Vettel - 4 times WDC in 2013?

dannyjo22 said:
Yeah if you look at the halfway prediction threads no one except me said Vettel would take the title this year. Common opinion was the title was Alonso's.
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Very good point, after 10 races the standings looked like this:

1 Fernando Alonso....154
2 Mark Webber........120
3 Sebastian Vettel...110
4 Kimi Räikkönen......98
5 Lewis Hamilton......92

It was the Singapore to India run that changed the game. Even a small change would have altered things, for example had Alonso not been caught up in the chaos at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix it might have been enough for him to hang on and win today.
 
It's a long way off, but it will be interesting to see how it pans out. Ferrari have gone an awful long time without a constructors title and I imagine Mr. Domenicali will be feeling pressure from di Montezemolo should the Scuderia not be galloping from Melbourne.

I get the feeling that Ferrari are hurting the most from having such a long dry streak - the last time they had a WDC was '07 and the last time they had a WCC was in '08. For a team of their prestige to have come so close in '08, '10 and '12 but come up short has got to smart.

I'd like to think that they'll see off the V8s with that elusive Constructor's title. A fitting farewell for the most successful constructor in history.
 
I wouldn't want to be a McLaren boy for my whole career, also McLaren have severely let him down this year one way or another.

Also take a look at Valentino Rossi, moving from the very fast Honda in which he won a title, to moving to Yamaha, which at that time wasn't amazing, helped to make it one of the best bikes in the paddock. He then moved to Ducati which is a dog of a bike, he didn't do too well and now two years later he's going back to Yamaha.

Hamilton will probably have a crappy first year, possibly a much more successful second year though, and if after 3 years he's not happy there's nothing to stop him moving back to McLaren, or even trying out RBR or Ferrari. People questioned Schumacher when he left Benneton. If I was a driver I wouldn't want to spend my entire F1 career at the same team.
 
Hamilton isn't goi to do it, however much I'd love him to, I do have hope for 2014 though, with the rumours of merc investing huge amounts.

I doubt Ferrari will build Alonso a good car

Webber won't be able to compete.

Button isn't as good a driver as Vettel, and even with a great car I'm not sure he could beat him.

Newey will win it.

kd
 
Vettel is definitely favourite to win next year.
But it isn't a done deal.
Anything can happen.

Vettel's name is now alongside 8 other names.

3 times WDC
Seb Vettel
Jack Brabham
Jackie Stewart
Niki Lauda
Nelson Piquet
Ayrton Senna

4 times WDC
Alain Prost

5 times WDC
Juan Manuel Fangio

7 times WDC
Michael Schumacher

Only 3 people in the history of F1 have won more titles than him.
Note: He is ahead of MSc, in terms of the titles, by the age of 25.

I think Vettel will be a 4 time WDC in 12 months.
If Vettel wins his 4th title next year, only 1 other driver will have won more WDCs than him.

Next year will be crucial for him, if he wants to become the most decorated F1 driver of all time. I say this, because he is currently in a team which has by far, the best design & engineering departments in F1. I do not expect this to continue indefinitely, so he must make hay while the sun shines.

What of the competition, in 2013?
After losing Hamilton, I can't see how McLaren can win the title, unless they produce a car which is at least 0.5s/lap faster than the next best car. Button is getting old and I believe 2011 was his best year. Don't count him out though. If McLaren do produce a super fast car and we have a few wet races, Button can win the title...especially now that he doesn't have a team-mate taking points away from him.

Ferrari: they try. They really do try. But RBR are the best. Plain and simple. Over the last 4 years, Ferrari have consistently produced a car which is slower than RBR in virtually every race. Based on this, it is unlikely that they will produce a car better than RBR in 2013. It's possible, but unlikely. They will produce a slower car, but rely on Alonso to "make up the difference".

