Someone mislaid the script. McLaren produced a dud in 2009 and while they
regrouped, the rise and rise of Red Bull began.
Hamilton could only watch on helplessly as Vettel – like Hamilton plucked in
his early teens and groomed for stardom — took his records. Youngest race
winner, youngest world champion. Yet he has always backed himself to beat
the young pretender to his throne.
Following Vettel’s electric start to this year he remarked rather sniffily
that he would always consider Fernando Alonso his biggest rival; the Prost
to his Senna. Until recently most fans would probably have agreed with him.
Yes, Vettel is quick, they said, but can he do it from further back on the
grid? Can he do it when the pressure is on? Look what happened last year
when Mark Webber got under his skin. He became flustered, petulant.
No one is saying that now. Vettel fought back brilliantly at the end of 2010
and has been close to faultless this term, blowing Webber away with Teutonic
efficiency. If question marks persist over his overtaking, it is only
because he is always on pole. Webber was known as something of a shoot-out
specialist before Vettel rode into Red Bull corral.
Besides, when Vettel has been required to overtake this year — around the
outside of Fernando Alonso at 200mph in Monza for example — he has done so.
“He is the most mature 24 year-old I have ever seen in motorsport,” Sir Jackie
Stewart said on Friday before adding, tellingly: “The biggest enemy a driver
has is emotion. Without naming names there are some drivers who are crashing
almost every weekend.”
No prizes for guessing to whom he was referring. As Vettel’s stock has risen
this year, so Hamilton’s has fallen. The blistering pace is undeniable but
his default setting — all out aggression — is increasingly viewed as an
Achilles heel. Hamilton is getting more, rather than less reckless, say his
detractors. His frustration too often gets the better of him.
How much of that is down to the car, pushing it beyond its limits in a
desperate attempt to catch Vettel, and how much his mental state is open to
debate.
Hamilton claimed this week that he can be patient when he needs to be, citing
his cautious driving for over 20 laps behind Schumacher at Monza two weeks
ago. Yet for some that display was the anti-Hamilton.
It seems he is damned if he does; damned if he doesn’t.
Hamilton will be back. He is too talented, too quick and, frankly, too
competitive to stay down for long. Once McLaren give him a car that is a
match for Red Bull — and not just on a Sunday — he will prove it.
But has his thunder been stolen, at least for now, by a younger, faster
gunslinger? There is only one way to find out. “I’d like to see Hamilton in
a Red Bull,” mused former driver Eddie Irvine this week.
“Then we would see how good Vettel is … clearly he is very, very good, but
many drivers have taken a title in [Adrian] Newey’s cars.
And, for me, his team- mate Webber is not a top driver.” Hamilton v Vettel.
You never know, that McLaren contract for post-2012 remains unsigned.