7/27/2019 Vettel: A new Racing Legend

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World Champion or Legend

Sebastian Vettel (Germany) has bagged his Fourth (4th) World Formula-One Driver’s Cham-pionship. He joins the exclusive club of Juan Michael Fangio (Brazil), Alain Prost (France) andMichael Schumacher (Germany) who have achieved this feat earlier. The new German ace stillhas age on his favor.

Controversies

Controversies and “Boos” have not been spared for Vettel as his Red-Bull-Racing (Renault)team is rumored to be running Traction control by harvesting energy into the KERS systemin the corners. Yet, all this engineering feat is within the rules that Christian Horner, asTeam Principal with the aid of their flagship Engineer Adrian Newey put together as a winningcombination.

These are no different than similar allegations against Michael Schumacher’s Benetton (Re-

nault) wins in 1994 and 1995. Drivers including Senna and Prost alleged that Benetton wasrunning electronic traction control that had been outlawed in 1994. Everyone later knew thatBenetton did use a different gearbox that gave an advantage to its drivers, but was within therules.

Michael Schumacher drove for Ferrari for five (5) more world championships. A middle-order team that had even forgotten tyres and wheelnuts and had massive braking problems wasbrought to the fore by a specialist team of Ross Brawn, Jean Todt and Michael Schumacher.

Hard earned wins

People overlook the fact that the same team won at Monza, Italy which is comprised chieflyof straights and cornering advantages are minimal. He did a tactical drive at Suzuka, Japanwhere his KERS wasn’t charging as well needing some replacements and tyre wear was heavy.His team-mate Mark Webber was on pole position and both Redbull cars made extremely poorstarts off the racing grid, despite which Vettel managed to bag the victory.

Everyone has also forgotten that Vettel’s very first Formula-1 victory in 2008 was on a Toro-Rosso (Ferrari) - formerly Minardi [the underdog], at Monza in a wet track under extremelydifficult conditions. The amount of pressure he is under, at present, to deliver the best is alsooverlooked.

The Penalty of Victory

At the Indian Grand Prix, Vettel had to pay a fine of EUR 20,000 for his Donut circus. Yet,that is merely a financial penalty that his team may even compensate him for - thanks to hisconsistency and resolve.

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I would believe that people support a winner to a certain extent. Yet, when he extends hisconsistency in winning or develops unique style that is almost unbeatable - they begin to dislikethe same person they cheered some time back.

This has happened with several Formula-1 racers who have been running way ahead of the

field. Ferrari has always been infamous for their team orders which prefer one driver over theother making the racing unnatural. It has been no doubt that Mark Webber did support histeam-mate in the 2013 championship, although it isn’t very open for most of us to see. He didward off a charging Alonso to let Vettel build an impossibly huge advantage despite his tyres.

Pirelli and their Role

The new rules for 2014 bring in fuel saving, energy recovery and more challenges to theengineering team. Yet, Pirelli has not been seen at the top of their game in providing tyres thatcan last longer at a consistent pace. This is also intertwined with the controversy of Jean Todt’spresidency of the FIA, although cleared of any malpractices. I see Pirelli’s poor performance asthe most degrading part in the sport, rather than the teams, engines and the masterful engineers,test-drivers and aerodynamics experts who have done everything possible within the rules toclose the field.

I do not remember a recent race in which the race leader has lapped every car including theNo.3 or even the No.2 car after Michael Schumacher did this at Nurburgring, short of lapping theNo.2 car in his most dominant stint. Bridgestone, at the time provided a significant advantagethat is not seen today.

Japanese Engines?

Why are there no Japanese Engines or Tyres in the game? I would hope that this is nota restriction of budget. They make fuel efficient vehicles and should enter. Toyota tried tothrow in a huge budget against their fundamental principal of keeping things simple in all otheraspects of manufacturing. That let them leave. Honda too has left. I hope they are back in thegame along with the Koreans to truly make Formula-One an International Sport with Engines,Drivers, Teams and Engineers from the most meritorious.