Montezemolo scorns ‘senseless Alonso rumours’

F1 Fanatic Round-up

Posted on

| Written by

In the round-up: Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo rubbishes reports Fernando Alonso could be lured to another team but says nothing about the questions over his own future.

Links

Your daily digest of F1 news, views, features and more.

Montezemolo remembers Enzo Ferrari (Ferrari)

“As is the case every summer, there is unfounded gossip about alleged problems with senseless rumours bandied about, such as the ones relating to Alonso’s contract or those of drivers’ salaries.”

Ecclestone bribery case now closed (Belfast Telegraph)

“The court said today that the payment was made on time.”

Caterham warned against pay driver (Autosport)

“I don’t really worry about my race seat. There are always rumours, but it’s simple: getting the team eighth, ninth (in the championship) or whatever would be difficult with a pay driver.”

The First Time – with Sauber’s Esteban Gutierrez (F1)

“When was your first big accident in a race car?
EG: That was in pre-season testing in Formula BMW. It was quite a shunt – but there was no harm to me.”

Tweets

Comment of the day

A trenchant view on the performance of Mercedes’ drivers from Eric:

I wouldn’t place either of the Mercedes driver’s in the top ten even. Their season has, so far, been riddled with mistakes. Small ones and big ones.

Vettel and Hulkenberg have made far fewer mistakes combined than either of the Mercedes drivers have made so far. Vettel had two spins, one in third practice in Bahrain which damaged his floor and the one in Hungary which pretty much sealed his already-ruined-by-Safety-Car race.

Hulkenberg hit Perez in a really clumsy move in Hungary. That’s about it really.

Now compare that to the Mercedes drivers. If lost count at how many times Hamilton has messed up qualifying. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say ‘this track is Hamilton’s track, he will get pole easy’, well, I would have gotten at least a few nickels.

And Rosberg has been out-qualified quite a few times by other cars. How does that happen?

Seriously though, both Rosberg and Hamilton have made plenty of mistakes already. And I suppose they should be given some room for error being in a tight battle for the championship and all but I can’t remember Vettel making this many mistakes in 2012 or 2010 for that matter.
Eric (@Baron-2)

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to F1George, Dan_The_Mclaren_Fan and Kirill!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is via the contact form or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

Michael Schumacher won the Hungarian Grand Prix on this day 20 years ago.

An article on this race, which also saw Jos Verstappen take his first podium finish, will appear later today as part of F1 Fanatic’s retrospective on the 1994 F1 season.

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

85 comments on “Montezemolo scorns ‘senseless Alonso rumours’”

  1. Luth (@soulofaetherym)
    14th August 2014, 0:35

    I wholeheartedly agree with the COTD. Alonso, Bottas and Ricciardo would be my top3 in any order, with the Mercs 4th and 5th. I usually don’t like to speculate on ‘would have’s and ifs’ but I’m pretty sure if the Merc wasn’t so overly dominant (if instead of being 0.5-0.7s a lap faster they were 0.2-0.3), neither of their drivers would be leading the championship.

    1. I can think of a few small mistakes Bottas has made but I guess every driver does. Based on actual driving and not car performance if Ricciardo and Alonso are not in the top 3 I would question the ranking system.

  2. Like I was saying yesterday, if Ferrari don’t give Alonso a competitive car then he will leave to a better team but in my opinion I don’t see that happening yet because he is doing well despite his machinery. But no doubt that Alonso is the best driver of 2014. The F14 is not the best car out there yet he is still right up there battling for 3rd in the drivers championship.

  3. Regarding CotD, how many mistakes have the Mercedes drivers really made?

    Rosberg:
    – Ran off the track in Australia qualifying
    – Dead slow in Malaysia, in both qualy and race
    – Spun in China qualifying
    – Controversial Monaco mistake
    – Cut the chicane in Canada
    – Made several small mistakes on the restart in Hungary

    Hamilton:
    – Ran off the track on his final attempt in Bahrain
    – Locked up twice on his final attempt in Canada
    – Spun in Austria
    – Gave up on his final run in Silverstone
    – Ran into Button and broke a front wing end-plate in Germany

    That’s about 5 or 6 mistakes apiece, and only about 2 or 3 which actually cost them something.

