VETTEL IS NO MATCH FOR LEWIS HAMILTON !

Contrary to what we all think, we are not the drivers of this n/a, 500 whp, Nurburgring-conquering GT3 RS we refer to as life. In fact, we are mere passengers, riding without safety gear, sitting bone-white scared behind a driver who maintains a Jamaican crab’s unyielding grip on destiny. Moral? Show love and enjoy the damn ride!

DRAG RIVALS III

Having said that, Drag Rivals III and the Animal Kingdom will be in full effect at Jamwest on September 30. Is a change of the status quo on the horizon? A rearrangement of the hunter and the prey synergy?

ROLAND CRAWFORD

The Parrot-Roland Crawford must put his best speech forward. The Sheep-Ken T, the Turtle-Vaughn, the Lizard-Lizard, the Snake, the Whale-Bally, the Duck-Corey, the Panther-Swiffy, the Eagle-Vijay, the Antz and the Snail will all have to, like English soccer fans – bring the noise and  support it with feisty, irrepressible speed!

Ferrari’s 2017 season purchased a promising start. Championship success was a within-reach, realistic proposition. There were moments of sheer brilliance, but, eventually Vettel interjected. Ferrari’s hopes, like a wayward aeroplane with exploded engines, descended nose first, at a pace consistent with a frightened rat escaping its flaming tail!

The 2018 season, unabashedly, has adopted a similar trajectory. I will state this here and I am willing to battle-rap anyone who disagrees – Ferrari should consider a new driver – to replace Vettel!

If you want to test an individual’s mettle, observe and take notes when he/she is subjected to intense pressure. The cream will rise to the surface when the goons come knocking. Nico Rosberg knows this. He was in the kitchen. He got lucky. Yes he did. He absconded without extensive contemplation.

RED BULL

Vettel, it is often said, won multiple championships aboard a machine that, like the Concorde, was a game-changer. It was a machine that rendered the competition losers days before the red lights grabbed wings and disappeared!

It was a machine that was an enabler for whoever sat in the Red Bull seat. Vettel left Red Bull and carried his craft elsewhere. Has he won a world championship since his departure?

The Fight For Five being waged between defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton and Vettel was precariously poised recently with very little separating the protagonists. Dramatic events have occurred though and for one combatant – Hamilton – the sky is no limit.

Vettel, however, will have to account for his innate propensity to convert significant team gains into abject failure and disappointment.

Harsh, I might sound, but with just cause. When a team – Ferrari – has rattled Mercedes’ cage successfully and has continuously improved the Scarlet Warrior to the point where Hamilton after the Spa GP was left discombobulated and stunned into a mumbling stupor, by the sheer pace of the machine, it defies logic to think that with a handful of races remaining in the 2018 charade, Vettel and Ferrari are 40 points in the red!

I am forced to conclude that based on the evidence provided, for example – Vettel crashing out of the German GP while leading – that Vettel – this iteration – is no match for The Shooter – Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton soars in the face of competition. He triumphs in a field of uncertainty. He excels when he is caged and tagged inferior. He mutilates gaps left by reckless opponents and he rides an introspective, emotional wave when he arrives as the first loser.

He is as complete a driver as you would hope for. Lewis Hamilton is John Wick. Vettel is……….

There is still hope. Crucial points remain on the table. Are you a betting man/woman?

Cecil Munroe Gleaner On-Line Writer