I wish it would be so simple, but I am not sure whether those are the reasons. Having DNF because of engine failure has nothing to do with driving skills. Having racing accident happened even to the best.

Vettel's driving skills were questioned repeatedly, and there is no point to rehash the same topic again, as most of the BB made their mind one way or another. To question however JB's driving skills is not too wise. JB as a driver probably peaked, as I do not expect him to improve much from where he is now, but the issue of low scoring in second half remains to be explained, because he had not lost his driving skills overnight in the middle of the season.

The only way to judge F1 drivers is by what they get paid. The higher they get paid, the more valuable they must be.

Sorry fanboys, its that simple.

The conditions on the grid were dry before the race, the air temperature at 26 °C (79 °F), and the track temperature at 43 °C (109 °F).[34] The formation lap for the race began at 14:00 local time (UTC+2), with the race beginning a couple of minutes later.[34] Alonso retained his pole position lead into the first corner, followed by a fast-starting Hamilton, Webber, Räikkönen and Vettel, who had made a slow start from the "dirty" side of the grid. Hamilton and Räikkönen nearly touched on the run to turn one, which in effect slowed the Finn slightly and allowed to Webber to maintain third.[35] Hamilton ran slightly wide on the exit of the first corner, which allowed Webber to challenge him. The counter-effect caused Räikkönen and Vettel to stack up, with the German's Red Bull making slight contact with the rear of the Ferrari. Vettel lost further places to Rosberg and Kovalainen as a result of the incident.[36] Räikkönen would latterly be investigated after the race for both of his first lap incidents.[35] At the end of the first lap, Sutil came into the pits from 19th place with water pressure problems.[37][38] The problem was terminal and he became the first retirement of the afternoon. Alonso started to pull away from the field, setting his fastest lap of the race – 1:23.529 – on lap four.[39]

This promoted Kovalainen into the lead, followed by Vettel but both drivers pitted at the end of lap 21, to hand the lead back to Hamilton.[42] Vettel's sluggish pit-stop cost him track position, as he filtered out behind Rosberg.[34] Vettel was struggling with his car, and was passed for eighth position by Barrichello on lap 27. He then reported to his race engineer Guillaume Rocquelin that something was broken on his car.[34][44] He pitted at the end of the lap from eleventh position, having lost more places, and his pit crew routinely replaced the nosecone and took a detailed look at the rear suspension.[34][37][42] He rejoined a lap down before retiring on lap 30

Red Bull seemed to be struggling in the hotter conditions as they were outpaced in both sessions by title challengers Brawn. Vettel (5th and 9th) and Webber (8th and 14th) were hopeful things would improve on Saturday.

It was a surprise result on Saturday as Adrian Sutil topped the time sheets, as Vettel's engine blew half way through the session causing it to be red flagged as oil was on the track. The other Force India, Fisichella was 0.621 seconds behind his team-mate in P6. Kazuki Nakajima came in 2nd with Robert Kubica coming in 3rd. Heikki Kovalainen was the only one of the major contenders for pole in the top 5 as he came in 4th ahead of Nico Rosberg.

On lap 15, Hamilton and Vettel came into the pits. Hamilton rejoined in sixth place but Vettel's fuel pump failed to work so had to come in again. Kovalainen came in a lap later while Barrichello was flying out on the track. Button and Räikkönen pitted on lap 18, the Finn coming out in eighth while Button rejoined in 11th. Barrichello came in on lap 19, the Brazilian had made a lot of ground as he rejoined just behind Lewis after being around 10 seconds adrift. But most importantly for Brawn he had jumped the other McLaren of Kovalainen. On lap 24, a lot of smoke was pouring from the rear end of Vettel's car and he retired with a suspected engine failure.

Of course he had also quite some restrictions in the last GPs due to known engine problematic.

All in all he an (avoidable) racing incident in the first race where he was more to blame than Kubica, spun off trying to make up time in the second race three laps before the race was stopped due to the unsafe conditions and crashed in the sixth race IIRC on cold tyres in the outlap. Doesn't sound as bad as many make it. From Silverstone onwards he was close to being flawless.


H2H

P.S: For Malaysia see this he was overtaking quite neatly before the threw the car away.

I guess it's a matter of style. While he had 3 legitimate unforced errors that resulted in a retirement, those three were on the "grand" end of the scale. Binning it in Monaco might have been a simple error but it still looked flashy. As such it will always stand out post season, regardless of anything else.

Vettel retired, what, like 5 times this season. How many of those were actual engine failures?

Driving skills are not constant. No one is a God on track and, while it may be truism, specific tracks, setup and other changes to the car all play a part. If the car changed, so did Button's performance, I don't see how anything else need to be explained.

Button beat Vettel fair and square. Over the course of the season that Red Bull was as good as the Brawn. Take out Vettels mistakes and he would have been champion, even with his DNF's. Shows how good the Red Bull was.

All in all he an (avoidable) racing incident in the first race where he was more to blame than Kubica, spun off trying to make up time in the second race three laps before the race was stopped due to the unsafe conditions and crashed in the sixth race IIRC on cold tyres in the outlap. Doesn't sound as bad as many make it. From Silverstone onwards he was close to being flawless.


H2H

P.S: For Malaysia see this he was overtaking quite neatly before the threw the car away.

Yes, Seb in his naivitee he has appologized to the team that he let himself involved, but that's not the same as accepting responsibility.

I felt a bit sorry for him with the way that was taken and run with. Am I right in remembering, though, that he also apologised to Thiessen/BMW?

I though all along that discussion was about the paddock poll, and why it came up as it did, rather than argument who is better between those two drivers. But then, English is not my first or second language, so what do I know?