    I wouldn’t place the Mercedes drivers ahead of Alonso/Ricciardo/Bottas, but to say that they shouldn’t be in the top 10 is going too far.

    1. I agree, who is to say the Merc duo aren’t performing the best this year? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but COTD’s is wrong xD

    2. It certainly seems ridiculous to me. Even if Vettel has made fewer mistakes, there’s a little more to the rankings than that. Like the fact that both drivers have had a few stand-out drives, whereas Vettel has been far from spectacular.

    3. I agree. Both Mercedes driver are probably under an insane amount of pressure, and everything they do this year is probably captured live. Another factor in ranking the drivers is stand out performances and I can list a few of them given by the title contenders, mainly Lewis. Oh yeah, and neither driver has crashed in a race yet. That’s something that happens to almost every title protagonist.

      P.S You could add poor starts and missing marks in pit stops to both drivers if we’re getting nit picky ;)

      1. Both Mercedes driver are probably under an insane amount of pressure

        @theo-hrp The pressure… I´ve never really understood where the pressure is in F1. I mean, ask your local ambulance-driver, whose mistakes on occasions might cost lives, who sometimes has given timeframes when to arrive at hospital the latest, and who has cars coming at him from different directions and with unknown intentions, that´s pressure. In F1, there is no relevant pressure, at least as long as the driver is not a total pansy.

        @COTD Even I had the Merc-drivers in my Top10, and I´m certainly not easy on them whole season long, so there is some exaggeration in that COTD. And Vettel this year probably isn´t the best example to compare them against. Vergne and Button might be, Hülkenberg and Alonso are surely ahead.

        1. @crammond
          To state that in F1 there is no pressure on the drivers is quite ridiculous. In every sport an athlete has pressure to perform, even more so if he’s fighting at the front of the field among the best.

          [sarcasm]
          An ambulance-driver you say? Ssshh, ask Kennedy how he had to avoid the Cuban Missile Crisis. Now that’s pressure.
          [/sarcasm]

          1. @andrewf1 Yes, Kennedy had some pressure back then ^^

            And I didn´t say there is no pressure, I said there is no relevant pressure. Worst thing that can happen is you lose in a sporting event, people should be able to cope with that. I mean, what shall whoever comes second in this years championship do? I can´t help but thinking of this gif

    4. Regardless of how you feel about CotD you got to love this line, “If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say ‘this track is Hamilton’s track, he will get pole easy’, well, I would have gotten at least a few nickels.

      1. That’s a classical line from Beavis and Butt-Head. Quoting from memory: “If I had a dollar every time blah blah, then I would have like.. eeee…all those dollars.”

    5. @kingshark I agree. Although they’ve both made quite a few little mistakes, we shouldn’t overlook the fact that Vettel was mostly unseen from the tv footage, so it’s a lot more difficult to know where he made a mistake.

      Plus, in 2010 he had a huuuuuuge list of mistakes ! hence the “crash kid” motto he build up. He’s never engaged a wheel to wheel fight for a championship like Lewis and Nico are doing, so that’s something to underline aswell.

      1. @fer-no65 the “crash kid” was just barely justified by his Toro Rosso first season, maybe by Webber’s angry comment when Vettel crashed against him during SC period. Particularly I listen “crash kid” and I remember Maldonado, or Grosjean, even Massa (well, he’s not a kid, but serves the example better)

        1. @omarr-pepper he got the “crash kid” label justified by his collisions with webber at turkey and button at spa

    6. Could someone please give the count of Bottas mistakes? I think he’s a done a good collection too. And Mr Vettel has done few more than COTD says…

    7. A lot of those are quite big mistakes though, and we’re only through half the season. It reminds me a bit of 2008, where Massa and Hamilton both had occasional drives that made them look like rookies. I remember really doubting whether they actually deserved the championship. Obviously, they did. But I often think about it in terms of expectation. Who is doing better than you would have thought, and who is under-performing, and when, under what circumstances.

