Is Dan As Quick As Vettel?

[Emmcee 0]

I would like people's opinions if I may on Ricciardo. Do you think he has the genuine pace to fight Vettel? Or think Vettel is still faster? IMO I think once he fully adapts to the car and learns more, he will be faster than Vettel. I think he has already shown how fast he can actually be and it's nice as an Australian to have a consistant fast driver. Don't get me wrong I think mark did a phenomenal job but in all honestly, ricciardo is much faster than webber, the age and hunger also contributes to that I'd say so it's kinda hard to Judge. But ATM he is well and truly got seb by surprise and have shocked him abit. Shall be fascinating to see this battle continue.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

I think in the 2013 RBR no-one can match Seb. But in the 2014 car it would appear that yes, Dan is generally the faster of the 2!

He's already shown he can take the fight to Vettel, we're 6 races in and he's beating him more often than not

[Emmcee 0]

That is true, I know seb has had alot of failures but when he is running, your right dan seems to often be faster. I have alot of faith in him as I've seen alot of his early races in other classes. One thing iam surprised by, is had has not made one mistake, hasn't even locked a wheel from what I can see, he has driven absolutly perfect. And I think his results are the true indication of Mercedes gap to Redbull. If he kept his points in Australia, he would easily be sitting third in the standings. Hope he can keep it up.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

I think having no pressure helps a lot. If Seb were to switch teams Dan could one day find himself as team leader and then the pressure would increase by 100 times - but for now he's just enjoying it.

I like how competitive he is too, together with all the smiling. After quali he had a big grin in his interview with BBC but was still saying he's really frustrated cos he reckoned he could've got pole and it was eating him up

[Insider 0]

Is DR as quick as SV? No, he's quicker.

[rodders47 2]

gotta agree there Insider

[Emmcee 0]

The next question, is he a future champion?

[maure 1]

Unless the last few years were a sham, Vettel is the bestest driver in the history of F1.

As shown so far, Ricciardo is faster than Vettel.

I can't remember the last time the actual best driver won the championship.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

The trouble is everyone's got their own interpretation of what makes the 'best' driver. Some seem to put it down to speed, some down to quantity of wins and titles, and some to other attributes.

Whether Dan is a future champ depends entirely on the car underneath him. He's shown speed and consistency but we're only 6 races in. And a championship battle brings out new sides to a driver, many crack and right now Dan doesn't have any of that pressure.

The RBR is probably the best car this year (again), but seriously down on power. So you might not have to wait too long to see if Dan is up to it, if Renault sort out the deficit for 2015, which I expect they will, then I think RBR will be back on top next year.

[Guest]

SV is rather like Kimi. When he's in a leading car, he can release his natural speed. When he's distracted by fighting the car, he drops off quite a bit. Dan is more like Alonso - in that the past few years have taught him how to drive past the car's flaws. Coming to RBR is still an upgrade in terms of machinery for him, so his motivation is much higher than Seb's right now.

I think, that all the "fastest" drivers often struggle when the car is not to their liking. Some drivers are great at driving past the limitations of substandard cars, others can only flourish when the limits are lifted.

Dan is great racer , and I expect him to continue his great drive for podiums - but I still think SV is the one who can win races. And at the end of the day - it's the ones who can perform well in clear air that take the title.

[dribbler 6]

I'm not down with this concept of Vettel requiring car perfection and an inability to extract the most from a car that isn't perfect. This suggests that Dan would be slower than him if the car was better. Read that again.

That does not make sense.

What makes more sense is that right now, Dan is quicker than Vettel.

This is because he is.

[Emmcee 0]

I'm not down with this concept of Vettel requiring car perfection and an inability to extract the most from a car that isn't perfect. This suggests that Dan would be slower than him if the car was better. Read that again.

That does not make sense.

What makes more sense is that right now, Dan is quicker than Vettel.

This is because he is.

Agreed, I just think with the status seb now holds as basically the ambassador of the sport, his behaviour is shocking, that's what happens when you get kids into this sport and he is still a kid, back 20 years ago, sebs age now was concidered to young for a rookie I mean look at Damon Hill I Beleive he was 28 or 29 before he joined f1. Seb knows he is getting grilled and Monaco prooved that, when he came into the pits blowing up on the radio and then quickly corrects himself to make sound not as bad. He knows he is coming off looking like a clown.

[dribbler 6]

Agreed, I just think with the status seb now holds as basically the ambassador of the sport, his behaviour is shocking, that's what happens when you get kids into this sport and he is still a kid, back 20 years ago, sebs age now was concidered to young for a rookie I mean look at Damon Hill I Beleive he was 28 or 29 before he joined f1. Seb knows he is getting grilled and Monaco prooved that, when he came into the pits blowing up on the radio and then quickly corrects himself to make sound not as bad. He knows he is coming off looking like a clown.

Hang on. I think I'm leaving this forum again.

[Emmcee 0]

Hang on. I think I'm leaving this forum again.

wtf?

