F1 End of Season Report: Rate the Grid - Sebastian Vettel

[Paul Jeffrey]

In our penultimate 'Rate the Grid' feature we take a look at the season of 2017 nearly man and Ferrari lead driver Sebastian Vettel.

Vettel and Ferrari started the season in fine style back at Melbourne with a victory against a distinctly out of sorts looking Mercedes team, leaving the passionate Tifosi to finally believe a championship challenge could be on the cards for the first time since the heady heights of Kimi Räikkönen and his turbulent 2007 WDC success.

Unfortunately as the season wore on the wheels of Ferrari and Vettel's challenge slowly began to fall off with a mix of team and driver mistakes, eventually opening the door to Hamilton and Mercedes to waltz to team and driver titles for the fourth consecutive season in Formula One.

Was 2017 a case of Ferrari losing or Mercedes winning the drivers championship and did Vettel have a strong season on a personal level? Let us know your thoughts!

Vote now to tell us how you rate 2017 Formula One season of Sebastian Vettel, and leave a comment below!

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[Ryder7538]

9/10
Yes it's cool again to jump on the Vettel hate bandwagon and claim he's only on the Level of Button yareyareyare

But actually I think he had a very good season with his only mistakes being Mexico and Baku (the latter of which the deciding factor which keeps him of the 10 even if he'd won the championship)
Other than that bad luck cost him the title the move in Singapore would've worked 9/10 times but yes he was 10. Other than that he drove stellar throughout the whole season and on par if not slightly more consistent (pace wise) than Lewis Hamilton at his best season to date. Solid job.

 

[XCalinX]

I think Singapore was his only mistake... It was still great to see him lead more than half of the races in a car that was inferior to the Mercedes.

 

[Sky]

is an arsehole.

threw title away.

Should've been banned for that baku stupidity.

 

[samcar304]

Apart from the obvious mistakes, he performed well this season and against a rampant Mercedes which was the more dominant car by the middle of the season. Hopefully he can keep a lid on things and Ferrari can make that extra step towards Mercedes for this year.

PS. Love that bottom picture... the red is unbelievably striking.

 

[LeSunTzu]

Vettel was super fast and super aggressive. At several GPs he made moves that were really impressive.

He also made big mistakes and he did not lost the title because of his car, which was fast, consistent and reliable too (failures came late in the season when Hamilton was already well ahead).

Anyway he showed this year that he's not a multiple WC for nothing.

 

[Jimlaad43]

The Ferrari mechanical failures were 50% of the reason he lost the championship. Moments of madness by Seb were the other 50%. Baku, Singapore and Mexico were unnecessary and ultimately costly mistakes.

 

[timson72]

Rated an 8. Performed well for most of the season but lost his head to often and was also gifted a couple of wins by Ferrari.

 

[Enagee]

Singapore sandwich with Max and Kimi. He had more to lose than any driver, brave move but a error of judgement.
This generally happens online in sim racing... No on wants to give up at turn one. That was the real crack in the wall. Driving is about speed but also tactical.

Apart from that(and Baku) he was almost perfect..

Not a ferrari fan but rate him highly with a 9.

 

[Terry Rock]

Vettel gets a solid 8.
He had a vastly improved Ferrari, which on many tracks was on par with the Mercedes...'torque-wise'..
You always come to expect a certain level of talent from Vettel...and he always seems to deliver.
Had it not been for a few self-induced incidents and bad strategy calls by the team, this championship would have gone quite a bit further.

 

[Deleted member 205301]

people won't be objectives in this thread...
Vettel did a fantastic drive this year ....unfortunately, He did some mystakes, and looses some nerves..and the title indeed..
Gave him a 9/10
@++

 

[Fat Rich]

7 out of 10 because of Baku, deliberately crashing into another driver is really dumb and claiming it's a man's sport doesn't justify behaving like a child.

Singapore was a bit unfortunate, he shouldn't have aggressively chopped the other drivers but it was unlucky it caused so much mayhem.

Otherwise he drove a great season, was a bit unlucky with reliability. Hopefully he can take the fight to Lewis again in 2018.

 

[Michel Forest]

8,5. Very, very fast, but I can't help but think that he needs everything to fall in place in order to win. In other words, when faced with adversity, he tends to lose his cool and make mistakes. It was obvious during his final season with RBR, when Ricciardo was just as good as him, or during his brain fades at Baku and Singapore. However, when everything's right, he can rack up the wins. Plus, he seems to have done a good job at Ferrari, the team is obviously behind him. So, a very good driver, but surprisingly immature. A notch below Hamilton, Alonso and Verstappen.

 

[darkelf1]

i love his car in AC...

 

[snyperal]

7/10 for me.

Drove sublime for quite a few races, the only real title contender for Lewis in my opinion. Threw the Championship away in a couple of moments of utter madness. The t1 collision was just incredible. I'm sure his constant battles with max were getting to him, he could've taken 3rd which would've been 2nd because of team orders, but went too aggressive and paid the price. Almost every season there is some Max / vettel controversy, it makes for great entertainment!

His battle with max at silverstone was thoroughly enjoyable and at spa I was genuinely surprised how much pace he had. He pushed LH to the checkered in quite a few races, but this one surprised me. Considering the ease with which LH passed Kimi, he did an amazing job there.

He also had some races where he had to scythe his way through the pack and showed some real class here.

Sometimes I feel like he's a dick but there were a couple of moments where he showed some good character, I think when LH had the season in the bag he applauded and congratulated him which I think gets overlooked because of his other blips.

2018 should be a cracker.

 

[JayOTT]

Unpopular opinion incoming...

Reject of the year. He started this season as the top babyface and ended it the top heel. Could've gotten a race ban for his stunts at Baku and/or Singapore but was let off due to the need to keep the drivers championship alive. Also claimed that the shield was unusable after testing it for one lap. That reeks of Ferrari conspiracy regarding the you-know-what.

Some great drives yes, and I'm not going to vote in the poll because I cannot give an objective rating. Ultimately, Vettel has become even more unlikable in my opinion than he was in his Red Bull days.

 

[Kakusso]

Hoping to see a more mature Vettel next year. Big mistakes at Baku, Singapore and Mexico. But the worst of were his words "F#@% the race director" at Barhain. Vettel is among the very best. He just needs to work his mental attitude. His is a real fighter. Only real fighters make great champions. With four titles he is a great champion.

 

[Rinax89]

As a massive fan of Ferrari, it is natural for me to lean towards Vettel and Raikkonen, but I have to be real here, thus I gave him an 8... Can't bring myself to give him a 9 this season (I gave LH a 9... I never give a 10 to anyone... lol) as we saw some of his immaturity in some races that may have cost him the title this year. That is hard for me to say as a Ferrari fan, but I always try to stay real.

Hoping to see all the top drivers truly in their top form this coming season.

 

[Esploratore]

I gave him 9 too, I think overall he made less mistakes\had less races off than hamilton this season, obviously mercedes was a little better car, I count against vettel baku's loss of control, silverstone slow race (raikkonen beat him on merit, even before punctures) and a mix of mexico and singapore, in mexico when he lost the car it was only beneficial to him given hamilton had the worst loss of time from that, however the incident was vettel's fault, he was also the one to blame the most for singapore, but that is how normally people start, they close the door to the 2nd placed driver if they have a slow start from pole, he couldn't expect raikkonen to be alongside, which is why they crashed.

A mix of reliability and loss of control cost him the title in a slower car.

 

[Hor-hay]

would of given him an 8 but he lost 2 points for being a total douche.