      1. great point. mistakes made by championship contenders are magnified by an extraordinary extent. although, on the mistakes score, alonso is practically inhuman.

        i usually get frustrated by these lists which place the top teams’ drivers at the top almost by default – though I know keith’s are more sophisticated – but in this case I think rosberg and hamilton have put in some absolute stormers.

        it’s an unpopular opinion, but webber had by far the best car in 2011, 2013 and he was nowhere compared to vettel. this year, we have two drivers at (or near) vettel’s 2013 level.

      2. Actually, I still think that neither Hamilton, neither Massa deserved WDC in 2008. It was Kubica’s year and he was perfect then, except his car was at least 0,2-0,3 secs slower than Ferrari and Mclaren, yet still fought for WDC until the end of season and lost possibility only with 2 or 3 races to go.

      3. @splittimes finally!!! Somebody felt the same as I did… When I saw the 2008 season, I lost THE special interest (even when the thrill went down until the final GP) because at that time both Ferrari and McLaren had so good cars that made the others look pale. Their cars made up for the drivers’ mistakes. Massa and Lewis’s suporters will tell me how they “swept the floor” with their teammates, but let´s be honest: Heikki was the 11th hour replace for Fernando, and Kimi was too loose at times to be a real contender.
        I start to think the same about the Seb-Mark comparison. Mark was not a bad driver, but he had too little to resist Sebastian last year, he lost grip. Now Ricciardo is (why not?) better than Vettel and it’s joytime for Seb’s critics. But I would put Daniel first on the drivers’ ranking (close call vs Fernando) because he’s the only one who has stepped first, against the hyperMercedes cars.

        1. PS and I also understand the loss of interest people felt last year, something I found hard to understand as a Sebastian fan (well, even last year I admitted that I was “sad for the race, happy for the result”).

      4. @splittimes

        Exactly, and that’s kind off the point I was trying to make.

        My post also included a comparison of 2014 Hamilton vs. 2007 Hamilton. I’m a bit disappointed that part was excluded tbh, but I guess Keith had to trim the comment down a little bit.
        Hamilton experienced immense pressure that year as well driving in the same car as the, at the time, most crowned and highest regarded champion on the grid who looked set to win a third in a row. And that year the fight between him and Alonso was a multitude bigger than the fight he’s currently having with Britney.
        He barely made any mistakes and was consistently fast that year in a car that was just about better than the competition and against the toughest of teammates who will not only fight you on track but off track as well if he needs to.

        In my opinion Hamilton 2007 was a far better driver than Hamilton 2014.

        1. Hamilton 2014 is a much more complete driver/sportsman than during his McLaren days. Hamilton would be owning Rosberg, if Mercedes were not deploying such unreliable cars.

          Mercedes are playing for the TV camera, or they suck and will be beaten next year after Honda shows up. Either way, Lewis is being held back and his teammate is driving like he already has the WDC. When Lewis’ car stops breaking down he will be 20 seconds ahead of his teammate.

    8. Yes, it is ridicules to mark them down just because they are in the best car. Would you mark Vettel or Alonso down if their cars were that good. They would both shine if their cars were that good simply because their team mates would not be allowed to race them.

    9. I agree with you completely. Both Mercedes drivers are definetly in the top5, but only just. They have a car witch is enormously dominant, but still can’t collect 1-2 in every race. For example last year Vettel had dominant car (but not as dominant, as Mercedes this year), but didn’t put a foot wrong whole season and was as perfect as you can be in the last 9 races, though few showed appreciation for that. I know, he didn’t have much of opposition from his team mate, but still, to win 9 races – a record in F1 – you have to be really special.

