Match Point
Formula 1: Is Vettel the next Schumacher?

Formula 1: Is Vettel the next Schumacher?

Having won his consecutive third title in the F1, can Sebastian Vettel actually become the next Michael Schumacher?

Bilal Muzaffar November 30, 2012

The Formula 1 (F1) season came to end with a race in Brazil, Sao Paulo, with Sebastian Vettel coming out victorious, with his third consecutive F1 title, for the Red Bull racing team. This could be a legend in the making.

The 25-year-old driver is the youngest triple champion of the world and also the youngest in the 63 seasons of the sport to win three titles in a row, eclipsing the marks set by Michael Schumacher and Ayrton Senna respectively!

With time on his side now, it remains to be seen if he can achieve the same legendary status as, his childhood hero and countryman, Michael Schumacher. This legend, too, put an end to a glittering career - which consists of seven world F1 titles -with the final race of the season in Brazil.

F1, this season, has been truly exciting with Vettel showing serious talent and stability, making him a true champion - especially since he has made comebacks from very difficult situations. After a slow start to a season, Vettel picked up pace towards the middle and performed brilliantly, especially in the final few races.

My favourite was the race in Abu Dhabi.

Here, after a penalty, Vettel had to start from the pit lane and still ended up making the podium position. A true champ this youngster is proving to be!

In the last race in Brazil, Vettel began the race with 13 points more than the title contender, Fernando Alonso. So after a very close and tense race, full of spins, where he was hit in the very first lap, Vettel had to start all over from the 22^nd position in rainy conditions. He still managed to finish sixth which was enough to win him the third F1 championship.

Now, it remains to be seen if Vettel has the desire, persistence and the will to get close or even beat the number of championship wins under Michael Schumacher’s belt. Comparisons have already been made, but some people still argue that Vettel has the fastest and the best car in the F1 format.

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his car in the pit lane during the qualifying session of the U.S. F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas November 17, 2012. REUTERS/Luca Bruno/Pool

Red Bull Formula One driver Sebastian Vettel of Germany steers his car in the pit lane during the qualifying session of the U.S. F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas November 17, 2012. REUTERS/Luca Bruno/Pool

This is ironic, as so did Schumacher - the Ferrari.

We will have to wait and see whether Vettel can dominate the Formula 1 like his legendary countryman.

Can he become the next legend of the sport?

Only time will tell.

However, one thing is for sure ─ the next season of the Formula 1, starting in March, 2013, will have you biting your nails!

Follow Bill on Twitter @bilal_mu

WRITTEN BY:
Bilal Muzaffar A freelance sports writer who would like to work as a professional sports analyst in the future and is currently doing his MS. A big football fan who also enjoys watching F1, tennis and cricket. He tweets @bilal__mu (https://twitter.com/bilal__mu)

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (56)

Rex Minor | 12 years ago | Reply L711, I do not over speed on motorways but the guy who drove his M5 at 300km mark died on german motorway this year because he had to use the break! He was a potential for racing competition. Rex Minor

Rex Minor | 12 years ago | Reply @lorna711: Why question the info based on your knowledge, when you could have a bit more ifo without any costs. Shumachers come from Kerpen, the village known for racing freaks who love fast driving and live near the motorway. Monaco and switzerland are used as a residence for tax reasons; though Michael shumacher spent more time in Italy with Ferari than in Monaco. But all this has nothing to do with the racing talents and should be of no interest to bloggers. You need go carts or old timers for swiss roads. The point I tried to make was that Shumachers and Vettel like are not champions because of accident or some miracle, but because of the environment they live in. What is the point you are trying to make? Have you an idea of the overspeed accidents on German motorways? Rex Minor

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lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Rex Minor: Rex, neither Schumacher or Vettel live in Germany. Yes, they are both originally from Germany but they now both live in Switzerland. The Swiss motorway speed limit is 120kmh. As for their personal vehicles I'm not sure what Vettel drives. Schumacher has a Fiat Abarth which has a whopping 133 horsepower. His other car is a Fiat Croma which is a large 5 door hatch family wagon that is front wheel drive & has 197 horse power. I think these facts show that these two great racers are not as you say "German production line racers." They are not flying along the Autobahn in high powered sports cars during their off time getting an advantage over other drivers. One last thing, 35% of the Autobahn does have speed limits.

