David Coulthard: 'Sebastian Vettel could be the best driver ever in Formula One'

Seb’s lead of 92 points over his nearest rival, Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber, has almost certainly assured him of a second successive world title. He continues to sweep all before him.

And yet there are still those who question Seb’s driving. As if he is simply fortunate to have found himself in a Red Bull. As if he is an average racing driver because he wins races from pole.

Well, I think we could well be witnessing the development of the best driver ever in Formula One. We can’t say yet, of course. Only history will judge that. But the fact that Seb continues to improve every aspect of his game, from race craft to tyre management, building on his natural speed, is indisputable.

This has nothing to do with Red Bull or my association with the team. This has everything to do with the way Seb has stepped up his game this year.

I don’t think the standard in Formula One has ever been higher than it is now. Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Mark Webber: these guys are world class. Michael Schumacher has come back and has discovered that first hand. Seb is simply outperforming everyone.

People are asking whether we are about to see another period of dominance à la Schumacher. I don’t think so. Michael was driving a car which never broke down, a car superior to those of his rivals, with unlimited testing and the biggest budget in Formula One.

Ferrari and McLaren have the resources and personnel to catch Red Bull, and in fact they have done so; their race pace has been as good as Red Bull’s for months now. McLaren probably had the quickest car in Belgium at the weekend. They just didn’t get the job done. Seb got it done.

It’s hugely impressive. Remember, too, that Michael was driving in an era when the races all but ended after 40 laps. By that I mean if you were leading after the last pit stop you were almost assured of victory since track position was king.

With these new regulations, races go down to the wire. Tyre management, making the right calls as the race unfolds, communication with your team, overtaking, raw pace; all are crucial to the modern day driver. And at the moment, Seb is coming up with the goods.

There were so many good performances on Sunday. Mark’s pass on Fernando going down the hill to Eau Rouge was one of the bravest I have ever seen. Jenson’s drive from 13th to third was beautiful.

And, of course, there was Michael’s drive from last to fifth on the 20th anniversary of his debut. Of course he, like Jenson, profited from the safety car but he paced himself well and used his tyres judiciously. I wonder whether it has taken Michael this long to get used to the fact that it is not a sprint formula anymore. It is about brain as well as brawn.

Lewis Hamilton, a man with pace to burn, is still coming to terms with that fact. He has everything in his armoury but for whatever reason the clarity of thought is not quite there at the moment.

Actually I didn’t agree with Lewis’s assessment that his collision with Kamui Kobayashi on lap 13 was “100 per cent” his fault but there have been too many incidents this year. He needs to improve that area of his game because Seb is setting the bar very high right now.

I would like to end by paying my respects to Martin Hines, who died on Sunday morning aged 64. Martin was basically ‘Mr Karting’ in this country and everyone — from myself to Seb to Lewis to Jenson — owes him a debt of gratitude. A huge loss to motorsport.

US Open 2011: Rafael Nadal overcomes first round wobble to beat Andrey Golubev in straight sets at Flushing Meadows

A player ranked 98th in the world who recently ended an 18-match losing streak on the ATP World Tour did not sound like the most testing of opponents for the world No 2, but that was doing the Kazakh a disservice.

If Nadal is a player who plays with a healthy margin for error, Golubev is precisely the opposite, but he possesses one of the biggest forehands in the game and it was a shot the Spaniard was to learn a lot about.

Nadal has had a shaky time since losing the Wimbledon final to Novak Djokovic and he was broken in only the fifth game. But that merely fired the second seed up and he promptly reeled off four games in a row to clinch the set.

It was Golubev who was dictating play, though, and he put himself in a winning position in the second set as he moved into a 5-2 lead.

And he should have levelled the match but he blew a 40-0 lead and five set points in all in the same game as Nadal broke back, and the Kazakh then missed another two chances on his opponent's serve.

The Spaniard made it four games in a row with another break as Golubev got involved in his other favourite sport, arguing with the umpire, and, even though the outsider forced a tie-break, he rather fell apart to allow Nadal to move two sets up.

Golubev continued to mix thumping winners with wild shots but there were enough of the former to put him two breaks ahead in the third set.

