Sebastian Vettel has had an astonishing career so far. At just 26, he already has 34 race wins, 57 podiums and 42 pole positions. This weekend at Japan he could also win his fourth consecutive World Drivers' Championship with a number of races still to go. Yet despite these impressive records there still exists a large portion of fans who believe that Vettel isn't a great driver but rather has been gifted his championships through finding himself driving the dominant car. Additionally Vettel has also become increasingly unpopular this season thanks to a combination of his numerous wins and an incident at the Malaysian Grand Prix where he
ignored team orders to overtake his teammate Mark Webber. Regardless of these issues it is surely time to accept Sebastian Vettel as a truly talented and outstanding Formula 1 driver. In order to address the argument that Vettel has only won his championships by virtue of driving the best car it is necessary to understand how vital a car is to winning races. F1 engineers have been quoted as saying that in regards to winning a championship it is around 80% the car and 20% the driver. While it is difficult to put an exact figure on how much of a part a car plays, looking back at previous world championships helps to demonstrate their importance.
Past champions have often had the best, or at least one of the strongest, cars on the grid. Recent examples include Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. During the 2009 season the double diffuser technology used by Brawn GP provided Button with a car able to win 8 of the 17 races. Similarly Renault designed a car that was much faster than its competitors at the beginning of both the 2005 and 2006 seasons giving Alonso a sizable advantage. Even those considered the greatest of all time have had brilliantly designed cars. McLaren cars were so fast between 1988 and 1991 that Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost were able to win 15 of the 16 races available in a season. Meanwhile Juan Manuel Fangio was known to change teams after every season to ensure he was in the best car available. The point here isn't to devalue the skills of the drivers but to show that winning championships requires a combination of a great driver along with a strong car. Vettel has a strong car at his disposal, yet he still has to drive perfectly to be faster than his opponents and his teammate. As mentioned above Vettel has also become increasingly unpopular due to the incident in Malaysia where he ignored team orders. This has also been used to argue that he isn't a truly great driver as he was unsporting. This does not really tally though. Other drivers have acted much more controversially over Formula 1's history. Senna
famously crashed into Prost at Japan in 1990 winning the drivers' championship in the process. In fact he stated he would attempt to take the lead into the first corner, regardless of the consequences. Alonso was also embroiled in controversy in 2007 when he
blocked Hamilton in the pit preventing him from putting in a flying lap. Despite these incidents both drivers are still considered incredibly talented drivers and are popular with fans.
As for ignoring team orders it is more of a testament to his determination to win. Two of his world championships have been decided by less than 5 points so it would seem silly, in his eyes, to throw away what might be title-deciding points by allowing his team mate to stay ahead of him. In any case Vettel is far from alone in ignoring his team, Webber tried to overtake his team mate at Silverstone in 2011 despite
being told not to and had this to say after the race:
"Of course I ignored the team because I wanted to try and get a place. Seb was doing his best, I was doing my best. I wasn't going to crash with anyone."
It is also important to see that Vettel was not given the Red Bull drive on a silver plate. He had to battle through the junior formulas like other drivers and served an apprenticeship at Toro Rosso. Here he impressed many in the paddock becoming the
youngest driver to win a race and finishing in the points consistently. He has proved his overtaking ability several times after fighting from the back, no more importantly than in Brazil last year when he recovered enough to take the championship. His consistency has been outstanding. Very few drivers can rival his career statistics. It is entirely conceivable that by the time he is 30 years old he could have beat Michael Schumacher's record of 7 world titles. It seems silly to have to argue about how good Vettel actually he is. You don't win three consecutive world drivers' championships by being a mediocre driver. It really is time to accept that Sebastian Vettel is one of Formula 1's greatest drivers.