Rex Minor | 12 years ago | Reply Shumachers and now Vettel, there is an assembly line of racing drivers in the land where people are born with golden hands and above average skill in maths, Engineering and Sports. Germany is the only country in the world which provides motorways without any speed limitations and manufactures high speed limousines and sport versions. This must provide some advantage over racing drivers who do not overspeed in their private cars on motorways. Rex Minor

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply I thought I was done posting on this blog but some of the funny comments were forwarded to my mail and i just had to reply @ Chaitanya Michael is only statistically the greatest driver ever, I would put Fangio at first, he was a true racer 5 Championship with 4 different teams, Ayrton Senna after him, greatest rain driver and pole positing achiever. Michael was a good driver in 2000-05 but he by far had the best car when he won them. Ferrari owned the tires.....tires were made with Ferrari cars in mind....did you know that? He is the only driver to be stripped of all his points because he crashed into Villeneuve in 1997. 2000-05 he did win championships but Ferrari with their influence and favoritism made sure he did. No one denies he is a great driver, like he winning a race the day after his mother died or him continuing and winning a race when Rolf had badly crashed. But he did not improve a worse team, the thing is when he stopped winning with Ferrari in the first he even tried jumping ships to Mclaren but talks fell through. Ferrari has always been a top level team and its true that they had some issues but anyone would leave Benneton for Ferrari. Lets go back to Benneton also...........they were repeatedly accused of breaking FIA rules and having tracion control, ABS and Launch control.......but charges were never filed because Senna had died and no one cared about the championship that year. It is also interesting to note that Alonso's car was called illegal mid-way through a season '05 because Ferrari pulled strings. Alonso fought his way back and won. Furthermore, Mercedes has been performing as per expectations these past 3 years, Hell Nico even took a win this year, Its just that Schumacher is old and can't compete with the youngsters and its natural, Team Owner has also said he thought Michael would perform better, and was consistently out-qualified by his team mate. Schumacher has always been called "statistically the greatest driver in F1" and there is a reason he is not outright called "the greatest". I am not sparking another argument but this is my take on what you said.

Chaitanya | 12 years ago | Reply I said this b4 n i say this again..... no driver ever decided to go to a weaker team n try to improve it!! Not Senna, Not Prost, Not Vettel,!! They r all gud drivers......but all of them jumped for good cars.....Michael did d opposite......He went to a team considered as a joke in d 90s.....had 3 hard fought wins in 1996 tat he truly deserved.......missed out the championship by a whisker in 97 n 98 ...n tat too he was in a weak car....not a williams or mclaren .....wud hve won it in 99 but broke his leg.... by dis time oder drivers mite hve quit d team,!!! but not michael!!! He saw it comin to him....n after 5 yrs of patience and hardwork he got it....n d car got better each year n so did he.....won 5 times in a row!!lost out in 2005 only bcause of d rules......came back strongly in 2006 but lost by a whisker again!!! We cud hve easily been looking at a 10-time champion dere!!!! 10 TIME!!!!! came back....but was let down badly by mercedes...... still performed his best....we hve seen great drives by him.....korea 2010 in d heavy rain, canada 2011 again in heavy rain proving just y he is d rainmaster!!! spa 2011.....italy 2011 were he showed great racecraft by defending hamilton for over 30 laps in a weak car....india 2011....were he played a perfect strategy n climbed up d order......d 1st 10 races of 2012.....especially valencia.....n to top it all....monaco....were he took pole in a track were d driver talent is more important dan d car's power....he showed us tat he definitely had it in him!!! i m not sayin tat oder drivers r bad.....but schumi proved time and again tat he forever is d greatest!!!!

MS | 12 years ago | Reply shumacher won two championships with benneton and could have easily continued with benneton a winning team but instead went to a non performing team called ferrari fougt a four year long battle in which he was disqualified and even broke his leg but still emerged out as winner for 5 continues time.But this guy called vettel still sticks with faster car and is refraining for taking a new challenge.Shumacher is greatest.

DarthVaderCEO | 12 years ago | Reply Man Schumacher did not loose he just decided to be nice and let others win. :-p Personally I feel Michael is an awesome driver and the 7 titles is proof of that no matter what you guys think. Truth is with Mercedes Michael could not make the bond. And it happens like that sometimes. Also like all the greats, when they come back usually they are not as good as they were simply because they loose a bit of the hunger to win. Look at Michael jordan, till this date the man has the most championships as well as he is the highest jumper in the sport. When he returned to play with the wizards, he just was not the same Michael. Same is true with Schumacher. I believe though had Michael been around for another 3 years, he might have gotten his groove back. If he had been behind the wheel of redbull with Vettel, I think we'd see see superman and son of superman. But for now we'll never know. Will Vettel be the new F1 king? Who knows.

