Firstly SORRY for the long post. It's a big 'un...
ernos5 wrote:Hamilton isn't fast, can you please not say that, he just drives a fast car, it's obvious when you watch his throttle response and especially his braking, it will be interesting to see this year how much he wines like a bitch if Mclaren keep up this sluggish performance all year
That's a pretty foolish thing to say. You do not win a WDC and come close to winning one in your first season JUST because you have a quick car. You have to be fast also.
By saying things like "He just has a fast car" you are adding fuel to the argument that sceptics have that "F1 is all about the car, the drivers just point it in the right direction." CLEARLY, that isn't the case, as Alonso has proved time and again when he drags all kinds of pace, kicking and screaming from a dog of a car that shouldn't be that quick.
And Lewis matched him in his first year.
Yes I agree he's had it easy, he has been privaliged to have lucked into two great cars over the last two years, but a Team like Mclaren would never hire an unproven rookie to drive their cars alongside (at the time) the reigning, and back-to-back double world champion, unless he was a little bit special. I Lewis is so mediocre why have drivers over the years such as Kazuki Nakajima, Nico Rosberg, Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber had to start in slower teams, because I rekon they're all somewhere between the "mediocre F1 driver", and the "Quick talented F1 driver" marks.
Lewis (and lets not forget Heikki) unfortunaty WILL NOT be able to develop the car aswell as Fernando might be able to (I only refer to Fernando throughout this post because 1) I regard him as the best F1 driver on the grid when viewed as a complete package, and 2) The post about Fernando's technical ability is relevant to what I'm about to say)
Fernando has been in F1 now for a fair few years, and has more points, more wins and more championships than any other driver atm (I think - chances r Rubens has more points, please correct me if I'm wrong) his experience working with teams like Renault coupled with his own technical ability (which judging by that post looks strangely schumi-esque) will be invaluable for a team which needs to fix a crappy car (a la Renault last year). Lewis on the other hand is clearly a bloody quick driver, but he still has a lot of F1 related things to learn, and has nowhere near the experience required to accurately develop a design in the way that Fernando has, or even Rubens. And Kovi, is also just as inexperienced as Lewis.
However, in Pedro De La Rosa, Mclaren have an exerienced and insightful driver who, hopefully, will be able to assist in this area, and help interpret the information to be gained from Lewis' & Heikki's on track experiences with the new MP4-24. Couple this with the vast resources avaliable to them and I feel Mclaren will still be a force to re reckoned with come the season's end. I just don't know how long its going to take for them to get back to the front. Can they mount a title challenge? I don't know. Will they bouce back? at some point almost certainly yes.
ISLAMATRON wrote:I was a fan of Alonso before all that but he just doesnt deserve all the praise, He got 2 lucky wins last year, that is is just 1 more than Kovi & Kubica, Vettel got a half way luck win. Alonso did nothing special last year.
While I agree with you that its stupid to believe Mclaren tried to sabotage Alonso's car (why on earth would you try to stop your driver from winning the championship, regardles of whether they'd prefer Lewis to get it, I'm sure they'd rather have A WDC than none at all!) I don't think its wise to say Alonso get two "lucky wins".
You make your won luck, and Alonso's win at Fuji, for one, as a combination of his own skill and speed at the wheel and his technical (or at least stragegic) knowledge. Alsono called for his own second stop, then put in what was more like quali laps for almost the whole stint. He made the gamble and it paid off.
While I too felt let down by Fernando in 2007 (I was a HUGE Alonso fan, and tbh at heart I still am) I do feel that, with hindsight, Mclaren could have delt with the situation better. I'm not saying Fernando was right, far from it, he was wrong on so many different levels. But I feel when he joined Mclaren he was under the impression, that as WDC, he's be the number 1. When he didn't recieve that he got angry because, from his point of view "what's the point in allowing my TEAM-MATE...my supposed HELPER...to take points off of me, how will we win titles like this?! Schumi didn't do it this way, and Mclaren certainly didn't when they had Mika & DC on board, so why am I getting treated this way?"
My beleif is that, to be number one in a team, you have to prove it on track. If after the first, say 5 races?, you are ahead on points, you're the number one. Fernando disn't do that, so to my mind, why should he be given that treatment? BUT...Mclaren have to had made that clear to Alosno when he signed for them, and I'll bet you any money they didn't, and THAT's why Alonso got all hot n bothered.
He didn't run away scared of Lewis (you say he cracked up against Schumi in 2006...but he won the WDC didn't he? And after the 2007 escapade he drove brilliantly to nearly win the title that year. He performs best on track when he's under pressure, even if off track he ends up being a bit unsavoury). Fernando left Mclaren because 1) The relationship broke down. 2) He didn't feel that was the environment needed to get the best for himself. A Multiple WDC like Alonso (or Prost) does not cower away. But they are headstrong and will do what they think is in their best interests.
Silence is golden when you don't know a good answer.