      I don’t undermine Mercedes drivers, theyare really good, really fast, but they should be doing a better job.

      1. I think it is obviously a new chapter in F1 and the cars are obviously way different now…just ask Vettel. I don’t see how anybody can acknowledge the much greater torque and the resultant squirreliness upon acceleration, and the new braking systems that have totally changed the feel under braking, and at the same time compare drivers simply based on mistakes this year vs. last year when the driver’s had cars they were very much used to and had more downforce to boot. The cars are simply a much bigger handful now. More complicated than ever, and more unpredictable for the drivers.

        1. Yes, but look at Hulkenber or Alonso – they almost aren’t making mistakes. And look at Monaco GP – there were as few crashes as ever (maybe because drivers are not willing to risk so much as last year, when cars were more stable). So I think we can compare a number of mistakes with last year.

    10. Mate, you’ve forgotten Hamilton’s mistake in his first run in Q3 Austria

    11. Gotta agree here. Ros and Ham not in top 10? Hyperbole

      1. My comment didn’t appear where it should have.

  4. Isnt Kobayashi a pay-driver as well???

    1. @jaymenon10
      I thought so too.

    2. @jaymenon10 Yeah, but he’s proved that he’s a step above the midfield (and certainly backmarker) game, personally I have no clue how he originally lost his drive.

    3. I thought he was drivin’ for free. Didn’t the people of Japan pay his wages for the year?

    4. It would be so interesting to find out the actual workings of some of these “pay-driver” contracts. In Kobayashi’s case, I’ve been under the impression that it was his willingness to drive for free (along with his experience, of course) that landed him his current seat at Caterham. He must be getting personal funds from somewhere, though, and I doubt that he’s living in a van. However he’s managing, good for him, and I’d like to see him stay on the grid.

      1. He had that fan-raised fund he set up when he lost his Sauber drive. I thought he was using that.

        If the rumours are true, the most likely future Caterham “pay-driver” will be Red Bull-funded Carlos Sainz. Hardly an undeserving driver lacking ability.

  5. What was the first meal you ever cooked?
    EG: My special quesadillas. I still cook them when I am home in Mexico.

    Hey! what a coincidence those are my specialty as well :p
    But if I’m honest they’re not much harder to make than let’s say, a sandwich so you need to work on your cooking skills Esteban.

    1. so you need to work on your cooking skills Esteban.

      I’d rather he first focus on his driving skills @mantresx :-o

  6. I’m rather shocked that comment of the day was picked. I’ve read the full one, and it is full with the most unbelievable excuses for Mr. Vettel. Vettel this year has just switched off on occasion: the contact in Austria; the spin in Hungary; his out lap in Canada; allowing Alonso to dance round his outside in Silverstone… That is not the Vettel that blew me away when I first started watching F1. I guess it must be hard when given 100% used to equal wins, now 3rd at best, but Vettel really needs to start performing in a non race winning car again (Like he did in Toro Rosso) or else all the records, all the great championships over the past 4 years will just seem like a great big farce, like I see 96/97.

    1. Personally I think the COTD points out that HAM and ROS are maybe perceived better than they actually have been, while for Vettel and Hulkenberg the contrary is true. You make it all about Vettel, but to me his comment is more about HAM+ROS not being all that perfect this season, which i agree with. I however disagree that they should not be in the F1f-drivers top-10

      1. I was talking about the full comment. The bit you’ve read above is only half of it.

        1. Sorry, didn’t realize that. Haven’t read the full comment myself. I stand with what i wrote about the particulair part howerever.

      2. I’m pretty sure pretty much everyone has been lauding Hulkenberg this season, no?

    2. Poorly thought out COTD. I’m surprised he doesn’t go on to argue that Max Chilton should be ranked ranked no.1 – no mistakes as he’s going SOOOO slow. As for Vettel, he hasn’t had the pace AND made just as many mistakes. There are mistakes and there are mistakes. Hamilton and Rosberg’s small errors (and they are small) get 10 times more scrutiny and publicity because they are fighting for the lead of the race and championship.

