How soon before it is all decided...

[Cooper_S]

With his win today Vettel is now 58 points clear of his nearest rival (or to put it another was he has as it stands reduced the 19 race season down to 17 before he is crowned 2011 WDC)

How early do you guys think the WDC title will be decided... I recon at his current score rate it could be as early as the Italian GP (round 13) but I suspect he will not have it all his own way and it will be more likely be in Japan (round 15)

[markabilly]

about last January, when they put the paint on Vettel's car

[steveaki13]

I think he will win it when he has 1 more point than anyone else can get.

[markabilly]

I think when Vettel did not go to Ferrari.....

[Cooper_S]

I think he will win it when he has 1 more point than anyone else can get.

Indeed that is true but that took untill the vey last race of the year in 2010.... do you think will go to the wire again?

[steveaki13]

Indeed that is true but that took untill the vey last race of the year in 2010.... do you think will go to the wire again?

No I was only jesting.

No I think your right at this rate, if Vettel keeps performing as well as he has been, then he should rap up the title with 3 or 4 races left.

Lets hope someone can win a few races and get a run going to at least push it back to the last couple of rounds.

[Cooper_S]

I am a fan of Vettel it is true so should he win I would be happy enough but I am also a fan of Button, Hamilton and Alonso to differeing degrees and so I am just as happy to see either of them crowned WDC...

I guess if Vettel did not win the title I'd like to see Jenson put one over on Lewis as I don't think he will be in F1 for as long as Lewis an Lewis has more time to win more.

[Mark]

It's a good job the racing is good this year. Otherwise it would all be very boring!

[F1boat]

I think that nothing is sure yet. It seems that RBR have lost much of the advantage they enjoyed, so it is possible to witness a repeat of 2009, in which Brawn GP were suddenly slower than their rivals. However, Seb does enjoy a healthy advantage and he is driving very well, so he has a big chance to score his 2nd WRC, but when, I am not sure.

[Cooper_S]

I think that is a good analogy but two things I would say is that Brawn's advantage was a technical loop hole that eventually other teams covered but took too long , Red bulls advantage is not as significent to their early sucess and so they will not fall behind as much as Brawns did they will just be equaled. and second with no disrespect to Jenson or Rubens but RBR have Vettel and Webber a far stronger driver pairing IMO and they will help them fend off the challange of improving rivals.

But yes although on paper it looks like Seb has reduced the season we are entering a new phase where rivals are ahead on pace but just need to break the qualification to take full advantage.

[steveaki13]

Certainly in the races, the Mclarens seem as fast as Red Bull and Alonso in the Ferrari. Remember Mark hasn't often been second behind Vettel and he is a good driver.

It seems they are faster in Quali, but its only Vettel who is able to keep ahead of the pack.

I know Webber has 4 fastest laps, but he needs to be fast all round, and stay ahead of the chasing pack as Vettel has.

[Cooper_S]

Mark had to do a lot of chasing on race day hence his high tally of fastest laps...

Vettel seems to be matching Senna in that he has more poles than wins with few fastest laps.

[N4D13]

Certainly in the races, the Mclarens seem as fast as Red Bull and Alonso in the Ferrari. Remember Mark hasn't often been second behind Vettel and he is a good driver.
If the McLarens are as fast as Alonso in the Ferrari, then we might as well give the title to Vettel already. The Ferrari might have been reasonably fast at Monaco, but it's disastrous on the hard tyres, so I wouldn't count on Alonso to be a contender this year.

[N. Jones]

With his win today Vettel is now 58 points clear of his nearest rival (or to put it another was he has as it stands reduced the 19 race season down to 17 before he is crowned 2011 WDC)

How early do you guys think the WDC title will be decided... I recon at his current score rate it could be as early as the Italian GP (round 13) but I suspect he will not have it all his own way and it will be more likely be in Japan (round 15)

Last two races Vettel won by less than two seconds. I don't think this season is over by any stretch of the imagination.
Canada could be the starting point of the gap closing. It is historically an attrition filled race and, even without DRS and KERS, it has always been the one track where position battles and overtaking have been king.

Those are some of the reasons why the Canadian GP is the 3rd most watched sports event in the world (after the FIFA World Cup Final & The Super Bowl).

[jens]

The difference is that in 2009 Brawn didn't have much money and couldn't develop the car properly. RBR has proved already in both 09 and 10 that they certainly do not lack in pace of in-season development. Last year people were waiting all season, when would RBR finally get caught pace-wise.

I think at best we could have a 2006-type scenario, when Alonso started with 6 wins and three second places, but for the second half of the season the tables were turned and Ferrari was the fastest car, so that only reliability issues in the last few races prevented them from winning the championships.

RBR will have some weaker circuits on the way (Montreal, Monza), but Vettel does not need to win all races from now onwards, he can also afford consistent podiums, especially if chasers keep taking points off each other and no one clear contender emerges. The only way McLaren or someone can still win the title, is if they have a significant upgrade and can start outracing Vettel-RBR on a consistent basis on every type of circuits. But somehow I don't see that happening.