Adeel Jawaid | 12 years ago | Reply Although Vettel is a great driver , it might be a little premature to compare him with Schumi at such an early stage of his career. It has to to be considered that the Ferrari team that Schumi joined in 1996 wasnt as dominant as it was in the early 2000's, yet Schumi transended the performance of the car and gave championship contendor Damon Hill a run for his money. As brilliant as Vettel's recent performances have been , he will have to prove his abilities in a mid tier Car if he is to be compared with the likes of Schumi. Alonso however , has proved himself to be a worthy successor to Schumacher and his current performances at Ferrari are reminiscent of Schumi's years at the team. It will be interesting to see Alonso and Vettel in one team which actually encourages team mates to race each other.

james | 12 years ago | Reply @Magic Man: Good analysis!. cheers J

james | 12 years ago | Reply Good xmas to all of you (pro-Vettel and anti-Vettel) and I hope that 2013 will bring us all exciting races!. Hope you bookmark this blog and we can all have a good time again after the first race. That's all I have to say for now and of course as you all know.... Come on Alonso!. cheers guys! J

Magic Man | 12 years ago | Reply What James says is true. Ecclestone wants vettel to win, he has admitted on tv on one or two occassions that he always has a bias for Vettel to win. When Lewis won in 2008, bernie couldn't stomach it. He forced fia to deem button's 2009 car as legal even though it had the illegal blown diffuser speed/cornering aid. Now that Jenson was a champion he could parade to the the British public as being White male, bernie held McLaren to a favour they owed him for not kicking them out of the sport during their spygate crisis. Ron Dennis was to step down, whitmarsh (bernie's boy inside McLaren) appointed as new team principal, and Jenson brought in from brawnF1 as reigning champion to diminish hamilton's influence in McLaren. The idea is for the McLaren team to keep trying to help Jenson, by sabotage or any means necessary, score more points than Lewis in order to say Jenson is faster or better than Lewis, whilst Vettel was to be supported and made into a dominant champion who no one can defeat. McLaren only decides to let Lewis race when they discover they will lose position in the contractors championship. Coulthard is bernie's television mouthpiece to keep praising Jenson, whilst discrediting Lewis or putting negativity and Lewis in one place (listen closely to past commentaries and it's all too clear). It's been all to clear a trap and Lewis was held in the middle of all this. I personally wrote to Lewis when I discovered all this and I messages him on twitter several time. He finally write back one day in private tweet to me. He said, "Thanks. This proves my eyes haven't been deceiving me but I still believe in what I can do for this team, McLaren". I warned him that he would have to leave McLaren if he ever wanted to become a formula one champion again. I thought it would be Ferrari, but at this time, Mercedes is simply the perfect team for him at this stage. I fully expect Hamilton to win championships at Mercedes.

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Chaitanya: Hi Chaitanya, I love Schumi too! Such a shame that his return was plagued by that ball & chain that Mercedes called a car. Either way, win or lose I still enjoyed seeing him on and off the track. I already miss him. :-(

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: Thank you Kaustubh, I hope you also have a wonderful Christmas & a happy and prosperous new year! I hope the 2013 F1 season is as exciting as 2012 has been! It's clear that we are all very passionate about the sport. I must admit that I am already going through F1 withdrawal, march seems so far away! It would be great to cross paths next year, hopefully it will be in the beginning of the season instead of the end, that way we can chat race by race! Cheers & Best Wishes, Lorna :-D

Chaitanya | 12 years ago | Reply Schumi had a weak car until 1999....it was only 2000 n later tat he got d best car!! Vettel has d best car frm d beginning itself!!! Schumi worked very hard!!! i like vettel....but schumi truly is d greatest!!!

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply James wish you a happy Christmas too and hope you have a good year...........loren711 wish you the same too......and lets agree to disagree and hopefully continue our convo next year!!! Cheers to you all!!!