      1. @davidwhite, again, this isn’t about Vettel. But sure, he has made mistakes. More worryingly he has been off the pace. But don’t deny Hamilton hasn’t sometimes screwed up rather big as well. Going wide and off the track in turn one in Bahrain, losing pole. Same in Austria. He hasn’t driven as perfect as Ricciardo or Alonso. For me Bottas is a good 3rd (made a mistake in Australia..)

        1. His actual comment is mainly about Vettel. This is just a snippet of it.

        2. @me4me it’s about Vettel man.

    3. @theo-hrp,

      I’m rather shocked that comment of the day was picked.

      I agree. I suppose Keith sometimes chooses a comment to elicit some discussion – and he clearly did not put Hamilton and Rosberg outside the top 10 himself – but this comment is too much bashing in my opinion.

      I feel the Mercedes drivers’ weekends are put under the microscope, and every imperfection is made a big deal of. In my opinion both Rosberg and Hamilton have had very strong seasons so far. I agree with Peter Windsor when he said that, apart from his wobble in Hungary, Rosberg is putting together the perfect championship so far, and Hamilton’s Saturday’s troubles (not all his fault, of course!) are offset by the fact that he has had very strong race performances. Only in Bahrain and Spain did Rosberg look faster, and he won there anyway.

      1. I am actually quite sure that Keith likes to pick COTDs with interesting arguments contrary to what most people see exactly because of them being a point of debate, makes a lot more sense than just picking one of the mob.

    4. Funny thing is Keith picks that comment as COTD and has Ros and Ham top 6.

    5. @theo-hrp

      I’ve read the full one, and it is full with the most unbelievable excuses for Mr. Vettel.

      Like?
      It would be nice if people would actually say what is wrong with a post instead of accusing them of something without so much as an explanation…

      “Vettel this year has just switched off on occasion: the contact in Austria; the spin in Hungary”

      Plenty of racers have made contact in races in a clumsy way so far. Hamilton in Hockenheim for instance.
      And Vettel’s spin happened under pressure from a faster car. Hamilton spun like a rookie because he forgot he just left the pits on cold tyres… And went off track just a few laps later.

      his out lap in Canada

      What outlap? Oh the one where he was immediately stuck in traffic thanks to a poor pitstop call?

      allowing Alonso to dance round his outside in Silverstone

      Again, a poor pitstop caused that. Usually Red Bull are capable of doing 2.5-2.7 second pitstop. Not this time though and behold Vettel left the pits on cold tyres with just 3 tenths in front of Alonso. I’m actually more surprised Alonso didn’t just blow passed Vettel in the DRS zone seeing as his Ferrari is a good half a second faster with DRS open.

      Vettel really needs to start performing in a non race winning car again (Like he did in Toro Rosso) or else all the records, all the great championships over the past 4 years will just seem like a great big farce

      Why? Because you say so?

      1. For some reason, the quote tree is screwed up. :P

      2. I’m sorry I offended your favourite driver, but even he admits he’s been a bit toothless SO FAR. I know what it is like. In 2011 I never saw any mistake Hamilton did as his fault. Only now do I look back at it and realise I was making excuses for him. Vettel spun in Hungary because he was running over a kerb that everyone else was avoiding. In Canada and Silverstone the team made mistakes but ask yourself, is that the only reason Ricciardo beat him that day. Also the team and driver make the calls together. If you get magic excuses when caught behind someone, then Vettel would “only” be a 3 times world champion.

  7. I think the COTD is a perfect example of how exaggerations spoil a good post. While it is obvious that Hamilton and Rosberg have not always got the best out of their cars and that both of them have made several mistakes, nothing suggests that Vettel or Hulkenberg have been performing better so far.

