Ray S

Sato and Chuck Norris have a lot in common.

A.Wayne

LOL...................... Head amigo speak , what Petal on vacation?.......

Larry Herman

I picked Hamilton for Montreal, but this round I am leaving nothing to chance. Besides, how can I disagree with Der Professor & Sunday?

ltc

I fail to see the humor in my statement:

Results are often not an accurate indicator of on track pace/performance.
Ferrari has never looked dominant all season, not like RBR (early) and McLaren (lately).
It could be argued that Kubica and Renault are nearly the equal of Alonso and Ferrari at the moment.

Please show me where Ferrari have been dominant on track this season, based on race pace, when compared to the standard set by McLaren and/or Red Bull? I haven't seen it yet.

Larry Herman

Boy you are just asking for it. You know what Wayne promulgates as "facts".

Trucho-951

GP2 cars are for GP2 races - di Montezemolo

A.Wayne

Errr .. No !

Ferrari has Been better and ahead of Renault all season, if you are not aware of this you should go back and review the races , Renault and Kubica are not the equal of Alonso and Ferrari.


Lulu you must be mistaking Ferrari with Mercedes , where the overpaid clown being beaten by his teammates while running everyone off the track resides ..

ltc

I believe I used the word "nearly"....
It could be argued that Kubica and Renault are nearly the equal of Alonso and Ferrari at the moment

Certainly Ferrari would have expected to be MUCH better than Renault/Kubica, given the fact that they acquired the # 1 development driver/2X WDC to be the team #1.

So, again, Ferrari/Alonso (team/#1) have clearly underperformed, based on their (race) performance against RBR/McLaren and/or Renault, depending on which way you want to look at it.

Factor in Massa's lower than expected (hoped) performance and Ferrari (team) is well below expectations.

Flying Finn

Ferrari will be strong in Valencia.

The track suits their car and the new exhaust & rear they've copied from Red Bull they estimated will take 0.7 sec per lap so Ferrari should be really close to the top, if not at the top.

RajDatta

+1. They are not developing as quickly as they used to. Lack of testing has hurt Ferrari the most. In the past, they tested the most, having their own circuit. Now, everyone is limited to only so much testing.
The fact that Ferrari has underperformed and yet Alonso is 1 race win away from potentially leading the WDC, speaks for itself. It all depends how you want to look at it. Some people will never give Ferrari/Alonso pairing a fair shake. It's quite obvious.
Regards.
Raj

RajDatta

I didn't know 'nearly' really mattered or went in the record books. In that case, Alonso nearly won a 3rd championship, were it not for his team sabotaging his car the last 6 races. Massa 'nearly' won.

ltc

Yes, but I thought she was the supreme development driver in F1...so she should only need a fraction of the time compared to other drivers to determine what should be done to the car.

Under the new points system, how many drivers are a mere 1 race win away from potentially leading the WDC?

You're right. We should simply overlook Alonso's time at McLaren (Stepneygate) and Renault (Singapore). She deserves better than that.

ltc

And if Schumacher's engine had not expired at Suzuka while leading (17 laps to go).....so Schumacher nearly won his 8th WDC.

The point is simple. Ferrari/Alonso have underperformed based on the hype and expectations, all the accolades of how wonderful she is, how everyone would love to have her.

Nevertheless, Renault seems much better off without her and with Kubica ... or is there some other logical explanation?

enduro911

I love this forum... How many of you would bet on a stock that has been performing well, let's say better than expected, during the first part of the fiscal year, but has been taking a gradual and expected dump as of late, thus returning it to its expected performance? From this, you get the Alonso analogy. Ferrari started with a decent car and have made very little progress. Alonso's driven well, but not up to his old standards of mega consistency. I count at least 17 points he's left on the table if you don't count Australia. That would put him in the lead of the driver's championship. Given, this year has been pretty unpredictable with all of RB's issues, Mclaren's resurgence, and in spite of Ferrari's deteriorating performance, he's managed to hang in there. This is the final surge for Ferrari. If this upgrade doesn't work then it's back to the drawing board for next season. With that in mind...

Talking points!

- this is a Mclaren circuit and IMO a Lewis circuit. Lewis will win.
- Ferrari should do better than they have at some of the other tracks, but whether they're competing for the win is a different matter. I hope that Ferrari's claims of .7 seconds per lap are better than the ones they claim for the amount of downforce the 458 generates.
- Red Bull really want to throw away this championship between their reliability, race strategy, and driver's, eh hem, impatience.
- Nico bests Michael and MB's performance remains less than stellar.
- Kubica puts in another good drive, but doesn't finish higher than 5th.
- Sato helicopters himself into the grandstands, dashes out on the track, transforms into Chuck Norris, and roundhouse kicks Petrov off the track.

A.Wayne

Renault Won 2 wdc with her ............ Kubica ?.......


Again , me tinks you are confused and your real disappointment hangs with the 7 times faux Champion ....

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points
1 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 109
2 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 106
3 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 103
4 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 94
5 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 90
6 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes GP 74
7 Robert Kubica Polish Renault 73
8 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 67
9 Michael Schumacher German Mercedes GP 34


What you really should be focused on , is how far ahead Mercedes would have been if they had told the old bag to shove it and lift his pace, I'm sure Rosberg would be further along.

Alonso and Ferrari will win this , I'm sure of it and even more knowing that RB will turn there faster driver ( webbo ) down for the next faux wonder Heediot , Vettel !

* Slow poke Button is getting closer to those tracks that scare him , so i do expect some whinning from him in about 1,2,3 ........

* Vettel still have on his training wheels , Handi-cap assist decal and all ..

*This will be the Lewis and Alonso show , said that before! Now stand back and watch the Spaniard put it in !!!!!!!