Two interesting stories popped up on the Blogdar this morning. The first one claims that Vettel, as a driver, is in the same league as Senna. Funnily enough the story is printed in "Red Bull News" and even funnier is the source of the story is Giorgio Ascanelli, the director of Toro Rosso.
We get these comparisons on a regular basis when new drivers come through and I'm sure Senna got compared with the greats of yesteryear when he showed what he could do, but I always find the stories amusing given that such comparisons are now two-a-penny.
Schumi, Alonso, Vettel! You could probably add Kubica to the list given that he hasn't really ever had a winning car under him and yet has put in mighty performances. When Raikkonen came into F1 he was being hailed as the new Messiah and, to be sure, he did put in some spectacular performances but if my memory serves me he was outperformed in his first year by Heidfeld yet his new blood got him into the McLaren Mercedes ahead of his teammate who had been a Mercedes driver in DTM prior to F1.
Vettel is certainly capable of spectacular performances, and showed his promise in the Toro Rosso before his big promotion, particularly in Japan in 2007 where, if you remember he managed to take off himself and Webber from third and second in extreme wet conditions under the safety car; an act which promoted Webber's outburst on the BBC: "It's kids isn't it... kids with not enough experience – they do a good job and then they fuck it all up."
He did win spectacularly for Toro Rosso in 2008 in the wet at Monza having grabbed pole in a wet/dry quali and the next year was promoted to the First Team to partner Webber.
A good driver? Yes.
Comparable to Senna? Who is?
