Vettel, Vettel Uber Alles

All is well in the world. A Limey has won Wimbledon and a Kraut has won at the Nürburgring.

Do you see what happens when tires are only part of the storyline and not the entire story? We get a close race that goes down to the wire, and we get the best car and the best driver winning. Sebastian Vettel finally won his home Grand Prix, edging Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean for an all-Renault powered podium. Vettel added to his lead over Fernando Alonso, who finished 4th in the F138 Ferrari.

I'm getting a sense of deja vu. It's like the season is starting over again. And in a way that's true with the new/old tire construction making a debut Sunday. It's like we're back in Melbourne. Mercedes are once again struggling to convert great qualifying performances into great race performances. And Lotus are incredibly strong, just as they were before Monaco. One constant is what Vettel and Red Bull are doing.

It's really special to watch, and I feel as though some of the critics are missing out. Those who claim Vettel is lucky or argue that the car is responsible for the success of the driver are failing to appreciate how remarkable the combination has worked, over and over and over, from Grand Prix to Grand Prix, from qualifying to raceday.

Look at the other teams. All of them fluctuate up and down, having a few good races, a few bad ones. Lotus looked very sharp yesterday, yet they are 4th in the constructors' standings because of their inconsistency. Mercedes are second in the standings but struggled yesterday, and also struggled before their covert Pirelli test. Ferrari are closing in on Mercedes, but even Alonso admits that they've lost significant pace. And McLaren are in 6th, their 12 point combined performance yesterday was their BEST of the season.

There's parity in the other F1 teams. Mercedes look good for 3 races, then Lotus charges toward the front, then Ferrari dazzles with a few strong performances. The only team that remains steadily strong is Red Bull. And instead of trying to find fault with that, and instead of harboring hope that heroic matador Fernando Alonso slays the bull (as NBC Sport's Will Buxton and Steve Matchett seem eager to see, every week trying to map out a way for Alonso to win despite his car's inadequacies), just sit back and appreciate the heights being reached by this driver and this team.

We're witnessing Formula 1 history being written by this 26-year old driver and this team which is in its 9th season. It's incredible to behold. This was his 30th win, only 1 shy of tying Nigel Mansell for 5th all-time, 2 behind Alonso for 4th. His 27.27% win rate is better than Prost, Senna, and Stewart.

A few side thoughts from yesterday's race:

I'm glad the cameraman struck by Mark Webber's tire is okay. He suffered some broken ribs, a broken collarbone, and a concussion. After the death of a marshal in Canada, I'm glad Formula 1 isn't adding to their list of track worker fatalities. These men and women working the race assume a significant amount of risk, with a relatively slim slice of the glitz, glamour, and glory pie that F1 brings to town. Red Bull were fined 30,000 Euros for the unsafe release, rightfully so.

Felipe Massa might have cashed his check with Ferrari. He attributed his spinout to his own error, then claimed he couldn't get the car back in gear. This is his latest race-ending incident of the season. He's only scored 12 points in the last 4 races. How interesting will the silly season be if there are open seats at Red Bull AND Ferrari? And with McLaren's struggles, don't rule out there being a vacancy in Woking as well.

This wasn't a typical Vettel yawnfest. He had to sweat for this one. I couldn't help but be reminded of another German driver. One of Michael Schumacher's most impressive attributes was his ability to respond to the gauntlets laid down by his opponents. Vettel did this yesterday. He pushed as hard as he needed to push, when he needed to push, and he never gave Grosjean or Raikonnen an opportunity to pass him. His ability to find that extra tenth of a second when it mattered most was very Schumacherian.

The Hungarian Grand Prix is an agonizing 3 weeks away. Vettel has never won that event. With 3 weeks I'm sure the teams challenging Vettel and Red Bull will have analyzed themselves and there will be more reshuffling from 2nd place back. But not at the front. At this point in F1 history, how can you pick anyone but Vettel to win?

Photo Credits:
AP Photo/Michael Probst
Mark Thompson/Getty Images

British Grand Prix: Both the Best and the Worst Race of the Season

Who in Europe is happier than Nico Rosberg after the British Grand Prix? The Michelin people in France and the Porsche people in Germany.

Pirelli's faulty tires more than just influenced Sunday's race, they posed a real danger to the drivers, both in the cars that suffered tire failure, and in the cars behind that were showered with shards of rubber and steel. There have been whispers of Michelin returning to F1, and the tire failures at Silverstone will only turn those whispers into shouts.

Why are Porsche happy? Because of how well Mark Webebr performed after a bad start. And keep in mind that Les Mans has a rolling start, so Webber's most glaring weakness as an F1 driver won't matter in his sports car career. Les Mans is also a race that's all about recovering from adversity and keeping a cool head while doing so, waiting for the race to come to you. Mr. Webber has that cool head that Porsche will need at Le Mans in 2014.

Back to Pirelli...

A tire manufacturer shouldn't be the biggest story of the World Championship. In the early season an epidemic of wear-phobia had engineers slowing their cars down and dictating conservative lap times. Then Pirelli and Mercedes had their 1000km test, which weirdly coincided with Mercedes finally figuring out how to improve the previously atrocious wear-rates on their rear tires. And now this weekend's tire failures not only dramatically affected the results of a race, they put the drivers in unacceptable jeopardy.

