
" Him: "ja I know, but he is German, I have to support him you know ja?"
Just made me chuckle.
Big surprises that I can remember:
Maldonado - Spain 2012 (although not weather affected)
Vettel - Monza 2008 (Toro Rosso)
Button - Hungary 2006 (Honda)
Herbert - Europe 1999 (Stewart)
Panis - Monaco 1996 (Ligier)
Can't remember much else other than those.
The fact you can pull 5 off the top of your head just goes to show it happens more than rarely
Also good god, I had forgotten Maldonado had a race win. Gods be toying with us.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/28934044
No further action from the FIA.
"A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team itself does not constitute such a 'new element'."
No further action from the FIA.
"A comment alleged to have been made in an internal briefing and later denied by the team itself does not constitute such a 'new element'."
Soldato
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So let me get this straight. Nico turned in on Hamilton when he really should have known it would cause a collision (I haven't seen the on board footage, but this seems to be the consensus here from people who have seen the onboard footage). He admitted to doing this on purpose after the race to Hamilton. The team confirmed that what Hamilton said was true. The team then realised that their precious constructors points could be at risk, so then denied everything. Nico also realised that he could be in serious trouble so has denied everything as well. Now there will be absolutely no penalty for Nico blatantly turning into Hamilton, potentially deciding the championship in Nico's favour.
Unless I'm missing something here, to say I'm disappointed is an understatement.
He didn't 'blatantly turn into Hamilton' he just refused to yield when he realised the gap he was going for didn't exist.
My biggest disappointment is that we were robbed of a proper race between the two of them.