Can Vettel set new record for most wins in a season in 2011?

[Bleu]

Button's 2009 latter half was interesting. Basically only time he lost ground was Silverstone, taking account the fact that the amount of remaining races is going down as well.

Example: Driver A leads driver B by 25 points with three races remaining. Which means that driver B needs to catch 8,33 points per remaining race. B wins next race with A second. The gap is down to 18 points, now driver B needs to catch 9 points point per race,

Turkey 26 over Rubens (10 races remaining)
Britain 23 over Rubens
Germany 21 over Seb
Hungary 18,5 over Mark
Europe 18 over Rubens
Belgium 16 over Rubens
Italy 14 over Rubens
Singapore 15 over Rubens
Japan 14 over Rubens
Brazil 15 over Seb (title clinched)

[DOSBoot]

Don't forget too, there have been times when drivers with the most race wins in a season have lost to drivers with less wins too. Stirling Moss in 1958, and Mario Andretti in 1977, are good examples. The best example would be Alain Prost, who currently has the record of most race wins in a season without a championship win. Which was seven wins, but lost to Niki Lauda's five wins, by 1/2 a point in 1984. Of course, the shortened race at the wet Monaco was the main cause of that. Would a championship loss like that happen to Vettel this year? It could happen, but it seems very unlikely.

[tommykl]

Don't forget too, there have been times when drivers with the most race wins in a season have lost to drivers with less wins too. Stirling Moss in 1958, and Mario Andretti in 1977, are good examples. The best example would be Alain Prost, who currently has the record of most race wins in a season without a championship win. Which was seven wins, but lost to Niki Lauda's five wins, by 1/2 a point in 1984. Of course, the shortened race at the wet Monaco was the main cause of that. Would a championship loss like that happen to Vettel this year? It could happen, but it seems very unlikely.

Actually, Prost shares the record with Räikkönen. I think you'll find he also won 7 races in 2005.

[Bleu]

Prost won 7 also in 1988 (but Senna won 8), Schumacher won 7 in 2006. Alonso had 7 wins in both of his championship seasons

[jackanderton]

Vettel really shouldn't have won the last two races, and the Red Bull, while still quick, is vulnerable to McLaren on strategy and with DRS and KERS.

Hamilton should have 2 wins and Button should've picked up a win also.

That would leave things on 129-92 with Vettel and Hamilton. Oh well.

If you look back into the championships past, it wasn't just the wins that won the title- it was winning and not coming any further down than 2nd or 3rd when you didn't. If you look at Felipe Massa's 2008 season, he failed to finish on the podium in 8 races. That just won't win you the title, even if you win 6 others. Meanwhile Hamilton finished outside the top 5 only 5 times. And Hamilton is notoriously quite inconsistent for such a top driver.

My point is here, Vettel has already won so many races and doesn't look like finishing outside the top 3 all season long. You may as well crown him champion now unless Ferrari and McLaren simultaneously take massive steps forward in the next 8 weeks. Even if it gets closer, Hamilton is going to end up being the Damon Hill to Vettel's Schumacher.

[Peter]

The last time a driver won 11 times in a season, or rather, the only times, like Schumi in 2004, and especially Mansell in 1992, they were well clear of the field, Mansell in 1992 would be something like 2 seconds, even more, clear of Senna and Berger. Schumacher was also in a race of his own most of the time in 2004, Button, his closest rival, just couldn't respond, like at Imola, Schumi reeled him in like a fish.

Vettel is nowhere near that much faster, and he's not on the track to staying ahead. 2 or 3 more wins, that's it.

[KL-racer]

Well, as of right now, I don't think so because of the exhaust mapping ban coming up next race in canada. But if Vettel did managed to win this next race without the exhaust mapping, then maybe he will tie the record best case. But, I'm not buying Vettel breaking the record espically if hamiliton, button and Alonso can keep improving their car throughout the season and keep the pressure on the red bull in the races. And then again, it's F1, and anything can happen and I could be wrong!

[sswishbone]

I do think the exhaust mapping that the FIA are aiming to stamp out will significantly affect Red Bull, Mclaren will have it to a lesser extent so I think we might a lower ranked car like Mercedes or Sauber suddenly at the tip of the field, that could significantly throw things out of kilter

[TomWazzleshaw]

I do think the exhaust mapping that the FIA are aiming to stamp out will significantly affect Red Bull, Mclaren will have it to a lesser extent so I think we might a lower ranked car like Mercedes or Sauber suddenly at the tip of the field, that could significantly throw things out of kilter

Mercedes: No. Their car has no race pace and eats into the tyres like there's no tomorrow.
Sauber: Definite maybe. Wouldn't it be awesome if Kobayashi scored a win before the end of the season?

[Collieafc]

Sauber: Definite maybe. Wouldn't it be awesome if Kobayashi scored a win before the end of the season?

That would be beyond awesome