Comments on: Fernando Alonso: the driver debates

By: amy

amy — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 11:51:23 +0000

Fernando is the best driver in F1 at the minute and 2007 didn’t change anything for me at all, if anything I like him even more now. I think he should be at Ferrari next year and I would love to see him back to winning again.

By: zeus

zeus — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 14:22:06 +0000

I am not a Hamilton fan, but I think Alonso is a bit overated.

This season, we have seen Trulli, Piquet, Couthard, Barrechello, and Glock, drivers debatably having inferior equipment got on the podium. On the other hand, in spite of the aggressive strategy that Alonso often used, he has still not achieved anything spectacular.

I am not denying that he had defeated Schumacher before, but I think Shumacher at the time had already passed his prime, and we look at Massa’s performance back then, maybe Ferrari at that time was not as closely matched with Renault as we thought.

Last year with Hamilton as a teammate, Alonso enjoyed some strategy benefits at the begining, and if Hamilton had not made a series of rookie mistakes at the end, Alonso would have finished behind a rookie.

IMHO, Alonso will be ranked in the history close to other 2 time wolrd champions like Hakkinen, but lower than the like of Stuart and Lauda.

By: the limit

the limit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:42:15 +0000

Nirupam.

‘Cannot even except his mistakes’.

Following the Bahrain, Canadian, and French Grand Prixs, I think quite alot of people excepted that Hamilton is not flawless. He recieved plenty of flak for what happened in Canada, so I can’t buy into your argument on that.
Would a Kimi/Fernando lineup at McLaren worked? That is a good question, and hard to guage. Raikkonen/Montoya certainly did not succeed as well as one would have imagined, and I suspect that Alonso and Raikkonen would have probably cancelled each other out.
Also, you must remember that Alonso has history racing with Raikkonen. They both entered Formula One back in 2001, and both emerged quickly as potential champions. Mentally, Alonso has always excepted Raikkonen as one of his main rivals.
It came as no surprise to him that Raikkonen would be fighting for last years championship. The surprise was that his team mate was competiting also, and he was not prepared for that. No one was!!
That is not bias, just simple fact. If Alonso can get his hands on a real motorcar, then he will be back where he belongs.
I am no fan of Hamilton, but I would much rather watch a championship fought between three or four top drivers than just one, year in year out.

By: Chris L

Chris L — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:51:50 +0000

Fernando Alonso has a tremendous talent, he is more like Alain Prost than Ayrton Senna or Michael Schumacher of today. He is a thinking driver much more like Prost. He does not have that sheer speed like Senna does, which Kimi or Lewis does. Alonso is quite quick, but he is not that quick like Kimi can be. See 2005 Monaco GP Qualifying. Kimi did was Senna would do to Prost.

Now, he is quick of course. You got to be quick to beat Michael Schumacher! But, the brute speed that he has is not there… Schumacher had it all. Senna had it all. Alonso does not have that kind of speed that makes you say, “Sweet Lou, that was darn fast!” Senna and Schumacher did. Kimi does.

Alonso is much more of a thinker than Kimi.

He will be back… I think he can win two more titles just like Prost.

But 7 titles? That is a record that will not be broken by Fernando or anyone, not even Lewis will do that…

It will be a long, long time before anyone will approach Michael Schumacher’s record.

By: the limit

the limit — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:13:33 +0000

In a recent magazine interview, former champion Damon Hill was asked quite bluntly, on how it felt to be sacked by Williams back in the 1990′s?
Hill, in typical fashion, suggested that he felt at the time, that as he was the defending world champion for Williams, that he thought his position was solid within the team.
That assumption would prove to be totally, and utterly wrong. In Alonso’s case concerning last year, there are some simular instances to the situation that Hill found himself in. In fact, I believe Alonso’s case was far worse.
Alonso was a defending, double world champion on joining McLaren. He had beaten Michael Schumacher two years in a row, something nobody had achieved since Mika Hakkinen.
The big point, and one that nobody seems to mention, is that Michael Schumacher by 2007, was no longer in the fight. Fernando Alonso, without question, with Schumacher no longer racing, was out and out the number one man on the grid.
He was a proven race winner, a proven champion. There was no way, no way at all, that Ron Dennis would not give him number one status at McLaren.
What happened afterwards, taking into account the conditions at the time, was always going to happen.
No one knows for sure what really happened, but for me, the seeds were sewn with the retirement of Michael Schumacher.
The main threat to Alonso’s third title, was removed.
Sure, there was Raikkonen, Massa, but Schumacher was always the barometer for Alonso’s success up until now.
In my eyes, Alonso still deserves his acclaim. He shows emotion, if sometimes negative, but indeed emotion. Alonso in a race winning car is something F1 needs.
I defy anybody, who wouldn’t want, to see Alonso and Hamilton go toe to toe again for the championship? I am pretty certain Raikkonen would, thats for sure.

By: Nirupam

Nirupam — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 09:46:35 +0000

@Alianora
Last year Mclaren was enjoying 1-2 in WDC with Alonso/Hamilton till the last two races and then spoiled their chance of finishing 1-2 themselves by getting involved in controversies rather on racing.All they needed todo was to get both their drivers in podium, and at least in one occassion deny Kimi a race win! So there is no reason actually why a Kimi/Alonso or Lewis/Kimi pairing cannot provide lead in WDC.
@Internet
We all know how big difference Kubica created between him and 2nd placed driver at the best driver’s voting. Does that really mean he is so much ahead of the rest of the guys? If you go through all the comments you will find yourself the number of readers who are Lewis-Fanatic and cannot even accept his mistakes

By: Internet

Internet — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:14:20 +0000

@Nirupam: You couldn’t be far from the truth. Just go read the comments in this article
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/05/02/the-most-hated-man-in-formula-1/

to see how many here dislike Hamilton.

By: Alianora La Canta

Alianora La Canta — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 14:05:45 +0000

Probably not, Nirupam. They would still have taken lots of points off each other. Now Massa paired with Alonso, Raikkonen or Hamilton would have been another matter entirely…

By: Nirupam

Nirupam — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:19:31 +0000

Keith
After seing all the comments, its preety clear that the majority of the readers of this site are Lewis/Ron fan. And undoubtedly they love to see good words about Lewis and bad ones about Alonso/Kimi/Massa..
Undoubtedly Lewis is a very good driver, but I do beleive had Kimi/Alonso been in McLaren Drivers seat, the no 1 position in WDC would still have been McLaren’s. And by a better margin.

By: jian

jian — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 13:06:19 +0000

F1 fan: There is no doubt that Heidfeld is a very good racer and an average/bad qualifier which of course if the bad qualifying streak continues might finally take its toll on his racing performance as well. Coupled with his age he might go down the Coulthard road, which is not too shabby although not that good either.

The opposite can almost be said for Heikki, good qualifier, average racer, so I’d much prefer a debate on him instead;)