Has Vettel Been Cheating All Season!?!...

[Willis]

Right, I'll explain first that the person who noticed this and has put me onto it is a former member of the Red Bull Junior Team (young drivers scholarship programme), he has a VAST and I mean VAST knowledge of F1 and in particular he knows the RB cars inside out and the positioning of their controls. So, when he says there's something odd going on with Vettel, then there's something odd going on with Vettel.

We all know about the ''F-Duct'', and drivers covering something with their hand to activate it. This was banned. But, watch Vettel on these two videos (only checked two so far), his right hand is clearly coming off the wheel on the straights and is clearly going down by his side, towards the area where McLaren and Mercedes had their ''F-Duct'' vent positioned before its ban.

Qualifying today;

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zICNHNfMw8[/YOUTUBE]

Qualifying in Japan;

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drQIi4YExgg[/YOUTUBE]

This has been picked up on literally within the last hour, so you heard it here first if it kicks off...

 

[welshtom1990]

Good spot fair play. But surely the governing body would notice it. They check everything. But it makes sense as to how he's been so untouchable all season lol

 

[Willis]

I know, how he picked up on that is beyond me!!!

Not always, it took them six races to notice Brawn were running a Double Diffuser.

 

[Fernandez]

Ferrari did a whole season using dodgy fuel in the late 80's, no one noticed.

F1 has always been about been about bending the rules and coming up with new ways to get around legislation. We'll see if there is an enquiry, if word is out in public and on this forum then its already been discussed in the paddock.

 

[Willis]

It's not out just yet, only on here and on my mates Facebook...

It'll be on one of the websites in the next few minutes, he now works as an auto/motorsport journalist. :thumbup:

 

[Webby]

You sure it's not the brake bias he's playing with?
The next question would be, if it is an f-duct type thing, where are they stalling the air? With DRS available at any point in qualifying you effectively get the same thing.

Red Bull's advantage is somewhere on the floor of the car - it's the part they are most secretive about (just look at the fuss they made over Webber's car in Monza).

 

[Willis]

Brake Bias is on the wheel and wouldn't take him nine seconds to adjust. It could be stalling the diffuser? Not sure how that would be advantageous though...

Looking through the other onboard footage of him from Quali' this year, he didn't do it in the first four races...

 

[200cup andy]

the second vid he didint do it, maybe he was resting his arm. theres alot of reasons for him taking his arm off the wheel

 

[GrumpyTwig]

Maybe he has an itch, seems pretty far fetched to accuse him of cheating from that.
I'm sure on inspecting the cars they would spot something if there was anything to spot.

He's just a driver at the top of his game with a car that's equally at the top of the constructors game and the team to boot.

 

[jostheboss]

Does Webber do this? Is this Brendon or Robert being sore?

 

[gazb197]

Dont know about cheating but that lap of Suzuka is incredible! Turning into the 1st corner at 199mph, can you imagine the forces on the driver!

 

[Willis]

Suzuka he does it on the first straight, but not up the hill on the second straight towards 130R.

The theory is that it's a cut off for the brake cooling ducts, to bypass them and keep brake temps up when heading into a heavy braking zone after a long straight. Sounds plausible and definately within the regulations as this wouldn't be classed as an ''Aerodynamic Aid''.

It's purely specualtion of course that there is some kind of control there, he might just be having a cheeky w@nk, but it is pretty interesting...

Yeah, Maaahk Webber does it too and no it wasn't Robert or Brendon.

Mike has now published his article, worth a read;

http://getcartech.co.uk/concept-cars/2011/11/26/are-red-bull-using-a-front-wing-f-duct-video

 

[Willis]

Dont know about cheating but that lap of Suzuka is incredible! Turning into the 1st corner at 199mph, can you imagine the forces on the driver!

He really is incredible isn't he!?! The car isn't bad either.

 

[Glenn_Adam_Doble]

im watching the GP right now and he has put his hand down a number of times its bugging me now i want to know what hes doing

 

[Willis]

Hahaha I was like that last night, trawling through all the onboard I could find on You Tube!!!

 

[Paul]

I can't see that there will be any consequences if he is found to be cheating. Season is over and done with. Would be interesting to know...

 

[Willis]

Yeah I doubt anything will happen, it's something that seems to have been developed in the last few races as he's not been doing it at the earlier ones. If I get to find out what it actually is then I'll make sure I post it up... It's been a good season though hasn't it?

 

[lukeeddy]

i thought there was something going on because he seems to be sandbagging everytime someone does a fastest lap he does an even faster the rb is faster than they have let on

 

[N0ddie]

I think this is just people looking into stuff with too much detail trying to find a "fault/cheat" that explains why he's so fast.

The reason he's so fast is; the Red Bull car has been built/developed around Vettel and is by far and away the fastest car on the grid. Simples.

 

[henderson]

ha ha,its not april the 1st mate,next thing you'll be asking how schumacher won 7 titles or how seb loeb has won 8 world rally titles,give the lad some credit,granted he's german but he's simply leaps and bounds above whats out there at the mo