How soon will Vettel / RBR wrap up 2013?

[zeph]

Given their current form, I'd say it's already in the bag, barring unforeseen accidents and/or injuries that take him out for a few races.

[henra]

I think it will be in RBR interest to wrap up both championship early and let Newey focus on 2014 at the factory.

With the performance of the car which we have seen today and the Gap in the WDC and WCC they can practically do this from tomorrow on.

[Stradivarius]

The runners up the last 3 seasons have been:

2010: Alonso - 252 points (in 19 races)
2011: Button - 270 points (in 19 races)
2012: Alonso - 278 points (in 20 races)

I think we can expect this years runner up to score similar to this. Realistically, Vettel can be expected to have a lead greater than 75 points after 3 more races. It is also possible for him to have 100 points lead after two more races, but the chances of that are rather slim. Even with 2 victories, Alonso is likely to score more than 10 points in two races. So far this year Alonso has never gone two consecutive races without scoring at least 18 points.

[Gerhard Berger]

Race for race Alonso could depend on his car/team to not fail him internally, I do not recall any team or mechanical errors in 2012.

Monza? Montreal? Silverstone?

What about the failed upgrade package in Singapore? Does that not count as the car/team failing him?

[Juzh]

Race for race Alonso could depend on his car/team to not fail him internally, I do not recall any team or mechanical errors in 2012.

Monza? Montreal? Silverstone?

What about the failed upgrade package in Singapore? Does that not count as the car/team failing him?

Those were all minor issues bar monza. But even that was in quali. Alonso's last mechanical DNF was in malaysia 2010.

[SectorOne]

Bernie bernie bernie...

(2014)"That will be the chance for Ferrari and Mercedes to catch up with Vettel. Next year it might not be the best driver but the best car that wins the title."

It´s been like that since the beginning of Formula 1. The only debatable thing is how much influence the best drivers can have over a particular result, a percentage that shrinks for every year that goes by.

[mnmracer]

Bernie bernie bernie...

(2014)"That will be the chance for Ferrari and Mercedes to catch up with Vettel. Next year it might not be the best driver but the best car that wins the title."

It´s been like that since the beginning of Formula 1. The only debatable thing is how much influence the best drivers can have over a particular result, a percentage that shrinks for every year that goes by.

Not really. In the '80s, the 'golden era', a driver for the 2nd or 3rd team would need to 'bring' 2 seconds at pretty much every race to beat the guys ahead. This era we're talking tenths.

[CHT]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

[Kiril Varbanov]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Certainly, Alan knows a bit more than us, but we can also speculate, can we?
At this point we can definitely tell that teams have stopped active and serious developments, so no wonder that RBR have increased their advantage. But 2014 is a purely shot in the dark, so it's too early to assume whatever. This will be the case since the very few races in 2014 - not even tests will be representative.

[raymondu999]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Careful. You might jinx him

[CHT]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Careful. You might jinx him

I think thats Permane intention

[Stradivarius]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Come on, 2.5 seconds? In qualifying it was less than a tenth. Sure, Rosberg didn't have the race pace after the safety car, but that can be explained by rubber in his front wing which both caused a direct aerodynamic disadvantage and brought Webber closer to him in addition to taking some performance off his tyres. Then the difference was around 2 seconds. Vettel opened up a 22 second gap in 10 laps. If we compare Vettel's qualifying to Alonso, who usually is relatively strong in the race compared to qualifying, the difference was only around 1 second.

I think the first stint showed us a realistic picture of the difference in race pace between Vettel and Rosberg: Vettel opened up an 8-9 second gap to Rosberg in 15 laps, which means he was roughly 0.6 seconds faster. We also must remember that the gaps on this track with lap times around 1m50s are greater than the gaps on normal tracks with lap times around 1m30s, and with more time spent on straights, where there is little time to gain.

[CHT]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Come on, 2.5 seconds? In qualifying it was less than a tenth. Sure, Rosberg didn't have the race pace after the safety car, but that can be explained by rubber in his front wing which both caused a direct aerodynamic disadvantage and brought Webber closer to him in addition to taking some performance off his tyres. Then the difference was around 2 seconds. Vettel opened up a 22 second gap in 10 laps. If we compare Vettel's qualifying to Alonso, who usually is relatively strong in the race compared to qualifying, the difference was only around 1 second.

I think the first stint showed us a realistic picture of the difference in race pace between Vettel and Rosberg: Vettel opened up an 8-9 second gap to Rosberg in 15 laps, which means he was roughly 0.6 seconds faster. We also must remember that the gaps on this track with lap times around 1m50s are greater than the gaps on normal tracks with lap times around 1m30s, and with more time spent on straights, where there is little time to gain.

Vettel was running a fresh supersoft tire on his last stint, while the rest of the front runner are on medium I think.

The lack of news release on ferrari engine is quite worrying.

[SectorOne]

Bernie bernie bernie...

(2014)"That will be the chance for Ferrari and Mercedes to catch up with Vettel. Next year it might not be the best driver but the best car that wins the title."

It´s been like that since the beginning of Formula 1. The only debatable thing is how much influence the best drivers can have over a particular result, a percentage that shrinks for every year that goes by.

Not really. In the '80s, the 'golden era', a driver for the 2nd or 3rd team would need to 'bring' 2 seconds at pretty much every race to beat the guys ahead. This era we're talking tenths.

There was still much more room for drivers unlike today where everything is so optimized.

Just such a thing as being fit could have profound impacts on your performance.

[Jonnycraig]

Looks like we can start and thread on how soon will vettel wrap up 2014?
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/110125

Come on, 2.5 seconds? In qualifying it was less than a tenth. [/quote]

6 tenths on the equivalent Q3 runs. A chasm in F1 terms.

The pace difference in the post SC stint can be easily equated to Rosberg in tyre saving mode and Vettel doing 15 qualifying laps.