Forgive me if this point has already been mentioned before, but I think we should not forget that Vettel is still relatively young (from memory... what is he... only 24/25 years old?). Therefore IMO Vettel is not yet at his peak & is still climbing.
To me he has demostrated that he is in the same class as Hamilton / Alonso in terms of sheer natural speed or if you like banzai quali laps. For instance the one lap he did to claim pole in China 2009 was most impressive which ever way you look at it, even taking into account with any superior the car may or may not have had on that track. To me sheer natural speed is always going to be the most vital quality I look for in assessing a driver's class. I get the impression that every other aspect of racing can be taught, however sheer natural speed, is very very difficult (if not impossible) to implement into a driver who didn't have it to start off with.
However where Vettel appears to be lacking IMO is in areas outside the car, for instance, like setting up the car. I vaguely recall hearing on the BBC last year (I think it might have been the 2010 end of year review) that around the middle of 2010 Vettel didn't have the Red Bull 100% to his liking & that was part of the reason why Webber was performing better than him at the time & Vettel made the mistakes he did.
I know, for example, Hamilton is almost the same age as Vettel & therefore one could argue that Hamilton has the same diliema i.e lack of setup knowledge & to some extent this might be the case. However I get the impression that Hamilton had a greater amout of set-up experience than compared with Vettel at the same age. Don't forget Hamliton's career had been carefully plotted by Mclaren pre F1. Indeed in mid to late 2006, I believe Hamilton got an enormus amout of testing in the car, & was the best prepared rookie to enter into f1 as a result. Whereas it would appear to me that Red Bull may have rushed Vettel through the Junior formulaes as quickly as possible.
Another area that is currently a question mark for me on Vettel is race craft, & more specifically working the driver in front to create an over taking opportunity. Whenever Alonso or Hamilton is stuck behind a driver, you sense that they will somehow pressure the driver in front to create an overtaking opportunity (which is one of the may reasons that makes them great IMO).
Currently I don't sense that same "killer instinct" from Vettel that he can force the overtaking opportunity (actually completeing the overtake is another matter altogether). For instance....Spa 2010, before the Button / Vettel crash, I believe Vettel had a faster overall car than the wonded Button (who was going to change his front wing after a 1st corner incident). Now Spa is a track where you can apparently overtake, however I never got the impression that Button was under an serious threat from Vettel prior to their crash (i'm sure someone may argue otherwise, but that is just my opinion). I know there was the F-duct factor on the Mclaren, but then as bimmeric pointed out above, the RB should of had better speed out of the fast corners like Stavelot (even allowing for the "dirty air") to allow Vettel to serious challenege into the Bus Stop.
Finally another slight question mark for me is whether Vettel has demostrated the team leadership skills or ability at Red Bull that Alonso or Hamilton appear to have within their teams. Or to put it another way, will he bang the table & demand things at Red Bull when things need changing?
For example, if I was in Vettel position, coming into this season I would have DEMANDED that Adrian Newey & Red Bull RB7 car was as competive in the race as it appeared in qualifying. I would have argued that if in 2010 the RB6 car had a good 0.5 secs advantage over the F10 or the MP4-25 in Qualifying. Then we can afford to give up at least 0.2 secs of this edge, to ensure the car is as sorted in the race as it is in quali, thus maintaining a consistent gap to its rivals (rather than suffer the RB6 relative drop off between qualifying & race pace that we saw in 2010). I think this would be important for a number of reasons not least, to assess strategy calls & tatics as well monitor how temp / conditions or tire wear would affect the car's balance.
I'm not sure whether Vettel has actually done this coming into 2011, but the proof will be in whether the real RB7 is as competitive in the race, when compared with its rivals. I think it is still too early to tell. But I remember when Alonso first moved to Mclaren in 2007, he demanded a "racable & reilable car" not a "rocket ship that blew up after 5 laps"...famously stating that he had brought 0.6 secs with him. That demand seemed to served him well throughout the year (even if his other demands were not quite as successful). But I think that is just one example of what a truely great WDC needs to do behind the scenes.
To sum up I do believe that Vettel has the ability to overcome the concerns I have expressed above, & i'm sure that with greater experience & maturitity he will develop into a more "complete" driver who will be able to considered in the same class as Alonso or Hamilton. This year will surely tell.
Edited by Ibsey, 02 April 2011 - 17:11.
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Hello Dr Marko.
