Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard, now BBC-pundit, believes Sebastian Vettel’s dominant performances this season are the making of the best driver in the sports history.
The German has won seven of the 12 races this season, he’s finished four in second and just one, the German GP, off the podium. His current points tally of 259 exceeds his championship winning total of 256 from last season and is just 41 points shy of the maximum available points up until now.
All this, according to the 40-year-old, is possibly the start of much, much more.
“I think we could well be witnessing the development of the best driver ever in Formula One,” he told the Telegraph. “We can’t say yet, of course. Only history will judge that.
“The fact that Seb continues to improve every aspect of his game, from race craft to tyre management, building on his natural speed, is indisputable.
“I don’t think the standard in Formula One has ever been higher than it is now. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Mark Webber: these guys are world class. Seb is simply outperforming everyone.”
However, the Scotsman doesn’t believe we’re set for another dominant era like we had with Michael Schumacher, despite what 2011 may lead us to believe.
“People are asking whether we are about to see another period of dominance à la Schumacher. I don’t think so. Michael was driving a car which never broke down, a car superior to those of his rivals, with unlimited testing and the biggest budget in Formula One,” Coulthard continued.
“Ferrari and McLaren have the resources and personnel to catch Red Bull, and in fact they have done so; their race pace has been as good as Red Bull’s for months now. McLaren probably had the quickest car in Belgium at the weekend. They just didn’t get the job done. Seb got it done.”
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