Belgium Grand Prix 2011, Spa Circuit - Race 12/19

Locky said:
it is all about the car.
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Hamilton threw away points due to a crash yesterday.
Hamilton also threw away points at Canada by getting impatient (before he met his end with Button, he was also involved with 2 other incidents in that race).

Why doesn't Vettel get involved in these types of crashes? Is it the car or the driver? Why does Vettel seldom have a poor qualifying? Why is it that when the RBR car is quick, Vettel maximises the car's pace?

It is true that when Vettel is not leading, he is a shadow of his usual self, but when he is not leading, at least he keeps the car on the road and brings the car home in a decent points finish.

Hamilton gets involved in too many crashes. Yesterday's crash was ridiculous and very amateurish. Most people on this forum were unable to see that Hamilton was partially to blame for the collision. The problem is though, no matter who's fault it is, Hamilton is the guy who loses out. The best thing to do is tread carefully and be aware of everything around (including silly drivers doing silly things). I would would bet my house that if Button was in Hami's place, neither of those incidents (Maldo, Koba) would've ended in contact.

Button's weakness though, is qualifying.

Alonso, for me, still remains the best overall driver in F1, though Vettel isn't far behind. And at the current rate of progression and consistency, it won't be long before Vettel will have to be classified as the best driver in F1.
 
sunama said:
Hamilton threw away points due to a crash yesterday.
Hamilton also threw away points at Canada by getting impatient (before he met his end with Button, he was also involved with 2 other incidents in that race).

Why doesn't Vettel get involved in these types of crashes? Is it the car or the driver? Why does Vettel seldom have a poor qualifying? Why is it that when the RBR car is quick, Vettel maximises the car's pace?

It is true that when Vettel is not leading, he is a shadow of his usual self, but when he is not leading, at least he keeps the car on the road and brings the car home in a decent points finish.

Hamilton gets involved in too many crashes. Yesterday's crash was ridiculous and very amateurish. Most people on this forum were unable to see that Hamilton was partially to blame for the collision. The problem is though, no matter who's fault it is, Hamilton is the guy who loses out. The best thing to do is tread carefully and be aware of everything around (including silly drivers doing silly things). I would would bet my house that if Button was in Hami's place, neither of those incidents (Maldo, Koba) would've ended in contact.

Button's weakness though, is qualifying.

Alonso, for me, still remains the best overall driver in F1, though Vettel isn't far behind. And at the current rate of progression and consistency, it won't be long before Vettel will have to be classified as the best driver in F1.
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Vettel has been at the front in qualifying which means he has less chance of running into people / being run into. He can control the pace, when to pit, etc so is much less likely to have problems than Mclaren.

Alonso for me has been disappointing this year.
 
sunama said:
Alonso, for me, still remains the best overall driver in F1, though Vettel isn't far behind. And at the current rate of progression and consistency, it won't be long before Vettel will have to be classified as the best driver in F1.
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Lol, Alonso has beaten him a few times in inferior equipment. When pressurised he makes mistakes. The ferrari is without doubt the 3rd fastest car and Alonso still almost wins races. If the roles are reversed Vettel wouldn't be an issue.
 
sunama said:
This year....he hasn't really turned it on. A great example is yesterday's race. When he had the fastest car (1st half of the race), he didn't hurt the opposition. When Vettel had the fastest car (2nd half of the race), he hurt the opposition.
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When he was a second a lap faster than Vettel the safety car came out and vettel pitted for new tyres. It wasn't his fault he couldn't make that stage of the race pay for him, it was hamiltons fault :D

It wouldn't have mattered anyway, we can see how hopeless the ferrari is for the lighter sections of the gp, it's not a new thing this season to see Alonsos pace dissapear in the 2nd half of the race.

Alonso can hardly make headway under the safety car.
 
I got back this morning, the drive back was one of the most tiring moments of my life. Never doing that again.

Good race, managed to get a spot up in the trees at Bus Stop (yet forgot my DSLR on the Sunday :mad:).

Just a shame it's looking like it might alternate with the French GP :(
 
sunama said:
Why doesn't Vettel get involved in these types of crashes?
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Because he has a car that sticks him on the front almost every race weekend and means he just needs to maintain his position at the front rather than battle through the field.

A driver battling through the field to try and get race wins is always going to end up in more incidents than the guy qualifying front row and staying out front. We've seen Vettel have similar wobbles when he's not cruising around in the lead, like Spa last year with Button.
 
The fact of the matter is, Vettel doesn't need to push or make passes on track as he's always qualifying on pole.

When/if he drops down the field he usually has enough pace in-hand to wait for an easy passing opportunity (DRS etc) and move up the field. He even said in the drivers press conference that if he was going to pass Button he'd wait until the straight.. This calm attitude is keeping him on the road.

On the flip side, Hamilton HAS to come up from 3/4/5 and is generally pushing the car to the limit in every corner. He knows that following a car for too long will ruin his tyres, so will usually jump in the first chance he gets (to pass). This is his downfall.

I suppose what Locky is saying, is Vettel has the benefit of a better base car, so is less likely to push and make mistakes. The downside of this is, when needed to push he can mis-judge the situation e.g Canada.

I'd still like to see MSC on the podium this year. I think a good qually and he could do it at Monza with the Mercedes' monster straight-line speed :)
 
I think you're on the money there EVH, but a little thing I've noticed is that even though Hamilton is reckoned to be a monster overtaker Button has achieved more this season, in fact more than any other driver. As noted above though, his qualifying hasn't been great so he has needed to overtake to progress. Vettel's overtaking hasn't been as good this year in the main, though admittedly he has been impressive a couple of times when needed!
 
EVH said:
On the flip side, Hamilton HAS to come up from 3/4/5 and is generally pushing the car to the limit in every corner. He knows that following a car for too long will ruin his tyres, so will usually jump in the first chance he gets (to pass). This is his downfall.

I suppose what Locky is saying, is Vettel has the benefit of a better base car, so is less likely to push and make mistakes. The downside of this is, when needed to push he can mis-judge the situation e.g Canada.

I'd still like to see MSC on the podium this year. I think a good qually and he could do it at Monza with the Mercedes' monster straight-line speed :)
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I agree on what you're saying on Hamilton, but that does not take away the fact that he's consistently making poor decisions or losing concentration. He's not understanding when to push or when to overtake. To me he seems like a driver that will not settle for the points that 2nd or 3rd would give him, and would rather win or take no points at all. I know that isn't the case, however that's the impression that his driving style is forming.

I'm warming to MSC this year. I'd like to see him take a podium, but through a decent drive. He's had some bad luck this year. His first lap of Spa was fantastic - years of experience showing up right there - dozens of good decisions based on experience made in the blink of an eye.
 
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