Carlos from Spain:
CGX car nut:

I agree with the comments about Vettel: He is having significant difficulties adapting to the new car and the new technologies inherent in the platform.  It must be very frustrating for the Red Bull team to realize that the current Word Champion can not be competitive with the new car.  

The only problem I have with this is that Ricciardo has less experience in F1, comes from a different team and different car all together, and yet from day one he is able to perform better than Vettel who has only changed from last year's RB to this year's RB. True there have been changes from last year to this year in the cars, but those changes were the same for everyone, and even greater for Ric vs Vet.

Personally I think he was never at the level of drivers like Hamilton or Alonso, but that he has never had  to extract 110% from the car to win because he always had a way superior car, and this is what he has to do this season, and even the rookie Ric is getting the job done while Vettel struggles.

I tend to agree with this interpretation of Vettel's struggles. I think he may fundamentally lack the finesse to drive a car that isn't glued to the road. With the older aero, they were able to build him a car that all he had to do was point it where he wanted it to go, and it did, and his aggression took care of the rest. Now, he's sliding around, causing trouble with his tires, which is causing him to go a lot slower than his teammate.

On the broadcast I watched, they were talking, I think it was after the race, about him having similar troubles once before, when the double diffusers were ruled out, and Weber was faster than him for several races. Then, he either adjusted, or they adjusted the car for his style, but this time his trouble seems more fundamental.

I agree that he simply doesn't have the skill or abilities of Alonso, who is, in my opinion, the best driver on the grid today in terms of raw talent and skill, but, unfortunately, just hasn't had the car to ride to glory.