After superbly winning six of the first eight races of this season, defending world champion Sebastian Vettel has failed to win the last two races, his Red Bull out paced and outclassed by the might of Ferrari's Fernando Alonso and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Is this the downfall of Sebastian Vettel?
This weekend is Hungary, a track that Red Bull were dominant at in 2010. Vettel seriously needs a top-two finish here, because if Alonso, Hamilton, Button or Webber can beat him, then things could start getting interesting. Vettel has an enormous lead at the moment, 77 points, but the talent of Alonso and Hamilton mean that they are title contenders until it's mathematically impossible.
Vettel appears to be aware of that as well. On Saturday, he was outqualified by Webber and the exceptional Hamilton, while Alonso wasn't far off him. Seb was consigned to a season worst 3rd on the grid. And the 24 year old was far from amused about the situation. The German offered an angry and frustrated attitude all weekend. He knows that as soon as he lets his main rivals (who I would site as Alonso and Hamilton) in, they will take full advantage.
His performance on home turf at the weekend was in my opinion, his worst since Belgium last year. On Sunday, he got a very average start, and somehow fended off the Ferrari's, he ran wide a couple of times, and then of course he had the spin at Turn 7, which was dramatic and most uncharacteristic from a man that has been on the front row of every F1 grid since 25th September 2010.
Sunday could be a crucial race for Vettel, and it would take something spectacular to throw away a 77-point lead with the fastest car, preferential in-house treatment and 6 wins in the first eight.
And yet that is now a real possibility.
I think Vettel was in an excellent form in the first half of the season and now has lost it a bit. Like Alonso once said, you cannot be 100% fit all the time, fluctuations of one's performance are inevitable. It looks like Hamilton is on top of his game at the moment and I think he might win again this weekend. What is more, RBR doesn't seem to be clearly ahead in terms of car's performance anymore. So I think the gap between Vettel and his closest rivals in the championship standings is going to shrink.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, congratulations on your new website. I am planning an official launch of my own site next week as well :)
It will be very interesting to see how things pan out this weekend.
ReplyDeleteAnd thanks, I'll watch out for your site as well!