Xim | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: I think the implicit assumption here is that given an equal car, Alonso would have been a better driver. This is not about Ferrari and RedBull. RB is definitely a much more intelligent and enterprising camp considering the three victories on the trot. Ferrari is just now adjusting to the spending caps and should be able to put up a better car next year. The car that Alonso had was at best a mid-field race car. Just look at the time differences between McLaren/RB and Ferrari. Alonso dragged this decidedly average car to the top of the grid which is a massive achievement and he was pretty happy with his achievements in the post-race conference in Brazil. Vettel is great, Alonso is awesome!

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: Time for your annual eye exam? I did make a comment and an argument, remember that big long one about an hour a go, look up! Oh and sorry for having a sense of humour, at least I have one! I think you are taking things way to personally, no one is trying to attack you. Sorry if I offended you in any way. There is nothing wrong with a little F1 rivalry, this is supposed to be fun! :-)

James | 12 years ago | Reply I am still here, I didn't go anyway mate, I still live in Australia and I get my hotmail notifications. I really wish Vettel the best to him and his familiy this xmas. But when he is back to racing, I wish he blows up the car in the first corner.

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply Pathetic!!! Anyway i am off........it started off with a good argument was a good argument was James was here...at least he knew what he was talking about.....

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: No worries, James and I will be sure to send Alonso a memo so that he doesn't go save your area.

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply @ lorna711 You laugh pretty easily don't you?

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply Rather have ignoramuses like you disagree with me than recommend my comment......is this how Alonso fans go about it.......when they don't have comebacks and arguments they look at recommends......kinda fits......just like Alonso.......when he loses the championship because of the race he tries to win it by making ludicrous accusations against a proper pass!!!

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @james: Great comment James, I almost laughed my head off! Yes I too think Alonso should come and fix the world, maybe he can get all these Vettel junkies off your back!! I scrolled back through all the pro Vettel comments and noticed that they pretty much have zero recommends but you have multiple. Hmmmm, maybe the other Alonso fans like us are too scared of these Vettel-O-Maniacs to post a comment?

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply Why do you think Webber was angry? Because he never thought Red Bull would pull something like that and it was just a matter of time before you pulled something that happened 2 seasons ago to show what the Red Bull paddock is like......it is the only case where you can show where Red Bull has favoured a racer...Now, lets go a few season into Ferrari's history, Ferrari friendly team eh? Which team terminated Kimi's contract thereby ending his career in F1.....Ferrari.....which team brought Barrichello to tears by letting Schumacher go ahead....Ferrari......just because Massa is okay with playing second fiddle don't think its all well and good.........if Massa was a bit more oriented towards furthering his own career.....that paddock would have been hell.........Rob Smedley's famous words on the radio show the beauty of Ferrari.......

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @james: Hi James, I'm still agreeing with you mate! :-D

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: Red Bull DOES play favourites! Poor Mark Webber is constantly having to take a backseat to his "Lordship Vettel." Do you remember the race where the Red Bull crew put Webber's only remaining front wing on Vettel's car? What if Webber had needed it? Oh sorry Mark, you will have to retire from the race because we gave your spare parts to golden boy! Vettel won that race and Webber was 2nd, during the post race interview Webber was asked about how he felt about the team giving his wing to Vettel, he replied by saying "I'm sure the team are happy with today's result." He wouldn't comment any further, he didn't need to because right after he made the comment he reached over for the water jug in front of Vettel, filled up his glass, took one sip and then slammed the glass down so bloody hard that all the water flew out the top! Now to me that's a clear sign that not all is as rosey or fair in the Red Bull garage. There have also been occasions when Webber has been told to hang back and let "His Lordship" pass him and when Webber doesn't immediately comply you hear "box box box" being barked at him and he is forced to pit! Before the Abu Dhabi race both Massa & Webber were asked what they were going to do to help their teammates win, Massa replied saying "anything I can" Webber said "NOTHING, I plan to race like I have all season & get as many points as I can." You say Ferrari plays favourites & Red Bull doesn't, look a little harder. What I see in the Ferrari camp is honest friendly cooperation, in what you call a squeaky clean Red Bull camp is forced cooperation. I sum it up as there is definitely some Brown Bull** going on in Red Bull!

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply @James This has been fun and you are right, Alonso is probably the best driver in the circuit now technically, but Vettel deserved this championship as much as Alonso, Alonso played his mind games and put a lot of pressure on him and yet he managed to come out on top, so i would never ever claim that Vettel didn't deserve this title and yeah its a pity for Alonso, lost by 1 point 2007 by 4 point 2010 and now by 3 points.....let's see if he takes it away next year......Cheerio!