It looked as though this time it would be enough, but Golubev could not find the big shots when the crunch moments came and Nadal sealed victory with a trademark forehand winner down the line, setting up a second-round clash with Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

Nadal's serve was broken six times, once more than in seven matches when he won the title 12 months ago, but the Spaniard was content with his start against a difficult opponent.

He said: "I was practising very well all week. For sure I was nervous. That's normal. It's normal to start the tournament like this with some nerves.

"And what happened today, he didn't help because he played very fast all the time. All the shots, he was trying to hit a winner on almost every shot. So it was difficult for me to find the rhythm.

"But it's a positive start winning in straight sets, even if it was unbelievable that I won in straight sets. But it is a victory in straight sets.

"I'm happy for the victory. I'm happy to come back to New York. I think I didn't play that bad. But the mental part was positive tonight. The tennis for sure can improve. I have to play a little bit more inside the court. But I am confident I can do it."

Arsenal board give total backing to Arsène Wenger and insist his position at the club is 'rock solid'

A senior club source told Telegraph Sport that Wenger’s position was “rock solid” and that Arsenal remain convinced that they have the right manager and long-term strategy.

Crucially, this position is endorsed by Arsenal’s owner Stan Kroenke, who watched Sunday’s match on television, but firmly believes that Wenger is one of the outstanding coaches in world sport.

Kroenke has maintained a low public profile since completing his majority takeover of Arsenal in June but is in regular contact with Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

He generally travels to London for the club’s monthly board meetings and has made visits to speak with Wenger at Arsenal’s London Colney training ground.

Club sources say that he is fully engaged in key decisions and supportive of both Wenger and Gazidis as they try to steer the club through the most challenging period in their recent history.

 “Arsène has the absolute backing and solidarity of the board,” said the club source. “His position is rock solid. Arsène is a manager with a great record and the club expect to be working with him for years to come.”

Wenger has apologised for Sunday’s humiliating defeat, while Arsenal yesterday took the unprecedented step of offering a free ticket for a future away game to those 3,000 fans who travelled to Old Trafford.

The gesture will cost the club around £130,000. “Our travelling fans were magnificent throughout and we want to recognise their fantastic support,” said a club statement.

The manner of the defeat was genuinely shocking. Lee Dixon, a member of the double-winning defence under Wenger in 1998, accused Arsenal of travelling to Manchester United with “no game plan whatsoever”.

Robin van Persie, the Arsenal captain, bluntly accepted that the team had got what they deserved. “It is an honest result if you look at the game,” he said. “We were simply not good enough. We have to deal with that. I don’t think we can hide behind injuries or suspensions. It is no excuse. They had injuries too.”

Although Kroenke was not at Old Trafford on Sunday, senior club officials, including Gazidis, director Richard Carr, secretary David Miles and director Ken Friar were.

While deeply disappointed, the collective feeling from the Arsenal board is that there were extraordinary circumstances. The team had been badly hit by injuries, suspensions and departures, while the gruelling Champions League qualifier against Udinese last Wednesday — played in sweltering temperatures — also seemed to take its toll.

Even so, a run of just two wins in the Premier League since March suggests more deep-rooted problems and has placed Wenger’s position under more scrutiny than at any time during his 15-year reign.

Of particular concern to fans is the club’s transfer strategy. Wenger has sanctioned the departures of five senior first-team players so far this summer, including Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas, without recruiting any proven Premier League experience.

With the transfer window closing tomorrow at 11pm, the Arsenal board has made it clear that the club’s entire transfer budget — understood to be around £70 million — is available for Wenger to invest how he chooses. “He does have money to spend but Arsène is the judge of the quality and price,” said the club source. “He will only buy players if he thinks they are right for the club.”

Yet even before the season started, 69 per cent of respondents in a survey for the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust said that Wenger’s philosophy took too much precedence over the objective of winning trophies.

“If Arsène Wenger wants to stay, the message from our members is that he has to change,” said Tim Payton, spokesman for the AST. “If he does not make some major signings in the next 48 hours he is in difficulty. They want players who are proven in the Premier League, players who can drag results over the line. There is also widespread support for a defensive coach to be brought in to work with the squad.”

