Is the 2011 Formula 1 season going Sebastian Vettel’s way or can someone challenge him?
The 5 out of the 19 scheduled races of the 2011 Formula 1 season are done and dusted and so far the reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel is sailing smoothly towards a successful title defence.
In terms of points, Vettel is winning and leading the drivers’ table, but in terms of performance, the German is so far lucky enough to hold onto his lead.
The five races so far have unfolded differently for all the Formula 1 teams. From Renault’s flurry in the opening two races to a Ferrari podium in the Turkish GP, the 2011 Formula 1 season has delivered what was expected of it.
Starting from the latest encounter in Barcelona where Mark Webber finally pulled a sensational lap in the qualifiers to put an end to Vettel’s pole sitting run. Webber was struggling to get a grip on his RB7 but as soon as the Aussie took control of his
roaring Red Bull, he was able to outperform his much younger teammate.
Webber will be the most anxious driver to grab a championship because of his age and rising controversy about his future in Red Bull.
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso surprisingly took the lead from the front running drivers on Sunday and threatened with a race victory. However, soon the Spaniard realised his strength and remained content with his fifth position finish.
This will not be the case in the upcoming races because as soon as Alonso gets a more competitive car, Vettel will be targeted.
After Alonso gave up the ghost in the middle part of the race, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes joined the hot pursuit which continued until the last minute. At that point, Vettel would have thought that maybe Red Bull is not the fastest car on the grid.
Hamilton put his every effort in the car and remained on the tail of Vettel right through until the end.
Although Vettel won the race but the stats showed that Hamilton was actually faster than the German. Apart from the Spanish Grand Prix, Vettel’s run was disturbed by Jenson Button of McLaren in the Malaysian Grand Prix when only three seconds separated the
German and the Brit.
One thing is for sure that Red Bull have the fastest car on the grid but time and again, some of the title contenders have shown that only pace is not going to win races in the 2011 season.
In the Chinese Grand Prix, Hamilton gave a practical example of strategy when he took the lead from the fast running RB7 of Vettel in the final few laps and won the race. Vettel was on two-stop strategy and towards the end of the race, his car speed was
almost four seconds slower than Hamilton per lap.
However, from Vettel’s perspective, as far as race wins are coming his way he does not care about who the other two drivers are on the podium.
Still to come are some huge steps from Ferrari as they are slow starters but soon become a threat to the champion. In addition, a development battle is expected from the Mercedes GP team who would love to grab their first race win as soon as possible.
Let’s see to what an extent the other front running drivers can challenge Sebastian Vettel in the remaining 14 races of the 2011 Formula 1 season.
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