    Other fanatics have already pointed out that not all mistakes have the same weight. Crashing out of a race and not getting together the perfect qualifying lap are completely different things. Moreover, it is not only about lack of mistakes and doing well, compared to your team mate. Would you place a slow driver first just because he never spins and regularly beats his team mate Chanoch Nissany?

    We should never forget that it is impossible to prove if Vettel is better than Hamilton or vice versa. You can have a good discussion about it, which is why I love F1F’s driver rankings. Unfortunately this debate can also easily degenerate into senseless mudslinging.

    1. I agree with this. It’s tiresome to read comments of that sort, “oh, this one made a mistake in Australia, that one spun in second practice, that one put a wheel wrong during qualifying” and on and on. I honestly can’t care less for how many spins in second practice, because want matters to me is the racing, not the silly statistic. There is a bunch of drivers that has been performing clearly better than others so far this year and that’s it. Beyond that, IMO, it’s all subjective territory.

      1. Indeed. They actually should be making mistakes in practice as it shows they are trying to find the limits of the car.

      2. Yes, it’s like the fun-suckers whose idea of watching tennis is to count how many unforced errors each player makes.

        I think it’s great that the drivers are making more mistakes this year, with more torque and less downforce. Not so good when braking systems with a mind of their own lead to errors. But it still gets your attention when Hulkenberg smacks into his team-mate or Alonso spins, as it happens so rarely with them.

    2. Well worded @girts. Interesting point of view in the COTD but not really makes it stick. Vettel this year had maybe one race where I saw he was “on it”, although his save in Hungary to not hit the wall was a great show of car control, he has made some mistakes and hardly ever this year has been able to get the maximum out of the car as can seen by his teammate getting more out of it. I would say that Hulkenberg arguably did better (certainly than Vettel, maybe even than the merc drivers), he had one stupid accident and failed to get the car working for him in Bahrain, apart from that there is nothing than good driving.
      Both Mercedes guys have let things slip a couple of times this year, but then again they have heaps of expectation and pressure on them to make it a 1-2 every weekend which surely makes it hard to do more than expected.
      I don’t think they have had the best season of all drivers so far, although personally I would probably place Rosberg above Hamilton because I think he has taken an extra step forward to be a real challenge for Hamilton after a showing in Australia that he was still uncertain (like we saw at times last year) while Hamilton seems to have let pressure get to him a couple of times. On the other hand, he did show his great skill in getting back from starting at the back 2 times.

      1. I wouldn’t say that Vettel had a great save to not hit the wall, after all once you’ve started spinning, there’s very little to nothing that you can do to avoid hitting things, the car sorta just goes where it wants to

    3. @girts

      If the end result is all that counts, why bother watching a race?

  8. If I had a nickel for every time I heard someone say ‘this track is Hamilton’s track, he will get pole easy’, well, I would have gotten at least a few nickels.

    I would have gotten at least a few nickels! Serioulsly what were you thinking when you wrote that!? LOL

  9. I’m done of this break too. Bring on Spa!

  10. I think the COTD is a serious exagerration. Maybe you could argue that both drivers shouldn’t make the top 5… but not make the top 10 is pushing it.

    Lewis was supreme when he won the 4 races on the trot, and Nico has been pretty solid as well. Don’t know how Vettel could be rated higher than either of them this season, considering that he cannot even match his less experienced teammate.. He has struggled to make it into Q3 on a few occassions even though he has had the second quickest car.

    Hulkenberg has been good and consistent, but Perez has shown that the car is capable of the occassional podium. If Hulk’s season was that spectacular, he should have bagged a podium by now.

    Bottas has been very good, but in the last 5 races. He failed to capitalise on William’s initial pace in the opening few races.

    Ricciardo and Alonso are the clear top performers this season, and places 3 to 6 could be filled in, according to preference between Lewis, Rosberg, Hulk and Bottas.

    But placing Hamilton and Rosberg out of the top 10 is just ridiculous.

