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F1boat
1st December 2012, 09:19
Correct me if I am mistaken, but isn't Vettel the first Formula One World Champion without victory in Europe? This season he won in Bahrain, Singapore, Japan, Korea and India. No European Grand Prix wins. I think that this is unprecedented.

AndyL
1st December 2012, 15:06
Sadly he will probably be the first of many. A championship winning car these days needs to be at its best on the Tilkedromes rather than the idiosyncratic traditional circuits.

steveaki13
2nd December 2012, 23:40
An interesting stat.

It might soon become strange when a driver wins the title winning a race in Europe.

gloomyDAY
2nd December 2012, 23:47
Sadly he will probably be the first of many. A championship winning car these days needs to be at its best on the Tilkedromes rather than the idiosyncratic traditional circuits.I don't think so friend. Vettel had a couple of retirements in Europe due to mechanical problems that he could have won.

zako85
3rd December 2012, 04:57
Most of European GP's happened to be bunched up in the middle of year. RedBull cars started having the resurgence this year about the time when F1 left Europe.

F1boat
3rd December 2012, 10:54
In fact after the last European race in Monza it seemed that the battle is over for him... interestingly that's when I decided that I want him to win the championship.

dj_bytedisaster
3rd December 2012, 11:39
Most of European GP's happened to be bunched up in the middle of year. RedBull cars started having the resurgence this year about the time when F1 left Europe.

A couple of things. First of all we have less European and more overseas races than we used to, so I wouldn't make too much of it. Secondly one shouldn't forget that Vettel was comfortably in the lead at Valencia, when his alternator croaked. Most of the European races happened in a time, when RB still tried to reclaim rear-end downforce that had been lost due to the nixed EBD. Vettel's driving style relies heavily on rear-end stability, which is why Mark seemed to be more competitive in the early half, winning two european races.

AndyL
3rd December 2012, 12:59
I don't think so friend. Vettel had a couple of retirements in Europe due to mechanical problems that he could have won.

I didn't say a championship winning car couldn't win in Europe! But it seems to me that the Tilkedromes are more similar to one another than the old circuits are. If so, there is more to be gained from optimising a car for that style of circuit, meaning a future championship winning car would be more likely to expose its weaknesses elsewhere - i.e. the traditional circuits.

dj_bytedisaster
3rd December 2012, 13:10
I didn't say a championship winning car couldn't win in Europe! But it seems to me that the Tilkedromes are more similar to one another than the old circuits are. If so, there is more to be gained from optimising a car for that style of circuit, meaning a future championship winning car would be more likely to expose its weaknesses elsewhere - i.e. the traditional circuits.

I don't think so. Drawing conclusion from this season is bound to be inconclusive. The first 8 races were little more than utter lottery. Whoever got the comedy tires to work won, which is why we saw so much different winners. I don't think the RB was optimized for Tilke-dromes. After all, both of Marks wins came on tracks which couldn't be more traditional. Also, the Tilke-dromes are not all alike. Bahrain is a mickey-mouse track a la Hungary, while Austin is probably the most complete test of a car. If I counted correctly, hit has more highspeed corners than Spa and more ultra-lowspeed corners than Hungary.
The fact that Vettel only won overseas is only coincidence, because we had an unusual amount of non-european races all tacked into the final part of the season, which is when the RB returned to old form.