[rodders47 2]

well I have to say that if any of us were in Seb's position we would probably let off a bit of steam at anyone that was in listening distance. HE, like all the others in F1, want's to do the best he can and HE knows that he is trying his hardest, it's just the equipment that is letting him down at the moment.

I know how I feel when racing my 1/5th scale R/C car, a lot of preparation/adrenalin etc before the race, you get off to a good start and all going fine and then either someone runs into you or a mech. problem and it's all over. IT IS A BIG LET DOWN no matter what level of sport your in.

[Emmcee 0]

Yeah I understand that, just that I thought he would have got the hang of this by now, even when the car is going, he still struggling to match ricciardo. Hopefully he gets going soon, to add spice to the title race. He may need to change his whole approach to racing.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Hill was 33 when he raced for Williams in '93. Fact for the day.

[Emmcee 0]

Hill was 33 when he raced for Williams in '93. Fact for the day.

Well there you go, haven't times changed, 93 being his second season, so he was 32. That's 13 or so years older than seb on his first full proper season.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

I still think an old fart could get an f1 debut these days. I expect a few teams would've taken Franchitti if he'd decided he wanted to give f1 a go. Ralph Firman was a bit ancient when he entered F1, if I remember rightly (and I very well may not be).

[malmac 0]

Webric,

your issues with Vettel are getting crazier, now he is to young at 26 because Damon Hill did not get a start in F1 until he was 32.

In the modern era, Hill was an exception, not many 30 plus drivers get a first drive in F1.

On the current grid we have 5 world champions and they all had their first F1 race very young

Alonso, 19 years 218 days

Vettel 19 years 349 days

Button 20 years 53 days

Hamilton 22 years 3 months

Kimi 21 years 5 months

Vettel is obviously very talented , he did win a race in a Toro Roso. He may not be a Senna, but he works hard and has talent. It has been shown a number of times that Vettel & Webbers reliability issues were about the same over 4 years. Vettel has had everything go wrong on his car this year. He will come good as champions do. At the moment Dan is doing a very good job, fast and no mistakes except for poor starts.

Do you really think that Vettel complains publicly more than Webber did ? But you say Webber was direct and that Vettel is a winger. BTW I am Australian.

Dr

[Emmcee 0]

Why does everyone always remember me bashing seb? Doesn't anyone bother to read the fact I admit he is one heck of a driver and deserves all his results but one I thing I've learnt is that Vettel fans can't stand to hear one wrong thing about him. No matter what anyone sayes about Vettel and webber having equal cars and such, I don't Beleive it, I know for a fact that no matter what team, it would be quite rare to have two car exactly the same, Sam Michael's brother told me that but that's beside the point, I just can't get over how people dissect my post and only remember the bad things I say, man I can't even use him as an example. That IS sad, Vettel fans need to get of there high horse and smell the roses, yes he is a brat and for the record, he took webber out in turkey. Lol.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Lol seeing as everyone sees you as the resident seb-basher webric you might as well bash the hell out of him! I won't stop you. I don't agree he's a kid though, he's older than half the rest of the grid.

The situation is similar to Kimi. We all know what a talent Kimi is, and he's struggling right now. Is Alonso really that much faster than him? I dont think so. This happens in f1, but I'm sure Seb & Kimi will both get on top of their issues well before season's end. In the meantime I hope we get more 'tough luck' or 'come on guys' bratty moments cos it gives us a pantomime villiain (although lewis has taken that mantle for now)

[malmac 0]

Webric,

Because you post stuff like this about Vettel

Agreed, I just think with the status seb now holds as basically the ambassador of the sport, his behaviour is shocking, that's what happens when you get kids into this sport and he is still a kid, back 20 years ago, sebs age now was concidered to young for a rookie I mean look at Damon Hill I Beleive he was 28 or 29 before he joined f1. Seb knows he is getting grilled and Monaco prooved that, when he came into the pits blowing up on the radio and then quickly corrects himself to make sound not as bad. He knows he is coming off looking like a clown.

BTW, 34 years ago in 1980, 15 of the drivers on the grid had their first f1 start when they were 25 or younger including a 19'year old

[Emmcee 0]

It's sad Jem, I've always thought I played quite fair on seb, yeah I can't stand him, but he is one heck of a racer and that's all it takes for someone to rag on me for hating seb, if that's the case, bring it on. I can't stand the guy, but it should be taken as opinion, not to the point it starts a war. It's crazy, I only posted things, I waited to see others post, but seemed to ignore significant seb stories, yet pounce on a pathetic alonso rant or lewis breakup story, I mean wtf? So i would post that particular seb story and of it goes, claiming the source is unrealible but yet that doesnt seem to faze any alonso rant or hamilton breakup post, see my point? That was my experiment I did with myself to see if my theory of Vettel fans, take things different than say alonso or Raikkonen or Hamilton fans and it seems that way. But hey, each to there own.

[Jem of the Shire 0]

Usually when people are over-defensive/touchy about comments or opinions or accusations, it's because they know that what's being said is actually true.