Ferrari812

I am happy that Schumacher's retiring.

chazzguitar

He really kinda pulled a Brent Farve and destroyed his legacy by coming back and failing miserably.

chazzguitar

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/artic...auber-reports/

And there it is... Massa's keeping his seat, Hulkenburg to Sauber, and Buemi (lulz) to replace him at Force India.

JHo

I'm sorry, but I'm a huge Vettel fan. This kid just gets it. Remember, his first victory was in that craptacular STR? Yeah, he won in an STR. Is he immature? Sure. He's also way younger than me, and I still act like a bitch half the time. Give the guy props for his ability to rise to the occasion. He consistently out drives everybody, including Webber, who is on the same plane as Massa.

I propose somebody knock him down an notch. Alonso is the only one that could do it right now in my opinion. Not Kimi, not MS, not Webber, not Lewis, not Jenson, not any of them. So does he deserve to be a bit smug with that list? YES.

And don't make the argument that MS earned it all. There's still the traction control debate when he beat Senna.

K1ngfunK

While I'm far from an F1 expert, what I've seen and read among interviews, races, the teams, and the cars, I think Vettel's alright. The "being revered as the next coming of Christ" kind of thing can be as much media portrayal as it is personal cockiness. The cars do a tremendous amount and make a huge difference, but as many of you have said, he's still got the skill to pull it off. It'd be hard for anyone at 25 with that much success to not come across a little bit cocky, but the way he conducts himself in many interviews makes me feel he's fairly down-to-Earth. I have no qualms with him being considered "one of the greats" when he can perform as well as he is with the tools given to him.

It's not his fault he's got such a good car, but it's his job to use it effectively, which he seems to do quite well.

chazzguitar

I absolutely agree -- that's one helluva list. The kid's got something that few others in the field do. And I'm not talking about mis-engineered alternators. If he hadn't had those failures/retirements, he'd be well out front and we'd all be looking at celebrating the end to another somewhat boring season of domination. As it stands, we've got at least 3 more races of intrigue -- I can get on board with that.

Garrison, I believe that the second coming status is largely media, but there are certainly other guys in the field who have been treated that way in the past. Look at Alonso, who is gracious and proper at all times. Button, Webber, and maybe Kimi don't let their stardom take over. The only one who really plays the media more than Vettel is Hamilton (did you see that twitter crap about jenson unfollowing him? foot-in-mouth syndrome there...), and people give him tons of shit for it.

All in all, I think this conversation has helped temper my own opinion on Vettel, and so I thank you all for your perspective. I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt; hell, I'd even buy him a drink if we found ourselves at the same watering hole.

And, as far as MSC goes, he was absolutely in possession of the best (and 95% likely, illegal) machinery throughout his career. Now the elder statesman, which surely plays into his lack of speed, but in possession of an arguably second-tier (and almost certainly legal in every way) car, he can't make anything happen. No clear way to separate the two factors; even though Rosberg has outshined him in virtually every way over the last few years, he's much more driven (MSC has said that the passion isn't there for him anymore -- a likely excuse for poor performance, but still) and has a lot more to prove. I'm glad MSC is going back to the land of schnitzel and lederhosen for good in a few weeks; though he wasn't a large factor in race results, I think it'll change the whole dynamic of the field next year.

This is fun!

chazzguitar

Very true. Good perspective there.

chazzguitar

worrrrrrd?

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/h...074805792.html

Ferrari812

Honda shows interest in F1 return

JHo

Meh.... Just one guys personal opinion who happens to work for Honda.

Kinda the same sentiment when the left. We'd love to but can't afford it........

I'd rather see them attack LeMans, and develop some more road going relevant technology for sports cars and trickling down to normal cars.