Championship material

[uzael]

With all this talk about the new guys in F1 (Alonso, Kimi, Webber, Massa, etc) everyone keps talking about who is championship material and who isn't. Is JPM champiohsip material, is Ralf, is RB? It goes on and on, and now suddenly BUtton gets 2 podium's in a row and there's talk he could be the christian messiah returned to britain. I guess my question is, in the right car, with the right luck, isn't anyone realistically championship material? If Sato (whom most people think is crap, while I may disagree on that, he serves as an excellent example) was driving the F2002 in 02 instead of MS, wouldn't he have had a damn easy time of it?

[Scuderia-Russ]

I see your point mate,but you have to admit that some drivers stand out from others,thus leading to all sorts of chirping on about possible title contenders.It seems that talk of future champions is on hold until 2006 anyway.

[Becker4]

the way hes been driving, i can't even see toyota wanting him. if he can't preform in a williams, the hell is he going to do in a toyota? mike will want someone who a team can rally around, because it will take a lot of work to pull them up to where they should be, regardless how what he can do as far as a car design. a person getting paid that much, who is preforming so little, would cause i think more resentment in a team than unification.

[Irvingthien]

If Sato (whom most people think is crap, while I may disagree on that, he serves as an excellent example) was driving the F2002 in 02 instead of MS, wouldn't he have had a damn easy time of it?

If you compare them to their 2002 performance, Micheal has no crashes and sato has a few. That's what makes each driver different...their experience...their style of drive and most important, their technical feedback. Micheal is one of the most advance in technical feedback and has 10 years of experience behind him, that's why he's champion over Raikkonen last year.

[Guest]

AYRTON SENNA IS THE KING THE REST IS CONVERSATION

[akbar21881]

I think to determine who is championship material, we need to look at whether they can win races in a crap car.Michael Schumacher did win races in a crap 96 Ferrari while his teammate was nowhere ,so he is championship material.So was Ayrton Senna keep winning races when Mclaren lost Honda engine and made do with Ford engine sometimes ago.

The rest of the field,RS,JB,RB etc haven't won any race yet.So we have to wait a bit more until they start winning race.

[marcush.]

JPM could well be championship material,but he is quite disapointing in failing to clinch last years championship and honestly ,michael would have won in the williams whereas JPM would not have inthe ferrari either...
Ralf is a good driver ,but champ..?
Alonso made some remarkable mistakes in recent times so how could you compare him to the likes of Schumacher or Senna....
Raikkonen is far away from a champ ,when under pressure ,he is always focused on his mirrors insted of trying to avoid mistakes and drive in amanner that passing is impossible but he is a young charger maybe this year will make him.....
Webber .....on awave of confidence but maybe that is soon over if klien starts to put pressue on him on a regular basis...
Button the time is right and he grabs the opportunity if it arrises,no doubt.
dixon,lets wait and see...
Heidfeld deserves better and Ifear he will end as Frentzen and Fisichella,
Massa is very hard charging but can he control himself?

[rumpelstulskin]

but you truly can't measure people unless you have some comparison of th horse they ride on. i mean webber qualified second in a jaguar gives enough reason to try him on a ferrari if BOSS decides to take a break he might not be the nest schumacher, hell there might never be another schumacher, but webber will do the car some justice. to be very honest all this talk about ferrari ruining f1... i think it is the likes of mclaren and williams who are ruining f1... they came so close to trouncing ferrari last season and then they mess it up like this. while the entire field moved forward, they languished!!! i am beginning to see merits of rotating drivers among teams actually

[eweturn]

For me, it is consistency that makes a good driver a top driver. I believe that this is a trade mark of previous champions as well as the current. I would love it if the networks provided a bit of info in this area in post race analysis. Eg, Drivers best lap, Average lap, Worst lap then a brake down of how many laps within 0.2s, 0.4s etc of their best lap up to their worst lap. Given that it is basically know how much of a penalty fuel is per 10kg, you can judge a drivers race a little differently. Rather than relying just on the post race PR.

I think this would also help in comparing drivers of different cars. For example, if everyone knows the car is poor, but the driver is consistent then there maybe an argument to say that they’re a better driver than someone is a better car driven haphazardly.