    1. You nailed it. I think I’ll be referencing this comment for a while now when discussing my driver rankings.

  11. Lewis has been MEGA this season.

    Him and Alonso still CREAM of the CROP.

    1. Really? He’s blown it at least 4 times (spins in hungary race and austria qualy, missed pole in bahrain because he ran wide, missed the ever-so-critical Monaco pole, there are more, just can’t think of them off the top of my head). Take a look at COTD, he points out most or all of lewis’s mistakes.

  12. Been trying to share these links on the forums but it won’t even post the topic
    so here is onboard race from Hungary!
    filefactory[dot]com/file/79l972wk6hkb/n/Formula1.2014.Round11.Hungary.Race.OnBoard.720p.x264.Natural.Sounds.mp4.part1.rar
    filefactory[dot]com/file/1qiun9y7xvd1/n/Formula1.2014.Round11.Hungary.Race.OnBoard.720p.x264.Natural.Sounds.mp4.part2.rar

  13. From the other comments it seems most are already disagreeing with the CoTD, but I’ll add my two cents anyway. I could see an argument for placing the Mercedes drivers outside the top 5, they have made some mistakes as you pointed out. But outside the top 10?? I struggle to find 10 drivers who have not made a serious (race or qualy ending) mistake at some point this year. If not crashing is your only criteria (ignoring speed and all other factors) I can only think of seven; Alonso, Ricciardo, Vergne, Button, Kobayashi, Bottas (ignoring hitting the wall in Australia) and Vettel (ignoring spin into the wall in Hungary) who have not had session ending crashes through their own error – this is working from memory so I am likely wrong in some cases, but the point still stands.

    Hamilton has made two serious qualifying errors – in Austria through spins and Britain through his error of judgement. Unless you are also counting lockups and missed apexes, or being outqualified by a teammate, in which case every driver on the grid has made dozens (probably hundreds) of ‘mistakes’ this season. Rosberg has only been outqualified by other cars in wet conditions as far as I remember – I’ll admit he should do better in the wet, but he did get pole in Britain and Hungary in damp conditions.

    For me the Mercedes drivers are not top of the table for this year’s performance, but they are still in the top 5 due to their consistency (compared to most other drivers, but not all) and speed. Their achievements are not far off the maximum possible given their reliability problems (and other misfortune) in my opinion.

  14. I think it is likely that most drivers would admit that rarely do they do a perfect lap, and in fact would say that they can highlight a couple of ‘mistakes’ PER LAP every time they’re in the car.

    1. That’s absolutely right, and really, it’s super rare for a driver to have a perfect lap, like maybe in qualifying a couple of times per season

  15. I think the COTD is ridiculous. Whilst I value different perspectives the one outlined here is an extremely narrow one. There are so many more things to consider when subjectively measuring these drivers over half a season. For me LH and NR are a solid 3rd and 4th in that order. With Rosberg falling down on his racer-craft ability when compared to the other drivers. Other factors to be considered are the new regs producing more torquey difficult to drive cars, Merc has the faster car and the most evenly matched driver pairing which will naturally increase the pressure and the likelihood of mistakes. As a fan this is what I want to see, top level talent winning and making mistakes. It’s a big part of the drama and should be rewarded in my view when appraising performance. Going round a circuit relatively unchallenged, within your limits is quite frankly boring (Vettel’s 9 wins on the trot last season). I also think the saying that the best drivers drive the best cars, has something in it. Whilst it’s not an absolute, the behind the scenes driver activity which pushes car development is also a factor and I think the Merc drivers are doing a terrific job to max out their car performance when they need to in the races. I also note that Keith is specific about using data on car performance as a criteria in his selection. If we only measure by mistakes then the whole idea of having a meaningful appraisal in my view is a waste of time. For the record I put DR first and FA a close second simply because they have outperformed significantly their illustrious team mates and taken the opportunities they’ve been given. Can’t wait for Spa.