James | 12 years ago | Reply @Kaustubh Suresh: you never know

James | 12 years ago | Reply One more thing guys, why don't we just have a beer tonight (Australia) and celebrate Alonso's victory? cheers J

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply Shifting the from racing to fixing the world might be a good career move......maybe he will be the best at that.......though i highly doubt it!!!

james | 12 years ago | Reply Ok, this conversation is pointless now. We are not going to fix the world. Only Alonso can.

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply How is it rubbish? i didn't make these facts up, its available to everyone.....if Alonso is light years ahead of the rest we wouldn't be having this discussion.....at least not on a blog titled "Is Vettel the next Schumacher"....Vettel has clearly shown what he can do when he has a dominating car but that was in 2011 where he took the championship with 122 points. This yeah though his car was best in certain races, it was as much any other racers championship to win as Vettel's. 8 different winners...it was as level a playing field as you could expect!

james | 12 years ago | Reply Love this battle between Alonso's and Vettel's fans!

Xim | 12 years ago | Reply @AMS97F1: Not sure which F1 do you see. The speed traps are generally set at where the straight line speeds are the highest. The RB is known to have a high downforce config allowing it to carry more speed in the corners - this has the effect of reducing the straight line speed.

james | 12 years ago | Reply Wow!, no comment on those. Just rubbish if you excuse me. One thing is clear, Alonso years light ahead of the rest, you like it or not.

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply Ecclestone wants Vettel to win? That is funniest comment yet, the reason Red Bull didnt dominate was because of the FIA banning their innovative exhaust diffuser, further more FIA realised what kind of packages Red Bull will be making and banned them when these projects were in development stage, how to you compare a dope fiend like Armstrong and a good team like Red Bull? In fact Ferrari are the ones who have really been messing with the sport, did you notice that all the team radio messages Fernando gives are in Spanish except for the ones he wants the stewards to hear like having a gap between of 20 seconds between him and the car in front of him, so he calls for a safety car saying the track is dirty and voila....there comes a safety car...and lets not forget about Ferrari controlling the tires in the Schumacher era, sure they won loads of championships and are the team thats been there since the beginning, furthermore, the crash of Nico Hulkenberg was nothing but a racing incident and they gave him a drive through.....you think Alonso didnt benefit from that? The incident in Japan wasnt even brought up till Alonso lost the championship because in Suzuka he had already lost his lap because of Kimi's yellow flag. Finally lets not forget Alonso's history what with him blocking Hamilton in qualifying and Nelson Piquet Jr crashing out for him and he was also involved in spygate and was turned witness against his team. Vettel has no such history and neither does Red Bull, instead what they have are the genius of Adrian Newey, leadership of Chritian Horner and capabilities of Sebastian Vettel. 3 time drivers champion and 3 times constructors champion with no one to answer to!!!

Zane | 12 years ago | Reply And how does Vettel sets the fastest time in the wets in the rain with a heavily damaged car. So you say that he is in the fastest car???

AMS97F1 | 12 years ago | Reply @Xim: Are you off your head? The RB is the slowest in the speed traps. @James - Most poles? I think not, that was Hamilton with 7 to Vettel's 6. Whoever won, deserved it, the championship belongs to Vettel. And just so you know, Vettel didnt have the best car all season, only from Singapore to India was his car the best, and he won all the races he was supposed to win. He had luck along the way, but Alonso in 2010 gained masses of points from Seb's engine/car failiures. So learn the reality of what really happened, then comment.

james | 12 years ago | Reply It would fantastic if someone had the time to pick all the dodgy things that Vettel did for every single race of the championship, specially the ones who started at the back, and put it all together and post it to YouTube. I've got a feeling that Red Bull is going to be something similar to what happened to Lance Amstrong, as one day, someone will speak and disclose what was really happening behind the doors in the Red Bull garage. Also and unfortunately Ecclestone loves Vettel and I am sure that he has helped him to win, I don't know how but I got that sick feeling. (A clear example : Instead penalizing Vettel with the issue with Alonso in the Qualifying, he was just told off, question is WHY?, Exactly!, there were already interests created to make him world champion for the 3rd time.

