It would be absolute folly to write off Vettel so quickly or suggest he's an overrated driver. 4x back-to-back titles don't come to mediocre drivers and nor would any team build a great car and then put anything but the best driver in it.
He looked calm for the race with the interview I saw, so I guess he has settled for 3rd being the best result for him bar a Mercedes f**k up and an easy 4th and in effect he is already there. But he did seem slightly frustrated by his qualifying lap knowing he could of done better. Seemed slightly anxious on Mercedes form at China being the norm even with weaker cars so it seems forgone conclusion for him that the win is out of reach. In general very calm, not downbeat like the media try to portray I think he knows he can't do anything against the Silverarrows until next year so for him this season is more of a learning period than a championship fight but you can tell he really wants to be in that fight and he is playing the patience game like Lewis did in 2013. http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/f1/9272714/vettel:-a-long-way-to-go
Yeah. I get your point there ...another thing is the commentators tell you this person is much faster in sector two and this other one is faster in sector 1and 3 but they don't even bother to give them Best sector times which is very important to analyse what is going on as most of us don't have the info. So I understand where you are coming from.
1: I Think Rosberg was trying too hard. The last lap all he had to do was slow a bit and take it home on the final straight but he touched the paint with his left back wheel and spun. 2: Ricciardo's seems to be the real deal,....he is genuinely fast and is matching Vettel if not doing a bit better. 3: Kimi might not have the stomach for this anymore, but we will wait and see. From what we hear he is not much for sitting down with engineers and ironing out stuff...and I think wit these new cars you have to do a lot of that to understand them fully. So maybe he just needs to spend more time in the garage.
Rosberg has to make sure that he doesn't let Hamilton get under his skin, otherwise he could fall away. Hamilton has the edge on him slightly, but he's still beatable.
They did say that after Vettel come back after FP3 the car had a complete different sound. I remember hearing one commentator asking what's that strange sound coming from Vettel's car so maybe it was a change in engine mapping, because all of a sudden he was a lot faster.
Vettel admits he is struggling to beat Ricciardo World champion Sebastian Vettel on Saturday admitted he needs to up his game. The German has won the last four drivers' titles on the trot, but all of them were alongside Mark Webber, who retired at the end of last season. Australian Webber was replaced at Red Bull by his compatriot Daniel Ricciardo, who so far in 2014 has outqualified Vettel on no fewer than three out of four attempts. Told that Ricciardo is clearly more competitive than Webber, Vettel said after qualifying in China: "Well, that's (not) a compliment to Mark, I should say, in his absence. "I think this year is very, very different, the cars are very different so I don't think you can compare last year to this year," he insisted. "But nevertheless, I think Daniel is doing a very good job, he has not just had one good weekend, he had good weekends and so far he seems to be able to get the maximum out of the car," Vettel admitted. "On my side, maybe I'm struggling a little bit more, but at the end of the day we have the same car -- there's nothing between cars, so if he manages to beat me, then he beats me on the circuit, fair and square," he said. "Of course, that's not to my liking but equally, I know that I have to do a little bit better." (GMM)
Red Bull's Total fuel causing sensor failures - FIA Saturday 19th April 2014, 12:52 by Ryan Wood © Red Bull Racing, Getty Images Red Bull's official fuel supplier, Total, might be to blame for the various fuel flow sensor failures which have hit Red Bull and even cost them second place in Australia. The FIA's head of powertrain, Fabrice Lom, whilst giving evidence during the International Court of Appeal hearing, noted that a chemical used in Total's fuel, can damage a seal in the sensor, causing it to fail. "We discovered and now we have identified the issue," said Lom. "It is an issue that is now understood well and we know that it only affects the reliability of the sensor. "We discovered that there is a seam, an o-ring in the sensor, that doesn't support the Total fuel chemical composition so the seal is damaged by the fuel, which kills the sensor." He also believes another issue could be affecting the sensors - which have hit Red Bull harder than any other team - which could be down to modifications the team have made when installing them. "We identified the chemical composition issue of the Total fuel, but we also have another clue, which is the teams that are modifying the sensor," he added. "If you take the picture of the sensor, you have two connections, and some teams, Red Bull for example, are removing these connections and putting in their own connections. "If it [the replacement connection] is a bit too long inside, it can touch and tube where the measurement is done. This is the second cause we can have." The FIA has issued a directive in effect from the Spanish Grand Prix which will ban teams from modifying the sensors. Should that not fix the problem, they will request that Total modifies its fuel. - See more at: http://www.f1times.co.uk/news/display/08788#sthash.96A7t1JV.dpuf
No! Reason why.. I even if you discount that it is you fuel add or your adjustment to the fuel sensor connection that is causing the sensor to malfunction...tHere is still the complete ignoring of instructions from FIA. The other teams complied..why didn't Red Bull think they should do the same?
Rosberg's chances of winning tomorrow are pretty slim now because while he's battling with the two bull's by the evidence so far this season Hamilton will be long into the distance. 1-2 for Merc tomorrow with Seb pipping Daniel to 3rd.
I agree... Both are in same car and Rosberg should have taken advantage of Hamilton's DNF in the first race. Even is Hamilton wins here Rosberg should still be ahead by a few points so he need to keep the advantage however small. If Hamilton gets too many points on him it may be difficult to crawl back as a confident Hamilton to difficult to beat.
Yeah vettel was saying his biggest problem is the engine mapping with these new cars. Daniel has probably found something he can work with Vettel not so far yet maybe.
Mind you...I wouldn't mind Ricciardo getting the points but then how do you compensate the other teams who obeyed the rules? That would cause a big uproar in F1. So to be fair, as they didn't follow the rules then the points had to be taken away. In the meantime Vettel had problems with his season in qualifying and FIA let them use their own...the problem there is how would FIA know theirs is working correctly?
Well let's hope he got it sorted out and we should have some excitement tomorrow.. Just hoping they don't get tangled up in the first corner. But my feeling is that once Hamilton gets through the first corner still leading it will be difficult to catch him. First he will move outside the des and the three behind him will be scrapping and losing more time. But stranger things have happened before so we will wait and see what happens.
I wont be surprised if Nico is 2nd from the word go as they have been rapid in the launch phase. Nico has taken a dump on both Daniel and Vettel when he was behind them.
