Di Resta: 'Vettel won because he had the best car'

[Stuart Thomson]

Re: British GP - It's also how the car has been designed and how it handles in various different states, though.

To me it looked like RBR was all downforce and Diffuser, and when that was removed they were all over the place, Ferraris were designed without it, and they had no real difference with or without it, and the McLaren falling in between - without the diffuser it was not as nice to drive as the Ferrari, but not as compromised as the RBR.

Effectively Alonso had prettty much had the whole season to that point in a car without one, so he didn't need to adapt as much, so he had the confidence and it really showed.

 

[Markus Neumann]

Even though I do not disagree with Alonso being the best driver on the grid:

when the blown diffusers were heavily restricted at the British Grand prix, no one could touch Alonso

Not really true, if RB hadn't messed up Vettel's pitstop, he still might have won.

To me it looked like RBR was all downforce and Diffuser, and when that was removed they were all over the place, Ferraris were designed without it, and they had no real difference with or without it, and the McLaren falling in between - without the diffuser it was not as nice to drive as the Ferrari, but not as compromised as the RBR.

McLaren was by far the worst of the top teams at Silverstone and they also stated afterwards that the blown diffuser ban hurt them the most (even though they got their way in the quarrel with RB that weekend about how much blowing was allowed). Remember that RB still locked out the front row in Qualifying.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

That's true. McLaren had an absolute poo at Silverstone.

 

[Stuart Thomson]

It's entirely possible I got RBR & McLaren mixed up, of course.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

It's entirely possible I got RBR & McLaren mixed up, of course.

Sounds like it. RBR still ended up on the podium.

 

[António da Cunha]

Hamilton is overrated? I thought i had seen it all on forums but i still get amazed up to this day..

I'm sorry if I chock you, it's only my opinion, which I have the right to have. I'm not going through an explanation, because I don't want to go off-topic.

 

[Ramon Alonso]

PDR sounds just like that other British spoiled brat Hamilton. All I hear is envy in those words. He should go work in Scotland Yard for pointing out the obvious, everyone knows it's 80% car, 20% driver. He's probably blowing his top with envy, when a driver that he thought was less than him, is already a TWO TIME WDC. I guess you can ask what happened to Paul that he got left behind, why it took him so long to get to F1? If he ever get's his chance on a top car, then he should at least get 2 WDC"s, since he's CLEARLY better than Vettel.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Spoiled brats? Yeh ok.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

What always makes me smile is when I read that someone outperformed his car! That's physically impossible, noone can go beyond the car's limits. There is no magic making a car going faster than it can. And we always see only what the best drivers of each team bring out of a car. I wonder how many people would say that RBR had the fastest car this year if only Webber drove it. Then everyone would probably say that Button won the championship because he had the fastest car

 

[Hampus Andersson]

I think when people say like that they mean it in a different way.
Assuming the F1 drivers can get 95% of the car, while special people like Alonso and Hamilton has this ability to squeeze out a bit more then what the average F1 driver can.

I would say the RBR is the fastest car even if only Webber drove it..
Why? Because apart from having a crap year performance wise, it´s Webber that holds the most fastest laps of the season.
That last two sentences sounds to me like logic's from a 10 year old.

To even deny the RBR being the fastest car on the grid for the last 2.5 years is hilarious.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

Alonso and Hamilton had the most fastest laps in 2010.

I did not say that RBR's car was not the best. But maybe people think it's faster than it is! A car itself can't deliver consistant victories.
It's just awfully boring to hear this every year because every time there are people who "hate" the champion. Hill won because he had the fastest car, Villeneuve the same, Hakkinen the same, Schumacher the same, ... about every single champion there are people saying that, and it's really annoying!
It's a package, it's not just the car, it's not just the driver, it's both that is needed! Especially at this level!

 

[Hampus Andersson]

No i just think the majority understands the car is in it´s own class. The numbers suggest that is the case.

2011 Q times, RBR to nearest competitor.

Australia - 0.778
Malaysia - 0.104
China - 0.715
Turkey - 0.525
Spain - 0.980 (Vettel´s KERS failed but he was on the run to beat Webber)
Monaco - 0.441
Canada - 0.185
Europe - 0.405
GreatB - 0.117
German - 0.055
Hungary - 0.163
SPA - 0.432
Italy - 0.450
Singap - 0.423
Japan - 0.009
Korea + 0.222
India - 0.296 (Vettel backed of the last run that was quicker then the pole time)
Abu D - 0.141
Brazil - 0.365

Do you see some of the gaps? Among the top teams some of the poles are pure domination.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

Yes they were clearly faster. But you still can't tell how much of that is the driver, and how much is the car!
Australia: 0.778, from what can you tell that the Red Bull was 0,5 second quicker than the other car, or was a full second quicker?
Japan: 0.009, from what can you tell, that Red Bull's car suited the track better and not the McLaren?

