Quote Originally Posted by zako85 View Post
I don't fully buy into the hypothesis that Vettel can't adapt to the new car. In 2008, Vettel sat in a brand new to him car and won the first GP ever for a Toro Rosso, I mean a Red Bull, team and then he went on to score more points than any Toro Rosso, I mean Red Bull, driver ever in history which helped Toro Rosso to beat even its mother team for the first and only time in team's history. Other examples exist. In 2012, Kimi Raikkonen came out of nowhere and joined Lotus after a two year break. Since the beginning of the 2012 season he drove as if he never quit F1 (up to the end of 2013 that is).

I kind of start wondering that Vettel is simply not as hungry as he used to be. The 2014 for him, is probably like the 2011 season for Hamilton. Facing the reality of racing in a clearly subpar car and with four titles under the belt, Vettel's morale took a hit. What's the best prize he can win this year? Third place in WDC at best. Perhaps being third means a lot to Ricciardo, but I can see Vettel feel a little disoriented when that's the best he can possibly hope for. An older driver would have just announced a retirement by now. (and we have seen it before)
Hunger is probably a factor alright but I also believe this is what distinguishes the brilliant drivers from the all time greats. There's a particular crop of driver that would never give up no matter what machinery they were given. These are the all-time greats such as Schumacher, Senna, Alonso all of whom I rate amongst the best drivers ever to grace an F1 car. To me, Seb had his chance to prove he was in amongst that crop of drivers this year and he has failed miserably. Believe it or not, even though I'm not a fan of is, I was hoping he'd prove he could do it because I'd hate to see a driver that doesn't belong among the all time greats having earned 4 WDC titles as it completely devalues WDC crown. He has had his chance to pull off a year like Senna 93, Schumacher 98, Alonso 2012 but he didn't. I know reliability has played a factor but he never even looked close. It's disappointing to say the least and he can't really blame driving style, it's up to him adapt to make the best of the machinery at his disposal. A 4 time WDC at his peak should be capable of doing this.