Would be nice to see Vettel struggle a bit today. I think it would be a great story if Alonso can win the champ this year and Alonso needs to take points from him today to have a chance. I think even if Vettel doesn't score, Alonso would struggle to retake the lead in the champ though. Starting from 6th will be tough.
Alonso has won 8% of his races by over 20 seconds. [1]
Vettel has won 7% of his races by over 20 seconds. [1]
Button? 14%
Hamilton? 5%
Raikkonen? 17%
As for Red Bull, completely irrelevant. They were just another mid-field team before 2009.
Newey? How about taking away Mansell's title, Damon, JV, Hakkinen, and even one of Prost's? He's a great designer, but one designer doesn't make an F1 team, or even just the car.
You can make stats say a lot of different things if you want. The problem is that Alonso did most of his winning in a different era where F1 was more spread out. Thats why Raikkonens is so high for example. You could say too Vettel only wins from pole, and that drivers like Alonso would have a better percentage from not winning from pole. However that is obscured too by refuelling in q etc. So yeah
Easy there. Are we forgetting Turkey (2010?), Spa (2010?), Abu Dhabi (2012 )? He's has his fair share of PR **** ups. When you have a car that can qualify 1 second ahead of the rest it's easier to avoid close battles. It's that he is much more of a media darling and knows how to play the game far better than Hamilton. That there is no doubt.
Vettel will always have the shadow of Newey hanging over in, hence why there are many doubters. Whether that bothers him or not, who knows? When you're racking up the WDCs who gives a shit. Maybe he might have to do a Hamilton, and leave the cradle. he can't suckle on the ample breast of Newey's genius forever.