Ra8 wrote:Nothing short of astonishing was Alonsos drive through the year. Ferraris development was good at best.
So all regards for 2nd in constructors and drivers championship go down to him; at least much more than to team.
I know it's easy to look at Alonso's drives this year, contrast them with Ferrari's apparent lack of development, and then chalk the whole season up to epic heroism on his part. It just doesn't work that way, though.
One could design a driver automaton and program it with the absolute ideal course, down to the millimeter, for any given circuit under all possible conditions and against any foe. But, if that automaton is not installed in a car that's capable of winning in its own right, a half-assed driver in a genuinely great car will beat it every time. A car can never be pushed to exceed its capabilities. (Well, OK, so it can. But, that's called "crashing."
)
What Alonso did this year was make the most out of a good, but
very difficult, car. Its window of optimum performance seemed to be about as wide as a strand or two of human hair. And somehow, some way, he managed to keep the car within that window most of the time. It was --- brilliant, too. The man "qualified" on every lap, all season long. But, we can't discount the efforts of the team that contributed to those results.
The F2012 was quick under many conditions, and it was reliable under all conditions. In the old days, a driver couldn't ask for more. That's why we never heard so much as a word of complaint from Alonso about the team.
Throughout the year, Ferrari was able to more or less keep up the pace to its rivals and expand the car's driveability in the process. That's why Massa's performance blossomed toward the end of the year and reminded us all that he's not the sack of marbles his results over the last couple of years would seem to indicate.
And this all happened despite a "wind tunnel" - I'm using that as a catch-all phrase here - that's as accurate as a drunken beer fart and is certainly as worthless. I mean, can you believe we almost beat Adrian Newey's Red Bull Technology machine with a car that began the season no better than 6th or 7th quickest? That's unreal.
If the team can get its "wind tunnel" issues sorted over the winter, and that's admittedly a big "if," next season is going to be a whole helluva lot of fun for the tifosi.
What woke him up from his hibernation? 
If he had a few more podiums & taken points away from Vettel, Alonso might have won!
