[morini]

Besides, you seem to think you're the only one who thinks he's quick on here, I distinctly remember calling him a one lap specialist repeatedly. Where I have my doubts is over his race craft, which is often found wanting.

No, that's not quite accurate. I never said I was "the only one one here who thinks he's a quick driver", but there have been many occasions where people on here (and elsewhere) have blindly written the guy off as a "number 2" who does not have the ingredients to be a champion. I don't really buy that or think it is fair / true. Ok he has played the no 2 role in the past, but only when his own chances were long gone. He is blisteringly quick in his own right and I honestly think on his day he's one of the very quickest qualifiers out there (and I mean bar none) - he's shown that on quite a few occasions.  He beat Lewis by 0.5 seconds at Barcelona which I think was the first time I thought "this guy is properly fast".

And yes, my voice has sounded quite lonely in support of him on here over the last couple of years (from what I can remember anyway). OK, I admit he has looked ordinary in a lot of races when not leading from the front, but that doesn't mean he can't win a WDC! Vettel won 4 like that! All he needs to do is continually qualify at the front, after all he's proved he can win from the front on plenty of occasions. If he can start at the front then bagging a WDC is all about defending and being as consistent as possible when a win is not possible. Are there better wheel to wheel racers out there? Well yes, Max and Lewis have far more of a track record in that area, but if he can continue to qualify P1 and keep the lead into turn 1 then all the racecraft in the world won't beat him easily.

What makes people think VB winning a WDC beyond the realms of possibility? He definitely has the tools to be a force to be reckoned with. Racing drivers can learn a lot of things to improve race day performance but one thing they can't learn is to be naturally fast. The guy is naturally fast!

I was thinking of betting on him this year. The only thing that stopped me was uncertainty on the number of races we will get.