The AST survey also recorded that 69 per cent of the respondents supported the involvement in some capacity of David Dein, the former vice-chairman who worked closely with Wenger on player recruitment.

World Athletics 2011: Ennis second as heptathlon nears climax

Jessica Ennis dropped to second and is set to miss out on World Championship gold after managing just 39.95 metres in Tuesday morning's javelin.

The Briton will need to beat Russia's Tatyana Chernova by at least nine seconds in the heptathlon's concluding 800m at 1200 BST.

With Chernova's personal best over two laps a full two seconds faster, Ennis may have to settle for silver.

Ennis is attempting to become the first British woman to retain a World title.

With a tally of 5887, Chernova's cushion over second-placed Ennis is a huge 133 points, with Germany's Jennifer Oeser a further 143 back in third.

Although the reigning European and World champion had led by 151 points coming into the second day, projections based on each athlete's relative strengths in the remaining three events had Chernova moving ahead.

But while the Russian opened the day with 6.61m in the long jump, Ennis responded with a leap of 6.51m in the second round to match her personal best.

It meant that the Briton maintained a lead of 118 points with five events left, a far better scenario than Chernova's PB of 6.82m had suggested.

When Chernova could only produce a stuttering throw of 46.63m with her first effort in the javelin, Ennis looked set to go into the 800m with a small advantage maintained.

But when Chernova went out to a season's best of 52.95m in the second round with Ennis unable to get anywhere close to her personal best of 46.71m, the gold medal began to slip from the 25-year-old's grasp.

European indoor 3,000m champion Helen Clitheroe made it through to the final of the 5,000m as a fastest loser after coming home eighth in her heat in 15 mins 37.73 secs, while 39-year-old Yamile Aldama reached the triple jump final after a fine season's best of 14.35m.

The Cuban-born Aldama competed for Sudan at the 2004 Olympics but was cleared to compete for Britain earlier this summer, 10 years after first applying for British citizenship.

She said: "My age is not a problem. I proved to myself I still can do it, I'm still in good shape and it's going to go well in the final. Wednesday's my youngest son's first birthday so I'll look to give him a good present."

Tom Parsons and Martyn Bernard went out of high jump qualifying, Parsons clearing 2.25m at his second attempt but failing at 2.28m and Bernard crashing out with three failures at 2.21m.

Parsons said: "I felt pretty good warming up, but it was a bit hit and miss.

"It's probably the best qualification standard in the history of high jump but still I should be able to jump those sort of heights as I felt good - but I just didn't pull it out."

And James Shane, winner of the national 1500m title last month, failed to progress after missing out on a fastest loser's place by an agonising single place and nine one-hundredths of a second.

Champions League: Roberto Mancini's Manchester City handed exciting draw for English clubs

“The football club is making history,’’ said Brian Marwood, City's football administrator after Roberto Mancini’s men were pitted against Bayern Munich, Villarreal and Napoli in Group A. “It’s the first time City have ever competed at this [Champions League] level and it’s such an exciting time for everyone connected with the club to be sat in a room with some of the best teams in Europe and the world. It’s a fantastic moment for the club.’’

Tuning in from afar, it meant everything for fans to envisage a Blue Moon rising over Europe. They have spent so long on the outside looking in, and now they are at the best football party in town. Marwood nodded at the mention that four days after United defeated Bayern to seal the Treble in 1999, City were embroiled in a play-off shoot-out with Gillingham to escape the third tier of English football. Penalties from Kevin Horlock, Terry Cooke and Richard Edghill, and Nicky Weaver’s goalkeeping, lifted Joe Royle’s team.

Now they are amongst the high-rollers in Monaco, watching greats of the game sending them on an epic European tour. “I’d have loved some of our fans to have sat here, fans who have experienced those wet horrible nights at some of those dark and dank football grounds over the last 15 years,’’ said Marwood. “Everybody knows the history of the club, it’s been inconsistent for a number of years.” And now? Billowing ambition fills City’s spinnaker, the club targeting success in the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and Carling Cup.

