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Sebastian Vettel - A Flawed Genius?
Sebastian Vettel.
We all know who this kid is by now, mainly for his insanely quick natural pace and his ability to hustle a car around the track in such a beautifully graceful style. However, we also know young Sebastian for another reason.
Mistakes.
Now, it is not that often that a driver is known in equal measure for extreme talent and crashing, but this is sadly the case with Vettel. Over one lap, particularly in qualifying, few can get close to him, with perhaps only Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton able to produce such one-lap wonders. He is able to sit in the pits for quite some time in qualifying, then enter the track for one qualifying lap and get it spot on.
It is a rare talent that is so in-tune with the car and his surroundings that he can do that, but this is the case with Vettel.
Then comes the race. Vettel has a total of seven Formula One wins to his name, but incredibly, none of them has come as the result of overtaking anyone. Vettel can win, and win in style and crush the opposition, but mainly if he leads from the off. Only two of those wins have come from a position other than pole.
Perhaps that is a testament to his qualifying dominance, or maybe that he can't fight for a win. He won the 2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix after starting second on the grid to Lewis Hamilton, who beat him by 0.7 of a second in a terrifyingly dominant performance. However, Vettel only came out the victor in the race as Hamilton retired with a rear-right brake failure.
Vettel also won the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix after starting third on the grid, passing team-mate Webber at turn one, but Webber said later on that he only passed him as he couldn't see him, due to the outboard mirrors currently in use at that time.
I'll be honest here, Vettel is a genius when it comes to race pace, he is incredibly consistent, very very fast and keeps a cool head, when he isn't under pressure.
That is where the flaw lies, when Vettel is under pressure. When Vettel was under intense pressure from Robert Kubica at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix in a fight for second, it ended in tears as Vettel defended too vigorously, taking himself and Kubica out of the race.
Vettel was leading, ironically, on lap one of the 2009 Turkish Grand Peix when he ran wide at turn ten and let Jenson Button through to take the lead, one very small, simple mistake which cost him dearly as he eventually fell back to third place. He crashed out of the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix when trying to fight through the field.
Vettel was under pressure fighting Lewis Hamilton for the lead of the 2009 Singapore Grand Prix, and again he cracked as sped in the pits, sending him from a certain second to fourth place.
We all know about Vettel's action at this year's Turkish Grand Prix, swerving across the track towards his team-mate Webber in what looked like an effort to make the Aussie lift and allow Vettel into the lead.
Then, at the British Grand Prix, we saw the start of a downfall in Vettel's normally perfect start procedure. He made a sluggish start to the race at Silverstone, and moved across the track to try and force Webber to lift but failed, watching Webber take the lead, with Vettel then lifting slightly. That slight lift put him into the path of Lewis Hamilton, the two barely touched but it was enough for a puncture.
Then, at the German Grand Prix, Vettel made another poor start, moving across the track to block the advances of Alonso but again, he failed, and when moving to block Alonso, he forgot about the charging Felipe Massa, and Vettel's move across the track allowed Massa into first with Alonso second and Vettel now in third.
Then, at the Hungarian Grand Prix, we saw one of Vettel's biggest errors when he dropped back an incredibly long way behind the leader Webber at the restart after the safety car period. Vettel had messed up big time, but he seemed confused as to why he then got a penalty for his offence, even gesturing with his hands as he served his drive-through penalty. After the race, Vettel admitted he had messed up but again, his petulance came to light.
Of course, at the Belgian Grand Prix, we saw one of his biggest errors yet. On lap 16, Vettel closed right up on second place Jenson Button who was struggling with a damaged front wing. As they approached the Bus-Stop chicane, Button held the inside line very tightly, leaving no room at all but giving Vettel a chance on the outside. However, Vettel stayed in Button's tow for too long, so when he swerved out from behind, the car was incredibly unstable under braking. Vettel's car spun and slammed violently into the side of Button's McLaren, sending Button out of the race but Vettel was able to carry on after pitting for a new front wing.
Vettel later received a drive-through penalty and a lot of criticism from other drivers and the media. Some questioned whether his race craft was even up to the standards required in Formula One.
In this article, I have noted Vettel's incredible talent over one lap, and when he is leading, under no pressure, he can be the best in Formula One, that is without doubt.
However, the problem lies with when he does comes under pressure. As noted above, he has made a lot of mistakes during his short career. He is not the first driver to make mistakes, everyone does. Lewis Hamilton made a lot of mistakes on his way to becoming 2008 world champion, but that was followed by a terrible 2009 which saw him under pressure at the back of the pack for the large part, and saw him mature greatly.
Vettel's mistakes contributed to him failing to win the 2009 world title, and will probably be one reason behind his failure to win the title this season, should that be the case.
Vettel can overtake, that we know, anyone who watched him fight back through the field in the 2010 British Grand Prix can testify to that, but there, he did have a huge pace advantage.
Vettel is young, he has a very long time left in Formula One, and there is time for him to mature into a great racer, but time is fast running out to convince people that he can race under pressure like past greats.
There is no doubt in my mind that Vettel will win a world championship, perhaps many of them, but until he sorts out his inability to perform consistently under immense pressure, he will continue to throw away title, rather than win them.
Is Vettel a flawed genius? The answer, so I believe, is profoundly yes.
Do you agree?
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Genius? absolutely not!
Definition of genius is not what vettel is.
vettel is good, as you mentioned he is good when leading, but that's it, nothing more, and that most of the drivers on the grid can do it.
He looks good because he has a good car under him. He is abusing the good nature of the team trying to play kool and smart, but he doesn't have the right "mentor" around him to guide him and to be able to change to a "genius" as many are labeling him.
Others are saying that he's still young, well, Lewis was young when he started in F1, made mistakes his first year, and learned from it.
vettel has been in F1 longer than Lewis, do you think vettel will learn from now on? hard to say, i hope so, but i have my doubts.
Good article, thank you, remembering all his battles! :)