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Sebastian Vettel: Great But Not ‘A Great’
With such technological superiority and a long-checked out team mate he’s simply cruising to wins and titles and boring everyone to tears...
This weekend Sebastian Vettel wrapped up his fourth world title in India, putting the final tedious nail in the soporific coffin that was the almost entirely dreary two-thousand-and-boring Formula Boring World Boring Championship.
It hasn’t exactly been a vintage season at the head of the field, with a second half of the season worryingly reminiscent of the Schumacher/Ferrari era and a sense of crushing inevitability before the cars have even turned a wheel on Friday. Vettel on pole, Vettel with a 2.5 second margin before the end of lap one, Vettel cruises to victory in by far and away the best car on the grid, Vettel celebrates far too enthusiastically, waves finger, gets booed on the podium. Snore.
There’s no doubt that, all cars being more or less equal, Vettel would be there with Alonso, Hamilton and Kimi fighting for race wins and championships, but with such technological superiority and a long-checked out team mate he’s simply cruising to wins and titles and boring everyone to tears in a car that no one can touch.
But I digress…
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Now that he’s won four world championships, Christian Horner is doing his annual insistence that Vettel is now One Of The Greats (trademark FOM 2013). While there is no denying that his record puts him in the company of men who fit that description, does he actually belong in the entirely subjective category of ‘great’ that sits outside the simple classification of driver by results? No.
The championships won by those in the ‘three and more’ league that marks out the truly special F1 champions of Schumacher (seven), Fangio (five), Prost (four), Senna, Brabham, Lauda, Piquet and Stewart (all on three) differ from those won by Sebastian in a couple of key ways.
1. Every one of them has had gaps between championships, and all (apart from Senna);
2. Have won titles with more than one team.
Ayrton would have done, had he not been killed in 1994, of that there is no doubt.
Why is that important though? It’s important because it puts luck and good timing beyond the championship. It marks out the drivers that haven’t simply found themselves in the best car during a team’s purple patch and made it work.
Vettel’s four titles have all been won in a car designed by one brilliant man over four years of remarkably stable technical regulations. Every title is a deserved title – you don’t win a championship on luck alone, but if Sebastian Vettel really wants to be considered a great of the sport, he’s got to lose for a while.
He has to have the balls to step out of his cosy little Red Bull world and take his chance elsewhere. Like Schumacher, like Senna, like Hamilton even. He’s going to have to fight for it, like Alonso or Lauda. Vettel has never had to scrap. He walked out of Toro Rosso in 2008, into a title challenger, has been in one ever since and only missed out on one championship out of five.
Until he fights, until he shows he can do what Alonso can do and drag a car into places it has no right to be, until he takes a chance he’ll be a four, five, six or seven time champion; but not a great.
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COMMENTS
Sorry, but who even are you? You are clearly very mis-lead and know absolutely nothing about motorsport. Vettel's achievements have been something that only previous greats can match. It takes both man and machine to achieve what he has achieved and if you actually knew anything about the underpinnings of how a F1 car works and is designed with driver in mind, you would know that the amount of resources available in a Formula 1 car is vast, but only a select amount of drivers actually capitalise on this.
Sorry, but who are you? You are clearly very mis-lead and know absolutely nothing about motorsport. It takes both man and machine to achieve what he has achieved and if you actually knew anything about the underpinnings of how a F1 car works and is designed with driver in mind, you would know that the amount of resources available in a Formula 1 car is vast, but only a select amount of drivers actually capitalise on this. Yes Adrian Newey's a great designer, but Vettel's ability to use every tool given to him to his advantage and his unique relationship with the team and engineer's is what separates him from the competition. To say that his success is purely down to the car, is inaccurate, unfair and ridiculous. Mark Webber has exactly the same car and where are his 4 world championships? Some of previous greats including Niki Lauda and Jackie Stewart, even the current top drivers such as Hamilton, have said exactly this and of course recognise his undeniable talent. But, they would, they’ve been there, they know what they’re talking about! They’re not some poxy little editor spreading inaccurate information, pretending to know what they’re talking about. Seriously, go and spread your trollish views elsewhere about something you actually know something about. It’s people like you spreading this garbage that are giving this incredible sport a bad name. Vettel's achievements so far have been something that only previous greats can match and whether or not he goes on to secure more championships isn’t that important as what he has achieved with the team so far is recognised as an incredible by those who get it.
