With three races to go, Sebastian Vettel secured his back-to-back F1 driver’s title following a dirver/car/team near-perfect season. With his remarkable 10 wins so far this season he is destined to break even another record as the driver winning the most races in one season.
Vettel seems to falter only when not in the lead, as he did in the German Grand Prix.
I would like to see Vettel battle it out from the third or fourth row. He took all pole positions excluding the Korea Grand Prix, and shared the front row with his team-mate Mark Webber in three GPs (Spain, UK, Germany).
Vettel recently visited the Red Bull offices at Milton Keynes to personally thank all for providing such a reliable car and Renault for providing the power unit. This is the 141th race Renault have won since joining F1 in 1977.
The rest of the field are all struggling to get close to Red Bull. Probably McLaren are the closest.
Red Bull’s Adrian Newey has always designed his cars to be fastest from their conception; development will maintain that competitive advantage. Next year’s B8 car is already ahead of schedule.
Next year’s cars will retain the same format but not the blown diffusers.
These diffusers provide a constant flow of air that retains the same down force on the cars even when the driver lifts his foot off the throttle pedal. They ensure a constant grip on the rear wheel train and more feel at the rear of the car but also cause higher fuel consumption.
The diffusers will all go next year, with the exhausts facing outwards, not towards the complex floor end plate which controls the air flowing towards the back of the car.
Finally, it was sad to hear of the tragic circumstances that led to the death last Sunday of British racing driver Dan Wheldon at Las Vegas Speedway.
Having 35 cars racing together on an oval (track) was a sure recipe for disaster. I was fortunate enough to have met Wheldon last July at Goodwood where one of the main events was a celebration marking the centenary of the Indy 500. Wheldon had won the event twice.