As the current world champion, it falls on him to be the advert for the sport, but i was wondering, is he a good advert? I'm not so sure. On the one hand, you have the fact that he's blindingly fast, but on the other hand, his rise to successive glories sometimes feels a touch manufactured, like he's a machine built to destroy and humiliate his competitors, and hasn't worked hard to win. Also, Whilst he comes across as friendly and approachable, there is an unpleasant side to him that has reared it's head a couple of times this season, such as his spat with Pirelli over the tyres in belgium, the debacle after his practice crash in japan etc. What do you think? Is he a good advert for F1?
The Belgium incident, I thought that was more Red Bull pressurising Pirelli, rather than Vettel directly, although I may be wrong. And he crashed in degner in japan, but what have I missed in the aftermath? Away from the track though, I'd say he is a good ambassador. He comes across very well in interviews, has an easy going manner, a good sense of humour, and a very marketable (if annoying) trademark. I remember the interview on Top Gear earlier this year. Before it, I wasn't much of a fan of the bloke, not having heard from him too much, but he came across very well, and I found it hard to dislike him really after that. Surely thats exactly what you want from an ambassador?
Strange question. I think the only way you could argue he is bad for the sport is that dominance is bad for any sport, full stop. I don't think the Belgium thing you can really blame him for. It was a private discussion, if it cast the sport in a bad light (which I personally don't think it does) then it's the fault of the broadcaster for filming a private discussion and then televising it. It's like criticising him for putting glass in his wheelie bin instead of the green box. Also what's the Japan debacle? I saw it briefly mentioned on James Allen's blog but he just said he stopped reporters from photographing details of the car after what happened in Monza. Personally I think he's a great ambassador. He's very talented and his successes haven't been tainted by cheating like Schumacher's and Senna's were. He's also very down to earth and approachable, he spends huge amounts of time with the British media, perhaps more than any other driver and that's not taking into account his commitments with German and Austrian TV and whoever else he talks to. I don't get the manufactured thing either. It's ridiculously expensive to go racing these days, you either need wealthy parents or lucrative sponsorship. Vettel and Hamilton earned their patronage with Red Bull and McLaren by displaying talent as youngsters, that makes them more worthy in my opinion than drivers who got into the sport because they have rich or famous parents or are the best of a bad bunch in a country deprived of racing talent.
The Japan issue was that he wasn't very nice towards the marshalls and photographers surrounding his stricken car, he ordered them to stay away from it, ran back to get people away from it, didn't listen to the marshalls, and generally made a nuisance of himself.
He says the right things when he has to, smile when he is told to and doesn't seem to do much to annoy other competitors on or off the track. If ambassador means being a general buddy-buddy goodie-two-shoes, then yes he is a good ambassador.
Too right. They said in FP yesterday that they never got the Monza front wing back. No doubt someone in Maranello has examined the lay up of the carbon fibre and that's why we saw Massa's wing trailing across the ground yesterday. That crash could cost them a world championship next year. Edit: Going off topic slightly but here's the video for those who haven't seen it: http://vimeo.com/29538310
So the thinking is Red Bull have just found a way of laying the carbon fibre in such a way the weave gives a certain amount of flex when under a certain stress, yet remains rigid when put on a speicifc load point?
Do you think ferrari have stolen that formula, yet mucked it up a little, leading to the extreme flex we saw yesterday?
I'm not an expert but the general feeling seems to be that it's in the lay up of the wing. They invested a lot of money researching this a few years ago and it's paying dividends now, I seem to recall McLaren trying to recruit a lot of composites experts earlier in the year as well.
I was always under the impression that solid carbon fibre was a rigid, brittle material, so the guys who've managed to make it flex are very very bright.
It depends how it's constructed. If the fibers all ran parallel it would be pretty flimsy. Like I say I'm by no means an expert, but it comes in all different forms, there are different ways of manufacturing it, the size of the fibers can vary a lot as well as the lay up, and the properties of the epoxy could probably vary. Then there's the ratio of carbon to epoxy, it wouldn't surprise me if they added other materials to adjust the spec of the composite, sort of like an alloy.
It can be mixed with many materials. Kevlar is a popular one too as it again is strong in a particular direction so can be manipulated. I'd imagine there was a lot of trial and error and wasted materials before they got it right.
I'm no expert, but from what I know, the actual carbon fibre itself was pretty much fully developed by the end of the 80's, the research and progress is coming in the resins used, and the layering. It's a field I'm looking at go into, so expect more detailed answers in a few years!
Absolutely. Regardless of his driving, this guy comes across as very likeable, clean living, well mannered, very personable and genuinely sensitive to others: all whilst retaining a thoroughly realistic view of himself. There are few other top professionals who hold a fuller deck for the requirements of 'ambassador' to their sport. Regardless of his driving and his situation at Red Bull, he is one of the best ambassadors for any sport currently walking (or driving on) the planet! And even Mark Webber would acknowledge this.
But all drivers are manufactured? And Bernie and co say he has been a better ambassador than recent others in the past.
People have a go at Hamilton for not winning enough, being involved in too many incidents, and not coming across as a robot. People have a go at Sebastian Vettel for winning too much, being involved in too few incidents, and coming across as a robot. I'm sure they've both drawn a few quid into the sport.
What can you expect, Sebs German so by default they link him to a robot that was born from a Bosch oven...