  16. I think the COTD is ridiculous. Whilst I value different perspectives the one outlined here is an extremely narrow one. There are so many more things to consider when subjectively measuring these drivers over half a season. For me LH and NR are a solid 3rd and 4th in that order. With Rosberg falling down on his racer-craft ability when compared to the other drivers. Other factors to be considered are the new regs producing more torquey difficult to drive cars, Merc has the faster car and the most evenly matched driver pairing which will naturally increase the pressure and the likelihood of mistakes. As a fan this is what I want to see, top level talent winning and making mistakes. It’s a big part of the drama and should be rewarded in my view when appraising performance. Going round a circuit relatively unchallenged, within your limits is quite frankly boring (Vettel’s 9 wins on the trot last season). I also think the saying that the best drivers drive the best cars, has something in it. Whilst it’s not an absolute, the behind the scenes driver activity which pushes car development is also a factor and I think the Merc drivers are doing a terrific job to max out their car performance when they need to in the races. I also note that Keith is specific about using data on car performance as a criteria in his selection. If we only measure by mistakes then the whole idea of having a meaningful appraisal in my view is a waste of time. For the record I put DR first and FA a close second simply because they have outperformed significantly their illustrious team mates and taken the opportunities they’ve been given. Can’t wait for Spa.

  17. Im a seb fan but i completely disagree with COTD.
    He doesn’t perform well at all for what ever reasons and he was justfied with 7th on the rankings list.
    May be i will put him at 6th because im his fan but surely no higher than that as he doesn’t justify his performance in 1st half to be one of the top 5 drivers.
    I hope the 2nd half allows Seb to get on top of his car and then we can see how he fight with his new team mate who has covered him in every way

    1. I think it is important to understand that Vettel’s struggles this year have not made him a worse driver or a less worthy world champion.

      All the great drivers struggle at some point during their careers and this year Vettel simply has not perfectly adapted to the new technical rules (yet). He has also had more strategic misfortunes and more reliability issues than Ricciardo and otherwise has not done much worse than the Honey Badger. I will not be surprised if Vettel regularly beats Ricciardo and wins a couple of races in the second half of the season.

      1. I think he under performed in china race , Bahrain later stages , Austria Q these are on top of my head now, but over all he shown that he was getting to grips of car , he should have gotten it earlier if he have a bit less reliability issues but what ever happened he was going in the right direction now , lets see how 2nd Half of the season can pan out.
        But major question is reliability as he was on the knife edge with using near maximum quota of the PU Components. Will he get the reliability to get the learning process going or not is going to be answer in the next 3 months

      2. @girts
        Sorry i forgot to add this previous message

      3. Thing is he is a 4xWC dude, he is one of most disrespected champions aswell i have ever seen. People should think he was golden boy but when winning we were like, Nah he is not all that. And then this year he is being destroyed.

  18. To be honest the COTD shows why a ranking idea quickly dissolves into ridiculous hair-splitting. Even when two drivers are in the same car, it’s almost impossible to “control” for things out of their control. It’s not like there is some complete account of all the “mistakes” made by every driver and there is certainly no way to know whether and when he has truly maximized his car. This is not tennis, or law school. I think a grading system works better. It doesn’t obviate hair-splitting but it makes it less relevant to the outcome.

  19. Kobayashi is talking well. :)

  20. I have to disagree with Kobayashi, whilst we stereotype the pay driver as being worse than a ‘paid’ driver, this mentality cannot continue, Grosjean is a pay driver, Perez is a pay driver, VDG is a pay driver. I see more future in those drivers than I do for the likes of Kobayashi or Kovailainen. Also the fact that Erriccson is ahead of Kobayashi in the WDC shows how unfair the points system is, the fact that a backmarkers whole season relies on one race disproves Kobayashi’s theory, it’s a case of being in the right place at the right time, that is why KK is 22nd in the WDC and the fact he’s in the worst car on the grid. If Caterham were to hire two ‘paid’ drivers it is very likely they will still finish last in the WCC.

Comments are closed.