Niki Lauda predicts Sebastian Vettel will win F1 Championship
The three-time Formula One World Champion, Niki Lauda, is known as one of the most reliable F1 experts these days. The 61-year old scored 25 wins, 54 podiums and 24 pole positions in his 13-year long career making his career one of the most fascinating in Formula 1 history. The Austrian was a part of team March, BRM, Ferrari, Brabham and McLaren scoring two of his Championships with Ferrari and one with McLaren.
This year has been quite good for Niki as the Austrian got to see his home team Red Bull win 6 races out of 12 to date. However, this is not the reason why Lauda believes that Red Bull will lift both titles. The three-time Champion believes that Vettel has an edge over Webber, Ferrari should fear their WMSC hearing and this is not the year for Mercedes hence they should give up.
The current drivers’ standings currently reflect the driver with the most wins and the team with the best people keeping it very simple. The Australian driver, Mark Webber, in the Red Bull has won four races this season while his Championship rivals Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso have only two wins each under their belt. Sometimes luck favours the bold.
Until the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull was not able to gain the lead in the Drivers’, or, Constructors Championships. Even though, the team has arguably been the best since the start of the season. Niki explained that usually the fastest car does not make it to the chequered flag. Red Bull has been the best team until now and after they come to terms with errors on the human and technical side, they will prevail.
The Austrian believes that keeping the standings aside, Sebastian Vettel has been the best driver of 2010 so far. The way the German drove in the Budapest qualifying, in terms of sheer speed is beyond everybody. That shows that he has been performing better than his teammate and race winner Mark Webber. Vettel, will have to go through a tough summer break as he had an unfortunate retirement in the Hungarian Grand Prix right before the break. This will worry him for a while but he will have to move on and put this behind him in order to win races in the future. The season has already spiced up a lot and Lauda thinks the fans will be interested to see a new champion.
Red Bull is currently giving the fans an exciting sport by letting their drivers compete against each other unlike Ferrari. The two Red Bull drivers have been models of how to race in Formula 1 as a team and they are giving the fans what they want. This makes it more unpredictable, as both drivers are driving the best car and keep the crowd at the edge of their seats until the end. This rivalry will benefit the sport.
Niki criticized what Ferrari did at Hockenheim, and he believes that they will get a pasting from the FIA World Motor Sport Council for sure. However, this does not portray Alonso’s image as the next “Schumacher”. It was the teams fault and Alonso had nothing to do with it. The Austrian respects both of the drivers in McLaren and thinks that the team has the most balanced driver line-up. Both of the drivers know what it takes to win a championship. They gained the lead in Budapest in the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings despite their car not being as competitive as the Red Bulls. Team Mercedes must be disappointed with their performance so far, and, Lauda’s advice was that they should start to focus on next year’s car. Niki thinks they will not be able to make significant improvements for the last seven races, as it is too late for fundamental changes.
The three-time champion thinks Schumacher has to work hard as his teammate Nico Rosberg has been constantly outperforming him. Niki predicts that Sebastian Vettel will win the title. That will definitely boost Vettel’s hopes and aspirations for the coming races.
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