I personally can’t stand people calling Jo Bloggs the next Senna (eg Trulli ). I would much prefer that the commentators say that they have a lot of potential, that if focused could lead to races wins and the possibility of fighting for the championship. And look forward to those fights rather than living I the past. But hey, it will very happen. I have lost count of how many new drivers have come and gone with the labels of future champions. I think that the only time that they have been right since I have been following F1 was with Hakkinen and M. Schmacher (don’t remember Hill setting the world of fire. More like a default thing, right place right time). I think Moses once mentioned something able false idols.

Actually we should list of falsely identified Future F1 Champions. I get the ball rolling:
J. Alesi, Herbert (would love to see if he finished more races than retired), Coulthard (still active but on the wane), That guy who started with Stewart but didn’t last the season out. I’m sure there are more out there.

Anyway, that’s my 10c worth.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

With the right team behind them any driver with a level head and considerable skill can win the championship. That is not to say that people win because they have the best car...you get the best car by being the best driver, Ferrari are not going to sign Tarso Marques anytime soon are they? (Drove for Minardi in '01 allongside Fernando Alonso) Only the best drivers get the best car...but you need some luck too, true the best driveres get the best cars, but that is not to say being one of the best garentees you get the best car, Giancarlo Fisichella is a prime example of this. Regarded by many as a driver with arguably equal or more raw driving talent than Michael Schumacer, and he has still never had a drive for a real top team. Out of the current drivers (Discounting Schumi seeing as he has proven this already) I would say the drivers with "Championship prospect" (Given the right team) written on them would be; Fisichella, JPM, Rubens, Button, Sato, Alonso & Raikkonen.

I have already said about Fisi, JPM is obviously fast enough and has a strong level head, Rubens is becomming consistantly quick...he has been overshadowed (and therefore much unotisted) by Schumi, Button is clearly quick, but needs time, I watched Sato race in British F3...His driving style reminds me of Schumi and he was dominating in F3. I said back then he deserved an F1 drive and to my astonishment he got one the following season! Alonso is very very fast and is very mature for his age, and raikonnen is as cool and calm as they come and with that astoundingly quick.

[marcush.]

Get hold of the best car and winning the championship is one thing.But you must respect Schumacher did not get the best car when he came to F1,driving the jordan,nor did he get the best car changing to Benneton nor did he get the best car when he arrived at Ferrari....
It was his presence and commitment that did the trick and made all people involved giving their all to make it happen...
On the other side Jaques Villeneuve surely one very talented driver came to Williams and made the most of a dominant package,but as time went on the package degraded he moved to BAR and as long he was there progress was slow,and over the winter just as if someone had pulled a plug BAR is transformed...is this just coincidence or is there a pattern to it?
If you mention fisi......sorry he is long enough in F1 to make an impact.
I do not believe someone (with the possible exception of Senna) was ever worth half a second over the rest of the field.The difference is simply what these guy can make happen outside the cockpit.
Schumacher never gives the impression that he is not giving it all,and he delivers even when things are not going smoothly.He never ever has badmouthed anyone in the team ,or supplier,and nowadays takes responsibility even if there is obviously room for debate.
If you look at other championwannabies they constantly moan and put the basket at others doors,beeing it tyresuppliers ,Teammembers,officials,press you name it...but never ever you hear:I should have done better it was my fault not to deliver,,I should have made sure we both can make it around the corner or whatever.
Montoya has pulled somecackhanded moves last year and each one was enough to loose him the championship wich he did.There was simply no room to slam anybody else than himself for loosing that one .It was his best chance to grab the title as I believe the powers in F1 are changing,and Mclaren has either a pullout or a longway back to the top in prospect.
Honestly,we have not seen the man to challenge Michael yet,it could have been Alonso ,but one gets the impression he is a little distracted at the moment (as was Jenson ,when he was Benneton employee)
Button is on a confidence high at the moment ,lets see what happens when things start to go wrong again and Sato starts to use his brains to compliment his talent.
Webber ,well maybe jaguar is supplying two equal cars andparity between their two drivers,one got the impression that the second unit was there to serve the other as a benchmark for their superiority....a theme carried over from Stewart days when berrichello was King and Magnussen,Verstappen ,Herbert had to serve as proof of his superiority ,followed up by the Irvine theme....and now Webber.