Kaustubh Suresh | 12 years ago | Reply I completely disagree with James, Vettel had the best car only post Europe, till then the Renault engine was have alternator issues and consequently KERS problems, he was knocked out by Karthikeyan from a solid 4th to a pointless 11th and lets not forget his comeback from Abu Dhabi and Sao Paolo, sure we can say he was lucky in these two races but the truth is there was no reason for him to be in that position in the first place at least in Abu Dhabi, if you can give the team credit for a good car they they have to take responsibility for what happened at Yas Marina, further more Vettel had a 4 stop race at Interlagos as compared to the 3 stop of Alonso and Button and most importantly lets not forget, Red Bull never plays favorites where as Ferrari is notorious for having a number 1.....the breaking of seal at Austen and the giving away position at Brazil, and finally lets not forget that Ferrari had race pace, it only lacked qualifying pace, on race day with DRS it was car worthy of winning. So to say Vettel who has time and again proven he is brilliant on pole and off late proven the he can fight back from the back won because of his car and Alonso truly deserved the championship begs the question why we had a record number of 7 different winners in the first 7 races?

Ibrahim K | 12 years ago | Reply People forget the schumacher era where the scarlet car just dominated the sport. It's man and machine that together make a champion. Had schumacher not left Jordan or had joined Jaguar racing or Toyota etc he wouldn't have one a single title. I don't think personally Alonso would ever win a title in the near future because he has passed his peak until and unless regulations drastically change. Alonso a great driver no doubt but it takes more than luck, a good car to win 3 championships in a row. One should understand it is formula-1 racing not a Pakistani Civic vs Cultus race Vettel is a true througbred racer. It takes mental strength to recover from pitlane and spinning on the first turn to get back. Give Vettel the Maclaren car and he'l be at the podium a lap before. Ferrari is in the sport since it's early days and i bet the car is not worthless as the HRT''S or the Caterhams come on people second in the constructors championship. The drivers could not extract the extra kink out from the ferrar's which Vettel was successfully able to do so with the RB8.

Mitchel | 12 years ago | Reply @Uzair: Where you watching the same season everyone else was mate? Rosburg qualified on pole, won a race an was fastest lap a few times throughout the season. He was also ahead of Schumacher in the drivers championship.

Kaizen | 12 years ago | Reply its too early to say that SV could replace MS. no doubt he is talented but we can't write off LH, KR, FA yet. 2014 with new rules would be an interesting year. I personally believe L Hamilton was robbed off the title this year. He lost out on potentially over 100 points due to no fault of his own. 2 mechanical failures whilst leading with a considerable gap and thrice taken out by inexperienced and arrogant drivers.....that did radically change the championship leader board this year. @James: "Unfortunately F1 is a lot about the car and not the driver." Not really, F1 is and always been about a combination of man, machine and a good strategy. Maldonado had a decently fast car this season but with less experience & little patience he showed the world what he is capable of...Ferrari was publicly humiliated before the start of the season due to aerodynamics and speed but they finished 2nd. thanks to experienced Alonso as well as his team.... @Uzair: I disagree with your thoughts on Fangio & Senna. Comparing their F1 career with Schumi is not only unfair but totally bonkers. Fangio drove in the most difficult and unsafe conditions. you could only had one accident and that's it. gone! he won 5 championships. that requires a lot of talent and balls. Senna shone through his sheer natural talent and his dedication for racing. Senna was in direct competition with Mansell, Prost, Hill etc. He won 3 championships & 65 poles. Any doubts about his talents. i would suggest you watch 1992 Monaco GP, 1991 Brazilian GP( which he won with a malfunctioned gearbox), 1993 Donnington Park ( from 5th to 1st place in 40 seconds before the 1st lap even ended). Senna is regarded as the drivers' driver due to his focused approach and his fearless attitude. In fact such was the rivalry that Prost had a clause in his contract to prevent Senna as his team mate. Schumi no doubt was extremely talented and statistically biggest champion, but he didn't have much competition during his time as Senna did. He was dominant through out as there weren't any drivers with the fastest car who could challenge him until off course Alonso & Raikkonen came. Neither other teams had deep pockets as Ferrari did. Ferrari's intentions were clear, they wanted to win trophys and they wanted to do with MS. His team mates were there as 2nd drivers and their job was Not to race with him but to help him won races. Unlike McLaren where Hamilton & Button race their heart out and don't give favours.

