Vettel is not good at over taking. The only ones I have seen this year have been as a result of good tyre strategy, ie having better tyres at the time, or passing by getting the jump in the pits and nailing some quali style laps. Don't get me wrong, in the right car he is obviously unstopable. But Alonso is the most balanced driver on the grid by a long way. For me the best Drivers are thus: 1st - Alonso (not the quickest, but good at car set up, consistant, gets good starts, can overtake, doesn't get too flustered, can drive in the rain) 2nd group - Hamilton (can be lightening quick, and probably the best overtaker on the grid - Can get flustered, and waits for team calls on strategy) Button (generally consistant, can be fast when he needs to be, good at strategy calls - Poor when not settled on a set up, strategy calls often forced when not up to speed) Vettel (just as quick as lewis but less prone to silly mistakes, not great at overtaking though) 3rd group - Webber, Kimi, Rosberg (hard to know if the car is helping or holding him back), Perez (would like to see him replace massa)
This is about overtaking, not who is the all round best and Seb has done plenty of overtakes on equal ground, this year and the last ones.
I think Vettel is getting better at overtaking as time goes on. A couple of years back I would generally have agreed with it, but the more time he spends behind a car, the more practice he gets and practice makes perfect. I'd say he is now actually good at overtaking, when he comes up behind a car, I don't expect him to stay there long anymore.
Thought Hamilton was very good today at picking his spots to overtake. Made good clean passes, aggressive and opportunist when needed but also realistic and backed off when he sometimes would have tried to hang it around the outside and cause a collision in the past. All of the above and made his tyres last too!
I think you've made a very important point here. Multiple, successful overtakes (including plenty without DRS), whilst still preserving tyres is quite a balancing act: something even the most experienced racers cannot do…
I think Vettel is now good, but I think Webber is even better, I mean we all know practice makes perfect and Webber seems to have spent 2009 onwards homing in on Fernando Alonso and dueling him wheel to wheel.
I understand that, hence why my opening comment was about overtaking, I just embellished to include my thoughts on other drivers' strengths and weaknesses also. Vettel has not finished well this year when he has not been at the front, bar his second place which was very fortuitous. When he has overtaken it has been as a matter of course due to the tyres, or drs.