“Given how we’ve built the squad over the last three years we feel we can have a tilt at four competitions,’’ said Marwood. Asked whether City could win all four, he replied: “You have to start on that basis.

“Speaking to Roberto during the summer and talking about the players he wanted to bring in, it was an ambition of his to really compete for four trophies.”

For all the menace rippling though Group A, the technical and tactical challenges that await in Germany, Italy and Spain, City know that they were the Pot Three seed, the team with Sergio Agüero and Samir Nasri, David Silva and Yaya Toure, that everyone wanted to avoid. “That might show you how far we’ve come,’’ reflected Marwood.

Agüero can expect an emotional reception at Napoli, where his father-in-law Diego Maradona is still revered. “There’s some interesting connections,’’ added Marwood, “also Jerome Boateng who’s back at Bayern Munich.’’ City had to be considered genuine contenders for the Champions League, according to Chelsea’s coach Andre Villas-Boas. “Why not?” he said.

“They have joined together the best talent in the world this year. It’s something unbelievable. It shows what they want to achieve, and they have a winning coach as well, a coach who won three titles in a row at Inter. I don’t see why they wouldn’t have the drive or the qualities to go all the way through.”

City have experienced campaigners but it takes time to build the collective nous to prevail in Europe. It took Alex Ferguson’s United season after season, disappointment after disappointment before they clutched the Champions League trophy in 1999. If they prove quick learners, City possess the man-power and manager to threaten the European establishment.

Prediction? After a few nervy nights, City to progress to the knock-out stage.

Far from seeing them as pesky, noisy neighbours, David Gill was delighted with City’s re-emergence. 'It’s good for Manchester to have two teams in the Champions League,’’ said United’s chief executive. “It’s good for the city.

“This does make it interesting. We are pretty confident of doing well again this year though.’’ No wonder. United were given a draw that should have come wrapped in a bow, dipped in Cologne and covered with felt-tip kisses.

Charlton joined Breitner in setting up a Group C pairing with Benfica, reviving so many powerful memories of the 1968 final. “One second he was talking about Benfica and the next he pulls them out of the hat,’’ smiled Gill.

United also have good memories of playing Basel, and a particularly fine Ruud van Nistelrooy goal in 2002, while the Oct 18 away game at newcomers Otelul Galati will be moved to Steaua Bucharest’s ground. “We don’t really know much about Otelul Galati but that’s the beauty of the Champions League, you get fresh teams to play against,’’ said Sir Alex Ferguson. He spoke with typical respect for the opposition but he could have been forgiven for throwing a street party. Prediction? United to sail through.

Group E represents a significant challenge for Chelsea.Mestalla, Valencia’s fastness, is hardly the easiest of trips, although it will be an emotional one on Sep 28 for Juan Mata.

Bayer Leverkusen have embarrassed English teams before, notably United, so Chelsea will travel warily, particularly as Michael Ballack will have the Germans fired up. Genk will be depicted as Group E whipping boys but are more than capable of nicking a point or two. Prediction? Chelsea to be too strong, too experienced and they will progress.

Reward for defeating Udinese in the play-off brought Arsenal a Group F pairing with Marseille, Olympiakos and Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal’s captain, Robin van Persie, listed the names on a tweet and then placed a smiley face. As with Chelsea and City, this group has plenty of pitfalls and Arsenal must take care. Prediction? With Jack Wilshere back, and judicious signings at centre-half and in midfield, Arsenal will progress.

Champions League draw details

Group A: Bayern Munich; Villarreal; Manchester City, Napoli.

Group B: Inter Milan; CSKA Moscow; Lille; Trabzonspor.

Group C: Manchester United; Benfica; Basel; Otelul Galati.

Group D: Real Madrid; Lyon; Ajax; Dinamo Zagreb. Follow it live

Group E: Chelsea; Valencia; Bayer Leverkusen; Genk. Follow it live

Group F: Arsenal: Marseille; Olympiakos; Borussia Dortmund.

Group G: Porto; Shakhtar Donetsk; Zenit St Petersburg; APOEL.

Group H: Barcelona; AC Milan; BATE Borisov, Viktoria Plzen.