Is Sebastian Vettel Crumbling Under the Pressure of Being a Ferrari Driver?

[Mulan]

He is just finally able to compete for the championship. Ferrari-fans are finally getting a driver that can do it, and he is absolutely great and has guts and at the level he is its not easy not to make any mistake. Just think how
Ham vs Ros was last year...not that pretty but its adrenallin and racing and bad things happens or you get lucky. I love it when its so close that drivers know margin for safe driving is not there and to pass you need to take a risk with todays cars that make passing really hard. The article could have creddibility if there were real interviews with him and people close to him...

 

[Smokey Nismo]

Why on Earth did I just read this drivel?

 

[polysmut]

I wouldn't worry about clickbait too much from a site that I already choose to access and contribute to on a regular basis.

 

[C-ZETA]

What are the odds that in about three races everything will be all sunshine and rainbows again for Vettel? If that happens, I'm linking back to this article alright.

 

[TheElbows]

I didn't bother reading the article (no offense, but 90% of forums/websites articles are garbage...just filling dead space, and, as mentioned click-bait).

I think it's pretty simple. Seb is probably one of the top three genuine talents in F1 right now (I'd say Hamilton/Alonso/Seb are probably a cut above everyone else in the field - young drivers being unknown as of yet - so there's room for Max/Ocon, etc. in the future I'm sure). I do think the Ferrari is about 95% of the car the Mercedes is.

I think Seb is the one with the slight uphill battle for the season, and I think he's far more prone to random bits of outrage. He does cock-up on occasion, big deal. I'm just happy to see a genuine championship fight between two opposing teams for the first time in...years, maybe a decade or more.

 

[twitcher]

After have driving dangerously in a battle with Daniel Ricciardo, Vettel went on a foul-mouthed tirade about how the stewards were being unfair to him. He even called out FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, calling him an expletive we’re not allowed to publish *. Sebastian was very lucky to escape with just two penalty points.

This is factually inaccurate.

Vettel told Charlie to 🤬 off, he didn't actually call Charlie any names. Semantics, but there's a difference. If you're going to be a "journalist," being accurate with facts should be paramount. Was this even proof read by an editor before publishing?


Comparing Vettel at Baku vs Schumi at Adelaide or Jerez is a stretch at best, more like a massive reach. Makes a good story though.

Overall, the article reads like it was written by Vettel's 3rd grade teacher, giving him a less than favourable report card.

Is this what journalism in the 21st century has come to? Random "articles" by random "journalists" that are no more than ransoms on the internet who string a few paragraphs together. Strange times we live in.

*censorship is a real 🤬, eh?

 

[DriveSpark]

Didn't read the article either.

I don't think he's "crumbling" as a Ferrari driver.

The move isn't anything new, we see plenty of chops off the line. This attempt was pretty aggressive.

I believe that the move was pre-planned, the problem is Seb didn't get a great start (bogged off the line). He was not far enough in front of Max but continued with the move anyway, presumably hoping to squeeze Max against the wall. Unfortunately, there was no room because Kimi was between the wall and Max.

Its fine to make aggressive and risky moves, especially off the start. However, you need to be 100% sure they are going to come off. Vettel had a plan that went awry but he carried on anyway and we all saw the result. I think this is partly due to poor judgement (which we've previously seen) and that Vettel has a problem with Max - they've had a few clashes and words before and I reckon Seb holds some sort of grudge.

Regardless, I don't agree with the opinion that the drivers championship is done - One DNF for Hamilton and its all back to level pegging. That could be a car failure, a mistake by him or another driver. Even a back row start due to an issue in qualifying could give enough of a swing back to Vettel. Its a long way from being over.

As far as the constructors championship goes I don't think you have to look much further than Ferrari's choice to continue to run Kimi who has only beaten Bottas 3 times in 14 races and has failed to win any races.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Kimi who has only beaten Bottas 3 times in 14 races...

Meaningful stat for Ferrari's #2 driver.

...and has failed to win any races.

Meaningless stat for Ferrari's #2 driver.

 

[karelpipa]

he simply doesnt have a car in its own class anymore. Mercedes has it.

 

[DriveSpark]

Meaningful stat for Ferrari's #2 driver.



Meaningless stat for Ferrari's #2 driver.

Meaningless if you don't care about winning the WCC yes. Other than that finishing ahead of your rivals cars tends to be rather meaningful..

 

[TenEightyOne]

Meaningless if you don't care about winning the WCC yes. Other than that finishing ahead of your rivals cars tends to be rather meaningful..

Nope, he's the Ferrari #2 driver. It's how the team operates - that's why it's meaningless judging a Ferrari #2 driver's performance on race wins if the #1 car finishes the race.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

he simply doesnt have a car in its own class anymore. Mercedes has it.

Wait so your claim is that Vettel has a sub-par car, despite out qualifying the mercedes, and running faster times all weekend up until the point he decided to play aggressive? Also in Spa when he was just out drove with cars that were arguably equal...interesting

 

[GT5fanforlife]

Sebastian Vettal needs to cool off before he will kill someone with his attitude.

 

[BrainsBush]

This is not true:



Seb might have seen Max but he didn't see Kimi. The mirrors are not 50cm wide. If he wanted to cause chaos, he would have gone straight into Lewis in the first corner. It was a race incident. One that may have cost him the championship.

Apart from this, I think the article is interesting.

Approved for the next GP.

 

[desmodan]

I wonder if Halfords do a carbon fibre towing mirror ?

 

[Saidur_Ali]

I don't think he is crumbling under the pressure of being a Ferrari driver. He's just a bit of a cucumber who has a new love for the game ping pong.

I do hope Charles is the real deal and partners Sebastian in 2019 or Kimi becomes more consistently fast or Ferrari nab one of the Red Bull drivers, then he might start feeling the pressure more there. He seems in his comfort zone with Kimi so far, would have been amazing if Ferrari got Fernando for 2018 season.

 

[TenEightyOne]

Approved for the next GP.

View attachment 674584

Seen parked outside the designer's office at Maranello...

 

[Dotini]

I don't think Vettel is exactly "crumbling" , although he does seem to be driving with a certain degree of desperation and concern regarding overcoming the Mercedes operation, which is clearly overall superior to the Italian way of doing things.

The incident at the start could have been avoided if Raikkonen hadn't made such a good start and given Verstappen no place to go, as Vettel with a poorish start, was obliged to block left.

The accident could still have been avoided if the teams had spotters like NASCAR does. But that seems to low tech for F1.

 

[TenEightyOne]

But that seems to low tech for F1.

It's also against the rules. The interpretation of "drive alone and unaided" was (as you probably remember) tightened and then relaxed again... but advice on where to place the car turn-by-turn is most definitely still verboten.

 

[H20HYBRID_GT]

I don't think Vettel is exactly "crumbling" , although he does seem to be driving with a certain degree of desperation and concern regarding overcoming the Mercedes operation, which is clearly overall superior to the Italian way of doing things.

The incident at the start could have been avoided if Raikkonen hadn't made such a good start and given Verstappen no place to go, as Vettel with a poorish start, was obliged to block left.

The accident could still have been avoided if the teams had spotters like NASCAR does. But that seems to low tech for F1.

I'm not too familiar with the concept, but I don't think spotters would have avoided this accident - it all happened just really really fast, in Nascar / Cart you can see things that are likely to happen much earlier, plus it's impossible to overview a F1 circuit completely - at least without technical help.. but anyways, it's hard to imagine a spotter would have helped avoiding this particular crash.