I have seen plenty of you simply dismissing Vettel's achievements by saying he's got a far far superior car and Newey and without them he wouldn't be as good as he is now.
Now the question arises that is the RBR8 really that far away from the competition? Yes its the best car on the grid no doubt but the Ferrari isn't that far behind and McLaren if not for the reliability issues is right up there .
I genuinely believe that Alonso and Ferrari have overhyped their problems right from the beginning. This is just to gain sympathy imo. Now the Ferrari has bullet proof reliability unlike mclaren. I believe that both Ferrari and McLaren have higher straight line speeds than the RB. Yes the RB is fast but it has a higher downforce setting so naturally its straight line speed isn't that high as compared to its rivals.
I believe that although Red Bull have a better qualifying record but on the race day Ferrari is the still the fastest car on the grid.
Imo their isn't much difference between the top 3 cars apart from the reliability issues from mclaren. So Alonso and Hamilton should stop crying foul over Vettel's dominance. Lets not forget its not over yet. One DNF for Vettel and Alonso will walk away with the WDC. After that you'll never hear the moans from him and his team about a slower car.
Red Bull - Really that good?
posted on 11/11/12
very thought provoking topic goblin ,
i certainly dont believe red bull have been the class of the field this season , to be honest i believe mclaren overall have had the quickest car for most of the season and red bull have just upped the performance of the rb8 in the last couple of races to edge mclaren
cant quite agree with you about ferrari goblin , they have had correlation problems with there ageing wind tunnel all season and i believe it has never been a match for mclaren or red bull due to incorrect correlation between the wind tunnel data and on track aerodynamic performance --
however i believe both vettel and alonso have been mighty this year in cars that have been behind the mclaren in performance and it will be a magnificent achievment by either driver that is going to win the wdc --
posted on 11/11/12
Yes its without a doubt that both Vettel and Alonso have been monstrous this year and I'll be happy with either of them winning. However I still can't agree about Ferrari being an inferior car to the RB or McLaren. Granted Ferrari doesn't have the straight line speed of the mclaren's (although after the mclaren they are easily the fastest in a straight line) nor have they got the qualifying pace of the RB's. But I don't think the difference is very big.
My point is that Alonso as great a driver he is hasn't had to carry an average car throughout the season maybe apart from Germany I think where he was struggling with it and still managed a great race.
Overall I feel Vettel has been the best driver with Alonso not far behind. Overall I feel that the Ferrari has been a very competitive car however the team hasn't been able to set it to an optimum performance level.
posted on 11/11/12
goblin
i hear what you are saying about ferrari goblin and you could be correct ,
i tend to look at how ordinary the ferrari is in qualifying trim every race and how poor it has made massa look for most of the season , agreed the ferrari is a better car now and massa is responding in it but to my mind the correlation / wind tunnel problems have made it average for alot of the season - ferrari have even had to use the old toyota wind tunnel recently because there own is not up to scratch -
hear what you are saying about vettel , he is very special and in the fullness of time it would not suprise me if he goes on to match or beat schumachers statistical achievements --
posted on 11/11/12
Granted Ferrari doesn't have the straight line speed of the mclaren's (although after the mclaren they are easily the fastest in a straight line) nor have they got the qualifying pace of the RB's. But I don't think the difference is very big.
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What!? Did you not see what Alonso did in India? The Ferrari is a very good race car with a very high top speed, I won't accept the nonsense that most people have been spouting about Alonso being able to drag an inferior car to the top. His performance in 2009 with what was actually a poor car proved that he can't do this.
What Red Bull do is set their cars up for qualifying, high downforce which means that they will have less top speed. If they don't qualify at the front their lack of top speed will seriously hinder their progress. You can't overtake if you can't even get near to the car in front. Vettel is getting the maximum out of his car and is getting the results.
posted on 11/11/12
That's precisely what I wanted to say.
posted on 11/11/12
Fair enough then.