Vettel seeking answers to fall from grace

At least one driver surely did not expect the rules and also the competition from his own teammate to befuddle him. Defending World Champion Sebastian Vettel must be wondering what hit him this season.

After seven races, Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton has won four, his teammate Nico Rosberg two and the last one in Montreal went to Daniel Ricciardo, Vettel’s Red Bull teammate.

There is plenty of fuel left in the tank with 12 more races on the cards and anything can happen. But the broad contours of the championship race are unfolding, albeit hazily.

For the uninitiated, it is all so confusing to find out that four-time World champion Vettel to be struggling and seeking answers for his fall from grace all of a sudden.

Ricciardo, who was elevated from Red Bull's sister team Toro Rosso to fill the retiring Mark Webber's seat, has been a revelation. With a teammate like Vettel, any driver, let alone a rookie, is expected to come under tremendous pressure to outrace a champion.

But the Australian has exceeded all expectations and is doing a better job than Vettel. The 24-year-old has taken the fight to his German teammate, who himself said that the Australian's performance has surprised him.

It is not that Vettel has slowed down this year but Ricciardo's superb pace and the ability to get the maximum out of his machine - the RB10 - has led the German to compare his race data with that of Ricciardo's. The 26-year-old, however, acknowledged Ricciardo's pace saying that he has done a good job.

A mere look at statistics shows how the Australian has out-shone his illustrious teammate, also a promotee from Toro Rosso in 2009.

Of the seven races in 2014, Ricciardo has qualified better than Vettel on five occasions, including an impressive P2 at the season opening Australian Grand Prix.

When it comes to the race day, Ricciardo has finished ahead of Vettel in the last five GPs. Ricciardo also finished second at his home race in Melbourne but was disqualified on a fuel flow rate issue.

And when it came down to the opportune moment, it was the Perth-born driver standing at the top of the podium in Montreal after clinching his maiden F1 victory at the Canadian Grand Prix Sunday while Vettel finished third.

This is such a remarkable turnaround from the days when Vettel used to dominate his former teammate Webber in qualifying as well as in the races.

In the five years the two raced together in the same team, Vettel emerged World champion four times and finished runner-up once in 2009 while Webber could only manage finishing third in the standings thrice.

Before Vettel came into the picture, Webber was also known as a brilliant qualifier. But the German laid that notion to rest.

The battle between Vettel and Ricciardo reminds one of the spectacular 2007 season when Fernando Alonso was the two-time reigning World champion and Hamilton got his maiden seat as the Spaniard's teammate at McLaren.

At the end of that season, both drivers missed out on the World Championship but significantly, the newbie Hamilton finished second in the standings, beating his formidable opponent Alonso to third.

That battle ended on a sour note when differences led the Spaniard to leave the team at the end of the year while his British counterpart won the World championship the next year.

In good spirit and as part of celebration, Vettel lifted Ricciardo in parc ferme Sunday. What remains to be seen is if Vettel continues celebrating Ricciardo's success for long or has an answer of his own.

The Vettel-Ricciardo battle is a sideshow as Hamilton and Rosberg are heading for a showdown of their own to decide which one of them would be the champion of the season.