Quote:
Originally Posted by solstice
Webber can't even get to the first corner from pole without having 5 guys passing him, pretty hard to get a 2s lead on lap 1 from 6th or worse.
This is how I rate greatness of a champion from top to bottom:
1. Consistently win in an inferior car.
2. Consistently win over a team mate who has done (3) in a superior car.
3. Consistently win in a superior car.
As far as I'm concerned Vettel is still at number 3. Still great but only with one star.
Or maybe half a star since I also think you need to prove yourself repeatedly to be the fastest guy in the wet.
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In 2008, Vettel scored 35 points vs 4 for Bourdais in the STR-Ferrari, including a race win (I believe in the rain).
In 2009, Vettel outscored teammate Webber with RBR-Renault, and nearly captured the championship from Button in the "superior" Brawn-Mercedes.
Webber is a capable teammate - he outscored Heidfeld in a Williams-BMW and Coulthard in the RBR-Renault. However, his proclivity for bad starts and hard driving shows in the fact that he's never finished higher than 3rd as Vettel's teammate, but has been as low as 6th. I'll argue that this reinforces Vettel's status as a great, since his teammates can't even get close to him driving the same car.
Compare this to Ferrari's dominant years with Schumacher. Barrichello twice finished 2nd to Schumi's 1st, and in one year Massa was third behind Schumi's 2nd. Also, in the year that Schumi got injured, his teammate Irvine finished 2nd, nearly taking the crown from Hakkinen. So the point is that Schumacher's teammates have faired well with the same cars, and came closer to matching him than Webber has with Vettel.
Any questions?