Vettel penalty 'was disproportionate' - Marc Gene

Sebastian Vettel should not have been penalised for losing control at Spa-Francorchamps.

That is the opinion of an unlikely supporter of the 23-year-old Red Bull driver: Marc Gene.

Spaniard Gene is Ferrari's occasional test driver, who said the drive-through penalty after Vettel crashed into Jenson Button on Sunday "was totally disproportionate".

"It is true that he was too aggressive, but for there to be a penalty ... he did nothing wrong, it was an incident of the race," Gene wrote in his El Mundo newspaper column.

Niki Lauda's is a harsher critique, predicting that one more mistake for the young German will end his 2010 title chances.

"You're an absolute super-talent but you've taken excessive risks," the former triple world champion wrote in Bild newspaper.

"One more mistake and your world championship will be over. Then you will have to drive for your teammate, which would be the ultimate penalty," said Lauda.

He thinks Vettel is struggling with the pressure.

"You're in the fastest car," Lauda said, addressing Vettel personally. "The pressure can be paralysing, because everyone expects you to be in front and everything else is a disappointment."

Lewis Hamilton, who according to British commentator Martin Brundle is driving better today than in his championship year in 2008, said Vettel's lack of experience is showing.

"The older I get, the more I understand about experience. Mark (Webber) is a very mature man and that definitely helps," said the McLaren driver.

David Coulthard advises his Red Bull successor Vettel to get used to the criticism, observing that "the knives seem to be out for him" now.

"I want to make it clear I am not trying to excuse Sebastian's recent high-profile errors," he wrote in the Telegraph.

"I see a young man who is suffering from his first spell of growing pains," added the veteran of almost 250 races.

"I am not excusing them (the mistakes) - as I have said before, F1 is no finishing school - I'm just saying they are understandable," said Coulthard.

Source: F1 Complete

Vettel admits to qualifying mistakes

Sebastian Vettel starts the Belgian Grand Prix from fourth on the grid

Sebastian Vettel blamed himself for making mistakes in Q3 that cost him a higher grid position than fourth for the Belgian Grand Prix.

"There was a bit of rain in the first corner and my first try in Q3 wasn't good enough, simple as that," said Vettel. "I made a couple of mistakes at the beginning of the first sector and lost momentum."

Despite an unfamiliar grid position for the German this season, Vettel says he still has a car good enough to be faster than the rest of the field on Sunday.

"On the last lap I made a good recovery and it was quicker than my first try, but then I went a bit sideways in Turn 14 and that was it. The most important thing today was that the car was very good, good enough to be ahead of everyone else. It didn't happen for me today, so we need to do it tomorrow."

Source: ESPNF1

Kimi had the first note curse

Kimi Räikkönen's learning year in the rally world has been as thorny as expected since experience has to be found through making mistakes.

On the second try in Rally Finland Räikkönen and Kaj Lindström got to the finish line, as was the goal. But them main aim of a flawless performance, which would also have been a birthday present for the now 41-year-old co-driver, was not achieved.

After Friday Räikkönen charged himself for a tough battle against Juha Kankkunen but already on the first special stage of the morning, Kolonkulma, the former F1 star got into trouble. The Citroen slid into a deep ditch and couldn't get out. The front bumper was left on the side of the road and the tyres on the driver's side peeled off their rims.

-We just came too fast to a slow corner turning to the right. The car fell into a ditch and wouldn't come up on it's own. We tried to get up by accelerating and while doing that the front broke on the side of the ditch. We got help from the spectators and eventually we were back on the road, Lindström explained.

-We only had one spare tyre and we had to wonder how to get one tyre back on it's rim so that the air would stay in. Then we just drove peacefully, Räikkönen told.

In the final results Räikkönen was 25th 23 minutes behind winner Jari-Matti Latvala.

The first note has it's risks

While the Citroen was lying hopelessly torn in the service area, Tommi Mäkinen went to hear what his friends had been up to.

-It's typical that the mistake happened on the special stage for which Kimi made the pace notes first. It just goes to show how extremely difficult it is to make pace notes. That's the biggest problem and challenge when compared to driving F1, said Mäkinen.

Lindström explained what the first stage pace note problem means.

-When the rally goes on and you gain experience you start to check the first note during that day and the next day. You just try to make it more accurate and therefore the risks are highest on the first stage. The same thing happened to Tommi sometimes, the note for the first stage was a bit less accurate than for the others.

-Kimi was concentrated but mistakes just happen. The needed experience only comes this way, Lindström thought.

For Räikkönen driving to the finish line was like putting money on a high-interest savings account.

-It's good that we managed to drive through all the stages. If Kimi continues with rally in the future he will benefit a lot from driving the whole rally in Jyväskylä with this car and on race speed, Lindström reminded.

No bullseye stage

The experienced co-driver estimates that only two stages went badly: Myhinpää on the first time on Friday and then Kolonkulma on Saturday morning.

But what about Räikkönen himself – how many stages went well?

-Probably none of them were such that I'd be really pleased with them. When you're driving you always notice that you could be going a lot faster.

Räikkönen fully enjoyed his home race.

-It's one of the sweetest rallies. It's well organized and the feeling among the spectators is different than in a lot of the other places. Rally is popular in Finland. People sit next to the stages from six in the morning and everybody has flags waving and it shows that people are rally fans here, Räikkönen praised.

Information in a completely different way

Mäkinen denied being Räikkönen's mentor.

-I'm not involved in Kimi's racing. He has the Citroen team with him.

Mäkinen emphasized that Räikkönen doesn't have to learn the actual driving.

-You learn to drive a car by practicing. With Kimi the problem is that when driving on a circuit he was able to memorize every spot by heart. In rally there's information coming in all the time and it's coming through a different route, through the ears when the co-driver is reading the pace notes.

-You have to learn to utilise that and it's from a different world than anything else in the motorsport world, even realizing how much time it takes. It is taking time but Kimi's ability to make the notes is improving all the time, Mäkinen emphasized.

Source: Turun Sanomat
Courtesy: Dracaena