Fahad Raza | 12 years ago | Reply The only driver Formula One has seen was Aryton Senna . Micheal Schumacher couldn't replace him, and sure can't be replaced by Sebastian Vettel.

slamdg | 12 years ago | Reply Alonso always had bad qualifying, but for the race his car was good - equivalent to McLaren and Red Bull in the second half of the season. Their straight line speed was definitely better than Red Bull. Alonso did what he could with the car he had, and it wasn't good enough. Vettel also had couple of DNFs this season, and luck is part of the game. Alonso was enormously lucky to win at Malaysian GP, and the other rain hit races, but I don't see anyone talking about it. In all fairness Vettel won the championship, and he deserves it more than anybody else.

KellyW | 12 years ago | Reply @James: Vettel won his first F1 race in Torro Rosso from pole in 2008 - a car few believe could ever win (and never since), a car before his membership stuggled in the teens for finish. Vettel finished 4th in 2007 in Torro Rosso in China, and almost finished 3rd in 2007 Japan Grand Prix in Torro Rosso as well if he hadn't hit Weber during safety car period thanks to Hamilton's erratic moves up front. Don't get me wrong, Alonso is totally deserving in 2012. He was unbelievable and very much moved me. I would not be upset if he had won, though I've been rooting for Vettel since 2007. The same Vettel will be fighting for his next championship, just like he fought for 12th from the back during his first races in F1. That is why I love this kid, not because of his achievement, but his focus, determination, and uninhibited spirit to be the best. The moment when Hamilton, Alonso, and Vettel were standing on the podium in Texas was a moment that reminds me how lucky I am to be witnessing one of the golden eras when great talents collide.

Xim | 12 years ago | Reply I agree with James. Vettel was lucky in AbuDhabi. With multiple safety car inductions, the lead was shrunk for him down to nothing. Let's see what he can do with an inferior car with a less than stellar downforce and a compromised straight line speed. Alonso has by far been the best driver in recent years. The F2012 couldn't even compete with Lotus and Williams at times. Vettel happens to be in the right place at the right time. You give the same car to Hamilton, Button, Kimi or Alonso and see if they lose the championship.

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @James: Hi James, I loved your comment! You hit the nail on the head and I agree 110% :-)

lorna711 | 12 years ago | Reply @Uzair: I'm not sure if you were napping during this season. Schumi's teammate Nico Rosberg consistently out qualified and placed higher at almost every track this year! You may want to go to the F1 website and check the driver's standings and final points for the season.

James | 12 years ago | Reply Vettel is a good driver, probably top 5. On the other side we see Alonso, top 1. Unfortunately F1 is a lot about the car and not the driver. Alonso has shown to all of us how good he is as the car wasn't fast enough. I would love to see Vettel in an inferior car and see what he does. Vettel was lucky because he was in the fastest car and got most of the pole positions. In F1, when you get pole it means mostly a win for sure. It is not fair to see Vettel win the championship as it wasn't belong to him but Alonso. I don;t think Vettel is going to win anything else. Alonso is gonna take over now and is going to be his pain, I cannot wait to see justice finally.

Zain | 12 years ago | Reply I hope it does not happen. Although, we like him but it is ruining the season when only one car is dominating. But yes, with this season, we saw him fighting from way beyond to the podium which was a treat to watch and sealed the lips of his critics. I would love to see Hamilton winning championships with Mercedes and Alonso as well, at least, once with Ferrari.

Uzair | 12 years ago | Reply Vettel is a terrific driver, as are Alonso and Hamilton and Kimi, but Schumi stands out for his total dedication, work ethic, and team leadership and loyalty even in tough times, diametrically opposite to great champions of the past such as Fangio and Senna who would jump to the fastest car. Its a shame and a pity that Mercedes provided Schumi with a dog of a car for his comeback, but even so he was qualifying and racing much better than his much younger teammate Nico Rosberg this year.

Pessimist | 12 years ago | Reply Vettel is a good driver and I congratulate him for winning three titles on the trot. However, I was a bit disappointed this season. I was really hoping Alonso would get the title. He narrowly missed out. For me, Vettel had the fastest car and he also had lady luck on his side. Hamilton had to retire atleast two times this season during the race due to no fault of his own. In the Brazil GP, I thought Vettel was taken out during the first lap, but he sure does have some luck ;) Congratulations Vettel! Bring on 2013!

Kiril Varbanov (@Kiril_Varbanov) | 12 years ago | Reply Hopefully he is not. F1 lost quite a lot when MSC was dominating.

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Formula 1: Is Vettel the next Schumacher?

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