Sebastien Vettel Wins the 2011 F1 WDC

[The Black Knight]

It's not over yet.

Yerrah come on, unless RBR are massively affected by the changes coming in at Silverstone then the championship is over.

People are saying remember Button but Button had a car that lacked much development throughout the entire year but was miles ahead at the start of the year. RBR have plenty of room for development. They are not short of money.

The only hope is Silverstone but since I doubt that will make a massive difference, I say the championship is over.

[Robinho]

even if the ruling shakes things up you'll still have the top 3 teams taking wins and points off each other, the only way it would still be alive is if the new pecking order is if one of Ferrari or McLaren are clearly the fastest like RBR are now and Vettel ends up scrapping for 5th or 6th at best. Can't see it happening. We're still in for some good racing this year though

[ioan]

The only hope is Silverstone but since I doubt that will make a massive difference, I say the championship is over.

The only change in Silverstone will be that they can not use the no throttle engine overrun to feed the EBD in the slow corners. Combined with RBR having the most sound aero on the grid means that they are likely to be less affected then other teams by this change.

[The Black Knight]

The only change in Silverstone will be that they can not use the no throttle engine overrun to feed the EBD in the slow corners. Combined with RBR having the most sound aero on the grid means that they are likely to be less affected then other teams by this change.

Adrian Newey isn't convinced of that:

Adrian Newey expects some rivals to gain from exhaust clampdown | Red Bull | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

[Big Ben]

he´s just being supportive calling the virgins and co. rivals.

[The Black Knight]

I'll be very interested to see the gap now between the front and back of the field after this ban. Certainly, with the reduction in downforce for the front teams, I no longer expect HRT or Virgin to have any issues qualifying within the 107% rule. This may also bring Lotus closer to mid pack. Perhaps it will be better than any upgrade they could have brought to the car.

Looking at Sebastien's quickest times on Friday practice, they were significantly slower than the front runners by over 2 seconds, if memory serves, while running the new engine mapping. I do believe that this could compromise RBR quite a lot. While McLaren's exhaust solution was brought onto the car for the first race of Australia, they simply copied RBR's one. The concept of their car was not wholly based around off-throttle blown diffusers as much, so despite what Lewis says, I doubt it will affect them as much as it did RBR. Remember McLaren initially designed an 'octypus' exhaust solution.

I'd probably agree with Newey's assertion that Ferrari and Mercedes will probably lose out less than McLaren and Red Bull.

On the other hand, Pirelli's Paul Hembrey has come out and said he expects this to bunch the field up quite a lot. He is a man I'm tending to listen to more and more as he has been right about a lot of things this year:

'Silverstone to be a big learning curve' - Paul Hembrey | Formula 1 | Formula 1 news, live F1 | ESPN F1

I hope it does bunch them up though because this season is beginning to get a little boring.

[555-04Q2]

There is not enough rain in the sky to give bunson the wdc crown:-)
Congrats Vettel, the youngest double world champion. It was a hard fought, and well earned fight last year. This year, red bull have the best car. yeah, it is quite a boring season...

Boring? You are This is one of the best seasons since the 80's. The WDC may be sewn up soon, but the racing (when DRS hasn't been wrecking it) has been brilliant.

[bluegem280]

Is this the sequel of plan after knowing engine mapping ban didn't work significantly. I guess if all teams this far are benefited by blown diffuser, banning it will give them all suffered nearly at the same rate. Unless if RBR is identified using different form of diffuser than others and it favors their performance more than any teams, banning it would make more sense. But let's see how it works.

I agree on points awarded to ten finisher, but giving too much points gap to the race winner to make drivers get motivated to win is not necessary. They will always try to win in every race. The tendency it creates gaps in case one or some teams have great package of car and drivers to be competitive like Red Bull this year. It doesn't seem easy to give impedance to Vettel who is now en-routing to the second titles.

[driveace]

If Vettel and RBR do not win this years championship,then I will bare my ar** in Woolies window !!! well at least there is NO Woolies left any more.
But seriously HE knows he has them ALL beat,and he is looking to see what is in the other cars at the end of each race.
What he has not had to do this year is fight from the back,AND can he do that?

[555-04Q2]

Yes, he's done it before.