There were things that the McLaren was better at. F.e. top speed. Even with DRS on the Red Bull couldn't reach the same speeds in a straight line. Their advantage was in corners, they had better grip. How much did that count? God knows. If Vettel/Webber exchanged seats with Hamilton/Button, and they all drove both the cars at all tracks, we could probably say something.

Does it matter? No it doesn't. Red Bull and Vettel won the championship.
Who I wished to see winning races this year? Massa in the Ferrari. And Renault. Unfortunately neither of them managed to do that. But I still acknowledge the results Vettel and RBR achieved.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Yes they were clearly faster. But you still can't tell how much of that is the driver, and how much is the car!

Well if it were only Vettel´s "superior" driving skills then he´s awfully inconsistent. You said it yourself, the car is clearly faster.
If Vettel wins titles still when the car is on level with Ferrari and Mclaren then i´ll give him the real credit as a top driver.

There were things that the McLaren was better at. F.e. top speed. Even with DRS on the Red Bull couldn't reach the same speeds in a straight line. Their advantage was in corners, they had better grip. How much did that count? God knows. If Vettel/Webber exchanged seats with Hamilton/Button, and they all drove both the cars at all tracks, we could probably say something.

RBR had more downforce during the whole season. They choose that path rather then topping the speed traps.
They geared the car on purpose aswell with the goal to be in front. Like Monza.
Had Vettel not passed Alonso that early he would not have won the race due to his gearing.

We know how good Hamilton and Alonso is. We don´t know just how good Vettel is because he has never had a top level teammate.

Does it matter? No it doesn't. Red Bull and Vettel won the championship.
Who I wished to see winning races this year? Massa in the Ferrari. And Renault. Unfortunately neither of them managed to do that. But I still acknowledge the results Vettel and RBR achieved.

That´s your opinion, i think it does. Obviously Vettel did a good job. That´s not what i´m saying. My thing is that i´m skeptic is to if he really is that good that many like to think simply because they see him winning every race due to a superior car.

 

[William Levesque]

What always makes me smile is when I read that someone outperformed his car! That's physically impossible, noone can go beyond the car's limits. There is no magic making a car going faster than it can.

Remember a guy from the late 70's, early 80's ? Other drivers were always wondering how he could do what he was doing...

http://mercury.lcs.mit.edu/~jnc/nontech/gilles.html

"I know that no human being can perform miracles, but Gilles made you wonder sometimes."
-- Jacques Laffite

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Same with Senna with Toleman. Classic case of outperforming the capabilities of the car.

 

[Péter Bártfai]

For sure I remember him as I was born in '87 (kidding)

I think in those times the cars were much harder to drive, so the difference between individual drivers was huge, sometimes even between champions on a given track! I watched the summary of the '89 Hungarian GP not long ago. Mansell won from P12 there. Why? He was driving flawless basically, while others made mistakes. And not just the drivers, the teams too. Difference between pit-stop times was sometimes 3-4 seconds.
Even when I started watching F1 (1997) they made a lot more mistakes than nowadays. Now almost everything is always perfect.

Vettel: of course he is not a god, like some people say But he deserved this championship absolutely, and I think it's not fair to say he only won because of the car. Noone who says that knows what he could do in another car from this field. OK, maybe Button, Hamilton or Alonso could beat him. But what if not? It's one thing that they already proved that they can go well in any car basically, but Vettel didn't prove the opposite of that either.

 

[William Levesque]

It's not that much a question of wins, Gilles didn't get many... It's more a question of how he was driving a poor car (Monaco in the awful premiere of the Turbo Ferrari comes to mind) that strikes the most, he was unbelievable... Of course I wasn't born so that was from seeing footages, but still, you could see that he was no "ordinary" racing driver...

 

[Péter Bártfai]

I know he was a true hero of his time. I'm sure he could get a title or even more if that horrible accident didn't happen. At least his son managed to do it, so their name got into the hall of fame.

 

[William Levesque]

In fact he could easily have got the 1979 championship, but he decided to follow the path of loyalty and respect instead of personal gain