I know plenty about motorsport, thanks. There's no doubt in my mind that he's a fantastic driver and, most importantly, he's done what Loeb managed and has worked out how to get the maximum from the way the current cars are working. Cars are not designed for drivers (that's a myth), it's up to drivers to get the most out of the design philosophy, which is what he's doing. That being said, the Red Bull is miles ahead of the other cars and, while I'm not saying that he wouldn't be able to (which I actually say in the article) he won't be 'A Great' until he proves he can do the business in a car that's not so far ahead of the rest.
You still haven't answered my question... Who are you and what makes you so well placed to dictate inaccurate information to others on the topic? Alos, still doesn't answer the question about Webber? If Red Bull are so far ahead, how come he hasn't got 4 championships under his belt? I expect you'll come back with the standard "the team are against him and always favour Vettel" response. However, if it is, like you say, that he is able to extract the maximum from the team/car, then that's completely contradictory to your original article saying it's all down to the car! Also, what about Schumacher and his 4 consecutive championship years at Ferrari driving the same car? You class him as a 'truly special F1 champion', yet apparently Vettel doing the same thing doesn't count. None of your 'arguments' stack up. You're clearly just bitter for whatever reason and felt like attempting to score hits by writing an inaccurate and controversial piece. Bit strange that proper publications such as the BBC are reporting similar stores. Snore.
You seem to have completely missed the point of my article, which is pretty standard for people who start their comments with accusations about the authority of the writer, before going off on wild tangents, but anyway... What about Webber? Anyone who reckons the team are against Webber is a moron, he's just a desperately mediocre driver. He's beaten Anthony Davidson, Antonio Pizzonia and Christian Klien as team mates and was thumped by Nick Heidfeld. Webber only made up the points deficit during the last few races of the 2005 season, which Heidfeld didn't contest! He beat Rosberg in Nico's first season and DC in his last. Hardly glittering. Secondly, at no point does my article suggest that he's only winning because of the car, just that he's able to crusie to wins because of the car. On to Schumacher then. Yes, he won five (not four) titles in a row, but he'd won two at a different team five years before that. The WHOLE POINT of the article (which you clearly missed) is that everyone else in that top category of championship winners apart from Senna has won at more than one team, and has had gaps between championships, and that's what marks out 'A Great' - the ability to make it through the tough times, not simply the number of championships. As for who I am? I'm a writer that knows a lot about motorsport.
I agree with the arguments of this article. @James - You have used a lot of words to say nothing, why not switch it up a bit, try it again only this time say nothing but don't use any words at all.
Bang on the money. Vettel is a great driver, but needs to challenge himself to be one of THE great drivers. @James. If you are that concerned about someones credentials when reading their articles, why not have a little look around. The internet is a wonderful place for research. First, click on the 'read more from me' here on sabotage times to see the 18 motorsport and 6 other motoring articles he has had published here. Now try searching 'Pete Wadsworth' on google. This should direct you to LinkedIn, where you can see that Mr. Wadsworth is a 'Speed and Performance contributor at Siemens/My Life Style', and a 'Motoring/motor sport contributor at Sabotage Times'. His previous experience also appears as follows: News Editor at Drivers Republic Automotive Editor at Crash.net Managing Editor at Crash.net Editor at JATO Dynamics - Automotive Editor at TRMG - Motor Sport Now I'm not sure why you have bothered calling into question the suitability of the author to write such an article, but I wonder how much more experience you would like before someone is deemed worthy of being published on this website.
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