Steve Slater on Formula One: Boring? No. Just enjoy history being made

As Sebastian Vettel celebrated his seventh win in succession in Abu Dhabi last weekend, some people have, unsurprisingly, described his domination of the second half of the 2013 Formula One world championship season as boring. I disagree. We should savor watching sporting history being made.

I suspect that in years to come, we will talk about being there, to witness a Formula One legend. At just 26 years old, Vettel can already be mentioned in the same breath as the mighty Michael Schumacher, Ayrton Senna, Sir Jackie Stewart or Juan Manuel Fangio.

Last Sunday’s win confirmed again that we are watching something special. His start was stunning. From second place on the starting grid, on the ‘dirty’ side of the track, Vettel balanced first the amount of throttle against clutch slip and wheelspin, then hit the KERS button in a perfectly timed move to boost his car’s power and snatch the lead into the opening corner.

Team-mate Mark Webber, who had stolen pole position glory from Vettel, wasn’t so slick on his KERS timing. As Vettel took the lead, Webber slipped back to third behind the hard-charging Mercedes of Nico Rosberg.

While some believe that developments such as the KERS hybrid power and DRS, drag-reducing wing demean pure racing, in Abu Dhabi it was fascinating to watch drivers working with the technology to gain an advantage. On lap 20 of the race, Webber got his KERS timing just right.

Heading out of the slow Turn 7 onto the long back straight, Webber elected not to use his power boost in his pursuit of Rosberg. Instead he rode in the slipstream of the Mercedes as it used all of its battery power on the run to the next chicane. He then surprised the German driver with an unexpected boost of horsepower, to augment his DRS wing on the following straight and regain his second place.

Webber wasn’t alone. Fernando Alonso was another who was a master of saving his KERS boost to allow him to attack and move up from 10th at the start to an eventual 5th place.

Romain Grosjean once again drove a calm mature and clever race to fourth place. Imagine saying that just a year ago! Meanwhile Paul di Resta’s canny defense of sixth place against a tigerish Lewis Hamilton was great to watch. Both drivers were saving, then using, their KERS in a 300 km/h game of
poker.

Ahead of the pack however, Vettel’s victory was a crushing one. His early pace allowed him to create an advantage of between 30 and 40 seconds over of his rivals. Even when he made his two tire stops, he was able to rejoin without relinquishing his lead.

As he took the chequered flag Vettel again entered the record books. Only he and Michael Schumacher have won seven successive races in a single season and now, with eleven wins this year, Vettel could even be on course to equal Schumacher’s 2004 record of 13 victories in a season.

Vettel though, was genuinely surprised when post-race interviewers asked him about matching Schumacher’s score. Vettel regularly insists he is not motivated by records. “It is not what makes me jump in the car,” he said. “People see seven races, people don’t see the challenge it takes every
single race to nail it.

One final moment just after the chequered flag also demonstrated why Vettel, even after his epic run of success, remains popular with fans. When he celebrated his world champions’ crown with tire-smoking ‘doughnuts’ two weekends ago in India, before abandoning his car to climb the debris fence
and celebrate with fans in the start line grandstand, his actions earned the team a 25,000 euro fine.

Undaunted, Vettel repeated the feat with another gyrating tire-smoking display at Yas Marina, joined by Webber as the Red Bulls spectacularly celebrated their 1-2. This time, Vettel escaped the stewards sanction by returning his car to the paddock. It is hard to bet against yet more tire smoking doughnuts after the final two races of the season too!