What the Drivers Can Learn from 2011

So a season full of excitement and drama but an easily predicted champion is over. But what can the drivers learn from 2011?

Sebastian Vettel:
The guy has been faultless this year. Absolutely faultless. Oh except for his whinging about Alonso after winning the Italian Grand Prix. It was unnecessary and frankly pointless. And one other thing, he needs to learn that the entire world is fed up with that single finger celebration; can’t he come up with something different after winning each race, like he does for his helmet designs?

Mark Webber:
After ten seasons in Formula One you would’ve thought that Mark Webber would’ve got the hang of getting off the grid. Well, in 2011 his starts have been awful (even by his own admission they’ve been “ropey”). On countless occasions Webber has wasted front-row slots at the start, and struggled to regain the places- no wonder he ended up so far behind Vettel in the standings. Perhaps he should learn a thing or two from his teammate, who regularly streaked into the distance from pole.

Lewis Hamilton:
Lewis Hamilton has been criticised left right and centre for his overtaking. In previous seasons, some of his passes have been supreme, but all too often in 2011 his attempts led to failure, damage, and a penalty. With the addition of DRS, overtaking should’ve been easier for Lewis this year, but for some reason he has found it more difficult. Maybe it’s time he learnt to calm down and wait for the right opportunity to make a move. Oh, and remove that homing device which is drawing him towards Felipe Massa’s car.

Felipe Massa:
Besides developing a sixth sense to help him avoid Lewis Hamilton, Korea proved to the world that occasionally, just once in a while, Massa is allowed to be ahead of his illustrious teammate Alonso. Now Felipe needs to learn to do that again and again, certainly if he wants to drive for the Prancing Horse beyond 2012. And another thing, baguettes er…sorry, raised orange Indian kerbs can be dangerous, can break a suspension and must be avoided.

Michael Schumacher:
A certain driver has been a surprising thorn in Michael’s side ever since his return to F1 last year and Schuey needs to figure out some way of avoiding him. The driver is Vitaly Petrov. In 2010, Schumacher often found himself stuck behind or being overtaken by the Renault driver. This season the pair clashed at Silverstone and more significantly at Korea- the Mercedes man was just minding his own business when the Russian rocket smacked into his car. It seems Schumacher would be significantly better off he could learn to somehow avoid the Russian.

Adrian Sutil:
There are much better things that an F1 driver can be doing in his spare time than assaulting a potential employer with a wine glass in a night club. Considering his uncertain position within Force India right now, Sutil is probably regretting ever setting eyes on Eric Lux in that club, given that Renault would otherwise have been a very realistic option for the German. Perhaps he needs to think more before he acts. He’s learnt to that when overtaking; now he needs to learn to do that off the track as well.

Vitaly Petrov:
Petrov can learn that F1 is a very fickle business. He went from fighting for a drive at the end of last year to finishing on the podium in the opening race to battling with a Lotus for 18th place and now back to that certainty again, all in the space of 12 months. Talk about one extreme to the other. Oh, and he needs to remember not to return to the track over a kerb, well certainly not if you don’t want a bad back- as was the result of his flying in Malaysia.

Nick Heidfeld:
The not-so-quick Nick can learn from 2011 that an exhaust blowing up into a hefty fire is now a reason to get dropped from an F1 team. Of all the occasions when Heidfeld’s been dumped in the past this surely has to be the most bizarre. Or was it that he simply wasn’t quick enough compared to his much less experienced teammate. Hmm, probably the latter. Anyway, Nick can also learn from 2011that he needs to make more of any opportunity given to him in life and that he’s probably never going to get to race in F1 again.

Jarno Trulli:
Asked about a poor qualifying performance, Jarno would respond with “it was the power steering, it’s not precise enough.” After being outpaced by his teammate in a race: “it was the power steering, it’s not precise enough.” Honestly, Trulli has sounded like a broken record this year going on and on and on about the power steering not being precise enough. Now it’s time for him to learn to come up with a better excuse. (Although the power steering was a significant problem for him.)

Timo Glock:
Glock needs to learn that any public comment he makes needs to be thought through more. Take qualifying in Germany: he berated his team for their poor performance. Yet the very next day he signed a new three-year deal with Virgin. Bizarre! Timo, you need to learn to think before you speak.

Jerome d’Ambrosio:
If a casual F1 observer is asked to name all 24 drivers, then Jerome d’Ambrosio would be the one that would get forgotten the most. He has had quite possibly the most uneventful season of all the racers in 2011. Although, that’s probably not necessarily a bad thing for a rookie, if Jerome wants to remain in the sport, then surely he must learn to get noticed?

Vitantonio Liuzzi:
After dropping from midfield chargers Force India to back-row-of-the-grid Hispania, it seemed to take Liuzzi a while to adjust to his new surroundings. Quite a long while, actually. By Italy the withdrawal symptoms were getting too great so he tried an optimistic strategy to move forwards. All I can say is that going backwards uncontrollably into the pack isn’t a good way to move up towards the sharp end.

Narain Karthikeyan:
Narain needs to learn that returning to F1 at all costs is not always worth it. When the reward for years of determination to make that comeback to the top flight of motorsport is a Hispania that is capable of qualifying almost eleven seconds off the pace on its debut, perhaps he realised that it wasn’t really worth it?

For the other half of 2011's drivers see: http://allsortsofmotorsports.wordpress.com/

 

Great article and great blog! I certainly have bookmarked it! Keep posting about F1 you really are good at writing!!

Anyway I agree with all of them especially the Jarno Trulli! The power steering pharse is over used and is getting a bit boring. He should pack it in and not complain night and day about it!

 

Thanks!

I do agree with you about Trulli and the power steering excuse- just I think he does still have something to offer.

 

Trulli's past it.
16-2
That is all I have to say.

 

Sadly this. Put Ricciardo in in his place.

 

I went through it and agreed with all, but 4 so a good blog anyway i do object to a few.


Jenson Button's qualifying is already massively improved.The only time he was outside of the top 3 was Spa where it was obviously not a driving error. He is not quite as quick as Hamilton on saturday and he probably never will be, but its a bit much to describe a tenth max gap a weakness.

I think Alonso has always chosen good teams, he left renault for McLaren at excatly the right time, going back was something clearly forced by his eventual relationship with that team. Then nobody can argue that Ferrari is a step up from what he has in 2008/9. Ferrari will deliver for him at some stage i am sure. I also think you are harsh on the 150 italia. It was not a car to challenge for the title with, but it won a race and scored 10 podiums. It looks worse than it was thanks to lousy hard tyre and qualy pace... and Massa. "very uncompetitive" it was not

I dont see any issue with Buemi having emotions. He knew what one good result could have done for his chances and it has followed on from a really soul destroying run of bad luck at this crucial time.

Lastly, is it D'Ambrosio's fault? Di Grassi was also very absent in that team and it begs the question of In your rookie season, with a very competant teammate like Glock, what can you do to draw attention to yourself? besides crash.

PS. Sorry for the long post.

 

I do agree with you on this, and that he isn't far behind Lewis in terms of raw speed, but I still feel it's his achilles heel.

However, I cannot agree with this. Yes Spa wasn't his fault, but he qualified behind Hamilton and outside of the top three in Australia, Malaysia, Turkey, Spain, Canada, Europe, Germany and India.

Yes maybe I was a bit harsh on the Ferrari. And regarding D'Ambrosio I don't think it's completely his fault that he didn't get noticed.

PS

Don't worry!