David Coulthard: “Vettel is a leader”

Recently, Ross Brawn, the sporting director of Mercedes, questioned the real ability of Sebastian Vettel to be competitive in a less dominant single-seater than the Red Bull RB7… according to the British engineer, the German champion is dominant because he is driving the best car: « For Sebastian, what will happen now will be an interesting phase in his career; he will not always have the best car. It will be interesting to see his influence and his role in the team when, perhaps, he does not have the best car… »

Astonishing remarks coming from a man who lived through the great era of Michael Schumacher with supremely dominant Ferraris, which also surprises David Coulthard, a staunch defender of Vettel: «Despite all the respect I owe to Ross Brawn, Sebastian has already proven his leadership skills at Toro Rosso. Who thought he could win a Grand Prix with this team? But he was able to take it to pole position in the rain and win the race afterwards, and he confirms this by winning these two championships. What will be less obvious is how he will handle the disappointment of having a less competitive car…»

Coulthard also thinks that Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso, if he finds himself in a competitive car again, could be a good benchmark for Vettel: Alonso won two championships when Michael [Schumacher] was at his peak. Since then, the car hasn’t been quite competitive, but once it is, he will be very difficult to beat. You always need to have a reference compared to another driver.

But no worry about Vettel’s talent, he proves it race after race according to Coulthard: Mark Webber is not lagging behind, he’s a fantastic driver and Sebastian has largely dominated him this year, it’s remarkable. But I don’t think we should worry about his talent. When he was behind Lewis Hamilton in Korea, he overtook him in a remarkable way!