Nobody becomes a world champion at anything by accident, let alone a four-time world champion of Formula 1.
But people have short memories, and it's only taken four relatively underwhelming (by his own high standards) races for the critics to start climbing all over Sebastian Vettel's back.
Those who write off Vettel as an average driver who romped into the record books by lucking into the best car ignore the qualities that allowed him to make the most of the machinery at his disposal.
Ben Anderson is GP Racing's Editor, Autosport track tester and tame racing driver. He holds an undergraduate degree in journalism studies from the University of Sheffield and joined the title in March 2008, after eight months working in local newspaper journalism for award-winning weekly the Surrey Mirror. He worked on Autosport's national desk before moving up to F1 in '14. He has raced karts and cars since the age of 11 and has tested or raced more than 100 different examples during his career so far.
Driving club racing's Revolution The Revolution prototype racer that has been created by Radical co-founder Phil Abbott aims to bridge the gap between club racing and LMP3 competition. And, as Autosport finds out, it provides drivers with a great challenge behind the wheel National
The Deja vu moment that reveals Bottas' true Hamilton deficit Valtteri Bottas made a winning start to the 2020 Formula 1 season, but he now trails Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton by five points in the standings. This follows a race in Hungary that again exposed a troubling blow to Bottas's title hopes F1
The rules anomaly that saved Hamilton from harsher punishment OPINION: Mercedes was aggrieved that Lewis Hamilton was demoted three places on the grid for the Austrian GP within an hour of the race start, but it could have been a lot worse had the rules been applied differently F1
Formula 1's great Lotus landmarks - Lotus 79 As Formula 1 turns 70, Autosport is marking the occasion with a series of track test features in Lotus machinery that dominated the world championship in the '60s and '70s. In the final instalment of the series, Ben Anderson tries the Lotus 79 F1
The ‘slow’ Porsche that started a Le Mans legend Fifty years ago Porsche took its inaugural win at the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1970. KEVIN TURNER tells the improbable story of the car that got the ball rolling for the 24 Hours' most successful manufacturer WEC
Le Mans 2020: The team by team guide With the coronavirus-enforced delays and build-up to practice and qualifying over, the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours is about to begin WEC
The first time Le Mans was held in September This year is not the first occasion the Le Mans 24 Hours has been postponed from its traditional June date to September. Back in 1968, the legendary enduro was also delayed and it produced one of the wettest races in its history WEC
What we've learned from the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours so far Ahead of the 2020 Le Mans 24 Hours activity both on and off the Circuit de la Sarthe has been frantic in a condensed schedule, while the iconic endurance event prepares for both end of eras and the promise of new ones WEC
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