Thankfully Silverstone has generous run-off areas. Otherwise Sergio Perez's car might have tattooed a wall instead of harmlessly skidding over asphalt and gravel. The same goes for Felipe Massa. Thankfully the debris that sprayed Kimi Raikonnen's face wasn't that substantial. Thankfully when Fernando Alonso was behind Perez, at the very last instant before the failure Alonso moved to his right instead of left, a nanosecond before Perez's tire disintegrated. Had Alonso gone left, his car and possibly his skull would have been struck at high-speed by a large, and heavy, slab of rubber.

The cause of the failures is still being investigated. Had Pirelli not been at the focal point of issues all year long, then perhaps the initial speculation would focus more on the track being a problem, not the tires.

The importance of driver safety will hopefully unite all parties involved (the FIA, the 11 teams, and Pirelli) to strive for solutions to these tire issues. Allan Simonsen's death at Le Mans a week ago reemphasizes how dangerous racing is. And how even though there hasn't been an F1 fatality since Ayrton Senna in 1994, the reason behind that impressive safety record is relentless effort to keep the drivers as safe as possible.

It's a shame there's such a short time between now and Germany. Usually I can't stand waiting longer than a week for the next F1 race, but with so many tire issues, and another old circuit with old curbs in the Nürburgring, I'm not sure everything can be satisfactorily resolved in time.

As far as the non-tire related elements of the race, which have been a secondary story all year long, Vettel was finally bitten by bad luck, as Alonso prophesied a few weeks ago. He was cruising toward another impressive-yet-boring Vettel victory when he lost drive on the pit-straight.

Vettel might be lucky that Raikonnen was unable to fully capitalize on the misfortune. Although Alonso is closest to Vettel in points, Alonso's car doesn't seem capable of winning a Championship, no matter who drives it. Especially as other cars like the Red Bulls and Mercedes improve their pace on a much steeper curve than Ferrari has. In my opinion, Raikonnen in a Lotus is much more of a threat to Vettel than Alonso in a Ferrari.

Raikonnen didn't stop for tires during the last safety car period and it cost him. He tumbled from 2nd to 5th and lost 8 precious Championship points. He started the season maximizing the point opportunities available to him, grinding out the best finish he could given circumstances. Lately, though, that team has left points on the table.

Thankfully for Vettel, Rosberg and teammate Webber are not contenders for the Championship. Then again, Rosberg has scored 60 points in the last three races, all since that secret "safety" test with Pirelli. Rosberg only scored 22 points in the previous 5 races. Mercedes and Rosberg have certainly figured out quite a bit since that test. The Silver Arrows have had speed in them all season long. Now that they've apparently resolved their wear problems, both Rosberg and Hamilton could climb their way up the standings.

Photo Credits:
Lars Baron/Getty Images
Mark Thompson/Getty Images

Did Red Bull Get Too Cute at Shanghai?

Did Red Bull concede qualifying, or were they conceited?

Three weeks of intense media attention after the Multi 21 controversy, three weeks of introspection, three weeks of putting pressure on themselves, three weeks of figuring out how to fix something that wasn't broken. Is that why Red Bull decided to (try to) outsmart the entire field in qualifying? Is that why they rolled the dice and attempt to win the Chinese Grand Prix before the race even started?

Red Bull were clearly pushing themselves this weekend, perhaps too far. First it was insufficient fuel in Mark Webber's car, forcing him to withdraw from Q2, and eventually be forced to start the race from the pits. Then in Q3, Red Bull didn't let Sebastian Vettel go for pole. Instead they slapped a set of medium tires on the RB9 chassis and patted themselves on the back for their brilliance.

It didn't work in the race. As pit stops cycled, Vettel occasionally found himself at the front of the field. But the race was never his to win. He was always chasing. Tasked with conserving tires and running most of his laps against opponents with fresher rubber. And I don't know why Red Bull decided to rely solely on strategy to win this race.

The RB9 chassis is at its best when it's in free air. And Sebastian Vettel is at his best when he is pushing the car to the limit. So why did Red Bull bury their car in the pack, and why did they restrain the natural (occasionally out of control) initiative of their driver?

It doesn't make sense. You've won 3 straight constructors and drivers championships. You don't need strategy to win. Especially not such a unique, all-or-nothing tactic. You can race straight up.

When Red Bull errs, it's glaring. Because it doesn't happen often. It's like when Bill Belichick makes a coaching mistake, or Tiger Woods has a triple bogey. Any issues at Red Bull become a major story. What's frightening is that even with this incorrect strategy, Vettel still managed to finish 4th, within a breath of 3rd. And I think that's a story in and of itself. An unheralded strength of this team is their ability to recover from their mistakes (See: Abu Dhabi last year). Whereas in most teams, mistakes snowball and compound.

When other teams and drivers show their humanity, like when Ferrari and Fernando Alonso took themselves out of the Malaysian Grand Prix on lap 2, it doesn't draw the same attention or criticism as when Red Bull screw up.

Alonso is the perfect storm of media darling in F1. He drives for the most storied team in racing, AND he is also the underdog. It's a perfect combination. And so Alonso's mistakes are briefly mentioned, then shelved and forgotten. The same goes for the team he drives for. And when Alonso drives his Ferrari to victory, his triumphs are emphasized.

With Vettel and Red Bull, triumph is expected. So their wins are less gushed over by the media, and their failures are stories that feed the F1 media for multiple weeks. It's what happens when you're successful.

Red Bull tried to be too clever this weekend. And a team that drove a simple strategy and relied on their driver won the race. All three teams on the podium relied on their car and their driver to do their best. It's strange that the team with double-triple World Championships didn't trust themselves enough to do the same. Red Bull need to remember why they are successful, and it isn't because of Q3 tire strategy.

Photo Credit:
Vladimir Rys/Getty Images