Drivers who set the bar

[mnmracer]

I think we should add Fangio to the list as he was clearly the first driver to set the bar.

Yeah, I agree. Not only by being the first but by showing that to be fastest you have to be fast AND have a fast car.

Don't say that out loud. Smikle will explode (and lose his reading ability) if he hears you praise a driver who wins in a fast car.

[Lurk]

Problem was not Vettel having a fast car I think, but having the fastest by a big margin.

Schumacher was in the same position during 2000-2004 but he shown before and after that that he has(d?) something else. Vettel... well he is fast, no doubt about it. But he wouldn't have won 2 championships in equals car and didn't show that much on a normal car: quick but nothing else (and don't say "Monza 2008", even Bourdais did great, it was a fast car in these conditions).
So nothing more than Hamilton with a healthier life or Maldonado with a working brain.


Talking about Hamitlon, has a driver ever been a "people" like him? (not sure I was clear, english is not my native language...)
I mean, I think every teenage girl knows who is he: driving some car and Nicole Scherzinger boyfriend.
I'm not sure it could be view "as setting the bar" but I think we'll see more of that kind in the 10 next years...

[jdlive]

When I saw the title of this thread, I knew people were going to mention Hamilton (what has he done exactly apart from 1 lucky shot WC win?) and dismiss Vettel (2 seasons of sheer dominance). Why is it that he (Vettel) rubs people the wrong way? He's by far one of the lesser dicks in the current field.

You fanboy guys are so funny

[marcush.]

Hamsi was really setting the bar in terms of coming into the sport and not really taking any time to adapt..He had the benefit of starting his F1career with Mclaren of todays and having spent practically his whole racing career with support from Macs...but still that was really something .
Yes Schumacher ,Vettel,Alaonso did not have that advantage carwise but still it was something you would not expect.

[strad]

Nuvolari...He set the bar for all who followed.

[bhall]

I'd add Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and/or Sebastian Vettel as 'the young ones'.

While there have been young drivers througout history, I feel since the early 2000's we started to see really young drivers on a regular basis. I feel it really started with a young Jenson Button in the Williams, having only driven Formula Ford and Formula Three and just 20 years old. In the following years, we've seen Räikkönen, Massa and Alonso (and later of course Hamilton, Vettel, Alguersuari) also make it to Formula One at a really young age.

Fernando Alonso is the first of that young generation to become a real great.

Sebastian Vettel, well, his records speak for himself. While Alonso is the first 'young' to become a great, Vettel's path is of another level. Hamilton's case is not that unique, in that he started his F1 career in a top team. Vettel is a different level in that he showed himself in a slow car, earned his top seat and at a still incredibly young age, is one of the top drivers who it feels like he's been around for ages.

I can't take you on again.. certinly not.. but this?!! What about those Rocketships... RB5,6,7? and no champion teammate. You gotta be kidding man. Vettel didn't raise the bar, Newey did.

We know it now, Vettel is a mediocre driver in a rocketship.
Whenever a Red Bull wins it's all down to the car and thanks to Adrian Newey who has never designed a non-winning car. Whenever another driver wins it's because they dragged a 5-sec slower car to the finish on god-like skills never seen before. Of course all those experts praising him and saying it's not just the car are completely wrong, who knows better than an armchair expert, right?

You're starting to sound like a broken record. Come back when you have something new to tell.

Pot, kettle. Kettle, pot.

[Websta]

So I guess Mika Hakkinen wasn't all that great either because he only won championships in a Newey car

[timbo]

Nuvolari...He set the bar for all who followed.

Hell, yeah!
But what about Rosemeyer?

[PlatinumZealot]

So I guess Mika Hakkinen wasn't all that great either because he only won championships in a Newey car

Setting the bar doesn't necessarily mean you have to be great and being great doesn't mean you have set a bar higher. Setting the bar means you are setting a level of performance that has not been done/seen before. You are setting a higher standard.

Vettel has done great performances, but IMO he didn't really set any bar than what Newey's Red Bull's could not afford.

Most poles in a season is probalby the best example.. it is a new record for poles per season for a driver and car.. but a driver can't get it if he doesn't have a rocket ship. This is instead a bar set for the car. Newey set the bar for this achievement with his ultra dominating RB6 /RB7. Agree?

[marcush.]

nsmikle really has a point.sure Vettel brought something to RedBull ,as he did to TR ..he is championship material ! But that´s true for Button ,Massa ,Raikkonen,Alonso or even old Keke Rosberg.
Did these bring anything in terms of a totally new level into the sport? NO .But who cares ? Not everyone can rewrite history and even if Alonso would score 5 Titles in their careers it was Fangio who did this first and Schumacher who topped them all and STILL is competitive enough to score podiums and pole positions (as did Barrichello)
So I´d say Barrichello must count as one setting the bar in terms of being considered a useful addition to a team for longer than anyone else...It remains to be seen if Schumacher can top him ... I always thought patrese would not be topped ....

[mnmracer]

So I´d say Barrichello must count as one setting the bar in terms of being considered a useful addition to a team for longer than anyone else...It remains to be seen if Schumacher can top him ... I always thought patrese would not be topped ....

You think Barrichello has been a more useful addition more often than Schumacher? Wow...

[marcush.]

no.
my point is he set the bar in participating in more GPs than anyone else.And he found a paid drive each and every year ,right?

[strad]

Nuvolari...He set the bar for all who followed.

Hell, yeah!
But what about Rosemeyer?

Another of the top notch racers that have indeed set the bar just that little bit higher. ; )

[ParanoiD]

So I guess Mika Hakkinen wasn't all that great either because he only won championships in a Newey car

Setting the bar doesn't necessarily mean you have to be great and being great doesn't mean you have set a bar higher. Setting the bar means you are setting a level of performance that has not been done/seen before. You are setting a higher standard.

Vettel has done great performances, but IMO he didn't really set any bar than what Newey's Red Bull's could not afford.

Most poles in a season is probalby the best example.. it is a new record for poles per season for a driver and car.. but a driver can't get it if he doesn't have a rocket ship. This is instead a bar set for the car. Newey set the bar for this achievement with his ultra dominating RB6 /RB7. Agree?

I am thinking that it is both. The fact that the combination of both tackle so many records last year. By "sets the bar" i was referring to the records they set last year. Not per-race performance.

[megz]

Of the drivers on the grid right now most have raised the bar in some way shape or form.

Vettel: Raising the bar using his finger. Also really young and two world titles or something.
Webber: Mid-race vomming raising the bar on team-mate prepared food.
Alonso: Raising the bar for Spanish drivers and the young with bushy eyebrows.
Massa: I said most drivers.
Hamilton: Raising the bar for the melanin-rich motorsportists.
Button: The most mediocre world-champ since Villeneuve.
Schumacher: 7 world championships; some more legit than others.
Rosberg: The bar raised for beauty and multi-linguism.
Raikkonen: The bar for amount of --- not given has never been set higher.
Grosjean: Many seemed to believe he was just high at the beginning of the season.
Maldonado: Raising the bar of stupidity to insane levels.

I could go on...