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Comment by TillE | Hacker News Reader

Vettel has won races by large margins before, without any accusations of cheating. The time difference of ONE LAP is under a second, but that adds up over the course of an entire race.

Red Bull have the best car, Vettel is the best driver, they do the fastest pit stops, and with a little luck this creates big wins.

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Negative. After the yellow flag erased his lead between laps 25-30, he was able to get ahead by 3.2 seconds in one lap after the restart. After that he gains about 2 seconds per lap. They are definitely using something, especially with that engine audio signature.

Personally, I wouldn't outright call it cheating, since it's within the rules, which is what F1 presumably wants, but it is against the spirit of anti-traction control rules.

Vettel was cruising most of the race. That's what he has been doing during all the seasons. He opens a gap in few laps and takes care of tyres and engine for the rest of the race. If needed(as after a Safety Car), he does it again.

He's a great driver, no doubt about it, but he isn't head and shoulders over ALO, HAM or RAI.

A 30s gap over an entire race isn't that big of a deal, Hamilton won the 2008 British GP by over a minute but that was changeable conditions. Watch the first lap of any race and see the gap Vettel builds in a single gap, it has hovered around 2 seconds for many races...

I think it was Singapore where a safety car blew out Vettel's advantage and the pack caught up. Obviously tyre wear was very low in that period, so the team told him to put his foot down, at which point he again managed to increase the gap by about 2s per lap to the point where he had gained back an entire pit stop. Even with a favourable track, I'm sure those in the paddock can't help thinking of the similarities with the 1994 season. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1994_Formula_One_cheating_contr...

Yeah, huge gaps aren't evidence of cheating. There was once race in 2003 or 4 when Schumi lapped the entire field up to 3rd place. He technically came in 1st and 4th place. :)

In Hamilton's last season at Maclaren (when there car was very competitive), he said more than once "they're definitely doing something with that car".

It's been stated more than once by more than one person that Alonso is "the best driver in F1 at the moment, pound for pound". In addition to that, Vettel doesn't have the fastest time on the Top Gear Track (not that it's the ultimate test of a great driver) - but to say that Vettel is the best driver in F1 right now is mis-guided. He most certainly isn't. What would be correct to say is that he has the best car. Now whether that is because of some sort of traction control or not; I don't know. But needless to say, he's not winning races based on pure talent alone.

best driver != fastest driver

Vettel also is very consistent, hard working, excellent under pressure and generally pretty faultless. Top gear times dont say much, but he was on the top there for quite some time, so if Lewis gets a 2nd chance, Vettel should be given one too.

I also think that Alonso is the best overall driver, but i think Hamilton is the fastest in terms of lap-time.

There are several other drivers who're as fast or faster than Vettel. I think he's comparable to Nigel Mansell in the 1992 season: a very good driver in a far, far superior car.

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