What Next for Sebastian Vettel?
- Published on Jun 13th, 2010 by Adam MilleneuveIt was another disappointing day for the youngster who, before the season got underway was a clear favourite for the championship in 2010. His 4th place finish in Canada denied him of a podium and left him down in 5th in the table with 90 points against Hamilton's 109.
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After the collision with Webber in Turkey, Vettel has looked massively unhappy. Since his arrival in Formula One he's been the young hotshot, looking incredibly young and always with a smile on his face, playing the perfect marketing tool for Red Bull Racing.
After making a late charge for the title in 2009 with Button faltering, he was in great shape for 2010, especially with his Red Bull being the class of the field from the outset. His team mate Webber has fared better with some superb results and less retirements but ultimately both of them failed to capitalise on their car's super quick advantage over the rest of the field.
Today's Canadian Grand Prix had the McLaren's on song with their "F-Duct" giving them tremendous top speed and Hamilton seems to have come alive in the last few races, out racing Button in the process. Ferrari too seem to be coming on strong as the season develops. Although Massa had a tough day, Fernando Alonso had the pace to win, but ultimately couldn't get passed Lewis and had to give up 2nd to Jenson when the 2009 champ pulled a move on him while the pair overtook back-markers.
Back to Vettel - has he got what it takes to turn his season around and start smiling again? Many have criticised him lately with him seeming to lack the ability to race and take victory in the way that Lewis does, with many of Seb's victories coming from strong races off pole position.
A win in Valencia is required to get Vettel's fight back on track...
Spot on. Vettel needs a win right now.
You have to remember Vettel was miles ahead of Webber at the start of the year and should have won the first two races. He was clear favourite for the title and it's all gone wrong really. Webbers beaten him in the last few races and then the Turkey crash has been really bad for his confidence.
He is showing his immaturity and needs a win to get back on track.
Vettel is still young and still thinks young. He never puts the car or the team first. They tell him to do something; he does the opposite. Every time i make an F1 prediction it involves Vettel blowing up his engine or crashing out. He needs to be pissed off with himself not the car or his team!
He sounded incredibly frustrated on the team radio - one minute they were telling him to conserve the car to the finish, the next they were telling him to overtake! Poor thing.
But as Jenson's "late" career world championship has shown, there's plenty of time for Vettel to get his hands on the trophy!
Seb is a great driver with all the skills necessary to win. He just has to stop a think about things a little more. He wants to win, true, but he's been given a car that may not let him win (better to have a fast unreliable care, then a slow steady one I think DC said).
I wish him well, and clearly, as such a young promising sriver he will hit the top spot soon, I think his team mate is the better driver though.
Rome wasn’t build in a day BUT they WORKED EVERYDAY! We should not forget that the Red Bull Team are still very young and performing this well at this stage we should give them more credit! Seb has proven himself to the world in Q3 that he is among the best in the world and capable to hold that trophy at the end! Upcoming Spain are going to be hard but wait till the two Raging Bull’s get to Silverstone and Germany. I am standing behind Seb and Mark (for that matter) and enjoying every single race with you good or bad
Last season did Hamilton a lot of good, as regards character building and dealing with adversity. Hopefully this season will have the same effect on Vettel. He has the potential to be a truly great driver and he just needs to mature into it.
There has been one race this year where Vettel didn't have any technical issues; he won that race. The championship tables have changed so many times this year and he just needs a win to get his confidence and lead back.
Also, I think people are getting a bit carried away with "Vettel showing his immaturity". A few weeks ago everyone was saying this opposite as he grabbed poles on his only flying laps and drove cars with no brakes to the end of races. Patience!
Patience is all he needs. They have a fast car that maybe is a little fragile but a couple of good weekends & he will be right back in the mix.
Vettel is a good driver, but I wonder if he is enough of a scrapper to battle when in traffic.
I was disappointed in Sebastian not only in Turkey, but also Canada.
After the Turkey incident there was a huge opportunity for him to show maturity and he didn't take it. While he was cagey in his interview, it was a thinly-veiled "i did nothing wrong, that was all Mark's fault" attitude. Maybe when he does grow up, he'll come to regret that, if anyone he should've been pointing the blame at the team. Or even better, been strong enough to admit he made a mistake.
As for Canada, the team had already told him that he had a problem to nurture, then he goes and asks what the fastest lap is. Does he really want to finish races, or does he just want to be the fastest and have short days sitting in a smokey car at the side of the track?
He's not ready to be champion, not on his current mental form.