Like Robbio79 I too am fed up with the ‘Vettle is certainly a future world champion’ line that is trotted it time after time. Even more exasperating is the constant repetition of ‘he is young and needs time to mature’. David Coulthard went further with this, claiming that Vettel’s errors were only being brought to notice ‘because he is learning in the spotlight’ through being placed in a highly competitive team so early in his career.
In the article Andrew attributes the ‘he is young and needs time to mature’ sentiment to both DC and Anthony Davidson. In fact, though Davidson may have agreed that Vettel was immature, he rightly, and tellingly, pointed out that Vettle’s poor performance put into context the achievement of Lewis Hamilton when coming straight into MacLaren as his first drive in F1. As I have said in other forums, I do not remember Hamilton’s supporter’s needing to constantly resort to the ‘he’s young and will learn’ defence in regard to his driving, and his critics certainly seemed to be more offended by his precocious talent than inclined to excuse any faults because of his youth.
Vettel has had 3 years to learn the basics of F1 driving but has consistently failed to demonstrate any real degree of race craft or, even more fundamental to a driver, spatial judgement. After Sunday’s clash with Liuzzi we heard again his familiar claim “I was already passed and he hit me” that accompanies each of his clumsy, or disastrous, passing attempts. He seems to be unable to grasp that, contrary to his claim after Turkey, ‘half a car ahead’ does not constitute a completed pass.
Couple that with his apparently instinctive reaction to the threatened loss of a position, swerving towards his opponent, and the recipe for disaster is complete.
At first I saw his apology to Jensen as a sign of an awakening ability to take responsibility and learn from mistakes but then realised it contained no reference to the bizarre manoeuvres that sparked the incident, merely a rueful acknowledgement that “ I lost the braking”. I am convinced that the lad really doesn’t know, or refuses to accept, that he did anything wrong. In his head it was simply bad luck.
Some time ago many drivers and media pundits issued dire warnings about the dangers of bringing in rooky drivers without the benefit of testing to ready them for F1. Despite these fears the rookies in question have quickly adapted to F1 with very few, if any, major incidents. In contrast Vettle’s learning phase threatens to be an extremely lengthy one. Strangely however, even many who were most vocal on the issue seem to find it acceptable that because he is blindingly fast on a clear track Vettel should be allowed to continue compromising the careers, not to mention endangering the lives, of other, more competent drivers while struggling to attain the other essential attributes of his trade.
His undeniable speed has brought him a car to exercise it but unfortunately for his competitors, and ultimately himself, he appears to lack the judgement to exercise it wisely nor does he show the self critical ability needed to develop that judgement.