Lotus: Kimi is clearly in great form and IS a brilliant driver. He finished 3rd in the WDC ahead of the super quick McLarens. Only Alonso and Vettel finished ahead of him and these 2 drivers are already ranked as one of the greats. Kimi's problem is similar to Alonso's: he is fighting against the might of RBR's design and engineering departments, which are 2nd to none.

Merc: Hamilton will provide a shot in the arm. However, it is unlikely that they will be title contenders next year. Expect some brilliant qualifying performances next year from Hamilton. But expect him to go backwards during the race.

The rest: barring divine intervention, I can't see how any of the other teams would be able to produce a car which wins the WDC.

Of course....this is F1, so anything is possible.
 
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Mr Men said:
Senna, Stewart, Piquet, Brabham, Piquet

Vettel does not sit alongside them IMO.
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Nope, you are right. He sits alongside the current drivers in the current cars so no way to compare really. Its like remembering the summers being longer as a kid.
 
Mr Men said:
Senna, Stewart, Piquet, Brabham, Piquet

Vettel does not sit alongside them IMO.
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The last three letters are key there. ;)

I don't like Vettel much, but it's hard to deny he's very talented and almost more importantly you can tell just how enamoured he is with the sport. Schumacher didn't, IMO, sit alongside the greats in 1994. He's only 25, I've no doubt that in the coming years all this already very boring bleating about him not being great will be silenced.
 
Theophany said:
The last three letters are key there. ;)

I don't like Vettel much, but it's hard to deny he's very talented and almost more importantly you can tell just how enamoured he is with the sport. Schumacher didn't, IMO, sit alongside the greats in 1994. He's only 25, I've no doubt that in the coming years all this already very boring bleating about him not being great will be silenced.
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Well obviously it was my opinion, you are welcome to yours off course :)

He is talented, but not more talented than Alonso or Lewis so even in his generation he is winning titles without being the best driver.
 
Mr Men said:
He is talented, but not more talented than Alonso or Lewis so even in his generation he is winning titles without being the best driver.
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What's your point? Alonso had the best car in 2005 and 2006 and was able to beat Schumacher, the greatest of all time, to the Championship twice. What was Schumacher driving in 2005? A bag of spanners that didn't even finish a third of the races and he still managed to finish third overall.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
What's your point? Alonso had the best car in 2005 and 2006 and was able to beat Schumacher, the greatest of all time, to the Championship twice. What was Schumacher driving in 2005? A bag of spanners that didn't even finish a third of the races and he still managed to finish third overall.
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Not sure what your point is either?

You could say MS won his titles in 2001, 2002 and 2004 while the others drove a bag of spanners.

I don't recall the 2005 Ferrari being unreliable though, just they were saddled with terrible Bridgestone tyres. And most of the retirements for MS were due to collisions IIRC.
 
Pigeon_Killer said:
What's your point? Alonso had the best car in 2005 and 2006 and was able to beat Schumacher, the greatest of all time, to the Championship twice. What was Schumacher driving in 2005? A bag of spanners that didn't even finish a third of the races and he still managed to finish third overall.
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MS only finished 3rd because of the USA farce, without those 10 points he might not have made 6th. Best car is open to a massive amount of interpretation obviously. In 2005 Kimi had the fastest car but as Mclaren did this year they threw it away with reliability issues etc.

As people can see from the first half of the season, when the car isn't head and shoulders above particulaly Alonso he was no where in comparison. The points show that and the fact that just about all this forum had written him off. Red Bull sorted their issues and he's world champion. Yet Alonso still took him to the wire again in an inferior car and one that managed a grid position of 3rd at best in the dry.

It speaks volumes of both drivers to me. He's a tidy driver lucky enough to have the best car for 3 or more years on the trot. Good luck to him, Newey wins again :D
 
Vettel has to have the luck of the gods with him for no other reason than yesterday's 1st lap incidents which more than likely would have retired nearly every other car on the grid.

Unlikely anyone will be able to stop him next season, but Im hoping McLaren make a much more reliable car (without tyre issues at the start of the season would also help) without losing too much outright speed.
 
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