Villeneuve doubts Vettel ’maturity’

According to Jacques Villeneuve, one question mark surrounding F1’s new world champion Sebastian Vettel is his "psychological maturity".

"That Vettel is very quick, there is no doubt," the 1997 world champion is quoted as saying by Germany’s T-Online.

"The question has always been his psychological maturity," added the French Canadian, who last year questioned the young German’s reaction to his crash in Turkey with Mark Webber.

Vettel has since won the title, but as for his maturity, "viewing it from the outside, it’s impossible to say how this has developed", said Villeneuve, 39.

Interestingly, Villeneuve continues to back his former championship nemesis Michael Schumacher.

"In the second half of the (2010) season he was really strong," he said.

"He was criticised severely because he didn’t just blow Nico (Rosberg) away. But if he is still as hungry to win as he used to be, then he has the makings to be champion again."

Meanwhile, he is critical of the new adjustable rear wings, designed to increase overtaking.

"2010 was one of the best seasons ever," said Villeneuve, who won 11 grands prix for Williams.

"There was lots of overtaking, so I can’t understand these rule changes," he added. "It might be even easier with the rear wing, but that’s just artificial."

Source: Motorsport

Red Bull admits to ’building team around Vettel’

"Mark is in the autumn of his career"

Red Bull has pledged driver equality for the 2010 title fight, whilst openly admitting that Sebastian Vettel is regarded as the man of the future.

"The main thing now is that we become world champions," said Helmut Marko, who was accused earlier this year of wanting Vettel to beat Australian Webber to the top spot.

But with Webber 14 points clear, and Vettel level-pegging with Ferrari’s chasing Fernando Alonso, the Austrian-owned team must give the 34-year-old an unimpeded run to the chequered flag.

For the future, however, Red Bull’s ambitions are well known.

"I repeat: we are building the team around Sebastian," team boss Christian Horner is quoted by Auto Bild.

"Sebastian has a long career ahead of him and hopefully he will spend it with us," said the Briton. "Mark is in the autumn of his career.

"He wants to retire while he’s at the top, not when he’s past his peak like some other drivers," added Horner.

1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve, however, thinks Red Bull are making a mistake by giving 23-year-old Vettel so much cover.

"Just look at the differing seasons Mark and Sebastian have had," the French Canadian is quoted by the Telegraph.

"Vettel has shown he has an impetuous streak but if he makes a mistake and the team don’t tell him it was his fault, he won’t learn.

"It’s Red Bull’s fault for spoiling him," insisted Villeneuve.

Source: Nextgen

Villeneuve, Räikkönen talk about Red Bull crash in Turkey

Jacques Villeneuve has become the latest pundit to comment on the crash between the Red Bull cars at the recent Turkish Grand Prix.

The aftermath of Sebastian Vettel's clash with Mark Webber was highly controversial, as most outsiders initially blamed Vettel but Red Bull chiefs pointed the finger at Australian Webber.

It emerged that Webber's engine was in a fuel-saving mode - although team figures initially refused to confirm that was the case - and that his engineer had declined to pass on a radio message advising him to let his young German teammate through.

Then, as the official line became more conciliatory, figures close to team owner Dietrich Mateschitz including Max Mosley and Gerhard Berger renewed the criticism of Webber, before the 33-year-old was re-signed for the 2011 season.

The latest twist is that Mateschitz's right-hand man Dr Helmut Marko says the pair are still free to race, but must not stridently resist each other's advances.

"Both cars were out in the lead, but drivers are drivers and it is always difficult for one to give 110 per cent while the other does not," Villeneuve wrote in a column for rds.ca.

"After the race, the reaction of the team seemed strange -- to assign fault to someone so quickly and categorically.

"But you never know what really happened when you've looked at the situation from the outside as I did," added the 39-year-old French Canadian.

Meanwhile, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen thinks the only lingering effect of the crash is that Vettel and Webber will from now on behave "a bit more carefully" when they are wheel-to-wheel.

"In a similar situation you would just behave a bit differently so that it doesn't happen again," the Red Bull-sponsored world rally driver told Austrian Servus TV.

"It was just an incident in the race and now it's finished," he added.

Source: Motorsport