Ray S

Congrats to Alonso. He can now say he won at Singapore without having to put a "gate" at the end of that win.

rusnak

I wonder about Martin Whitmarsh's comments about Vettel. Would they punt Hamilton for Vettel? Would they punt Hamilton for Kubica? And you have to wonder if they'll let Button go, but he does seem to be able to put together a good race day performance, even if he's not on pace.

9.5 Degrees

Alonso is MONEY!!!

Look what he has done for Ferrari. Conversely, look what Ferrari has done for Alonso. They are a great match.

I take exception to Flying Finn (who is just bitter Kimi was fired for FA) making backhanded comments earlier this year like, "The Italians are in charge again". What kind of BS is that?? It looks like they needed a driver with a pulse to work for, not the Sleeping Finn, Kimi R.

The "Italian" crew won the race in Monza for Alonso two weeks ago. Today, Alonso drove exceptionally and the crew got him out ahead of Vettel when they needed to. And they are doing it without Todt, Ross Brawn, and everyone else in the "Brain Trust".

Many said the Latin driver and team couldn't work together, that Alonso would throw the team under the bus. I'm still waiting......

BTW, Hamilton has two consecutive DNFs. Looks like he is making his usual and customary boneheaded mistakes again... down the stretch when it counts.... yet again.

Nizer

Success begets confidence, and vice versa. Alonso appeared to be using more of the track than competitors, often coming within inches of walls. Not sure if he had to work the car harder to stay in front or was just more in the zone than others but it's nice to see him getting his groove back. And Webber kept the pressure on. Vettel and Hamilton continue to wilt - be interesting to see if they can turn it around last few races. Still an open championship.

And can somebody please tell me what planet Schumacher was driving on? Jeez. Take the seven titles and multi-millions and go play in sports cars and babysit over-the-hill wannabes like us for Mercedes.

Larry Herman

I would have thought that once Alonso committed to the pit lane, Seb could have continued on for one more lap, put down a scorcher, and maybe have jumped him in the pit stop. Guess that it didn't occur to them.

500

Nizer, I don't get the Vettel "continuing to wilt" comment. He drove a pretty good race this weekend. I suppose you can nail Vettel for the slight bob during Q3, but that's about it. He drove a solid, intelligent race.

Alonso was fantastic. He had Vettel right behind him the whole way and one mistake would have been all it took, but he drove impeccably.

Kubica was a real treat. His passes (on admittedly fresh rubber) in the closing stages were exceptional. Clean and forceful. I can't think of anyone who does not see Kubica as having what it takes to win championships. Probably the least controversial of the top drivers today.

The Hamilton-Webber thing was, in my view, pretty much a perfect illustration of the proverbial "racing incident". I know there are a lot of people who are ready to slag Lewis, but at the same time, we want drivers to race...

Larry Herman

Looking at the video, it appears to me that Hamilton's car was damaged more by bounding over the curbing than by the actual collision with Webber. Certainly a racing incident based upon the two protagonists. Hamilton just seems to put himself in that vulnerable position more than others, and Webber will run people that try to pinch him off. Maybe that's why Webber got past Schumacher so easily.

smlporsche

IF he would have remembered to put it in first gear instead of trying to take off in 2nd...

Flying Finn

Finn making backhanded comments?
It wasn't a backhanded comment when I commented Ferrari's mistakes being the "Italian thing".
I did so because there was a reason for it.
Same goes for Alonso when for example in Spa I though he made a horrible rookie mistake.
Maybe you didn't notice when I've commented Alonso's or Ferrari's performance when it's been good?
I did so in both cases because there was a reason for it.

BTW, you sound a little different today than what you did just two races ago...
Backhanded comments?

I'm not sure if you know what I, and few others, mean by "The Italians are in charge again" but just to quickly explain:

Back in the day, Ferrari had the "Italian thing" going when the team was all Italians (this was in 80s & 90s when they had 20 years with no Championship) and it all changed when Todt came in charge, hired quality workers, designers etc. regardless of the Nationality. There was Japanese engine guy, British designer, British tactician, German driver and a French boss and few Championships later it was easy to see how much all had changed.
Now in 2007 it was going back to the "Italian thing" again by hiring basically only Italians for the team and the races were not won by great tactics anymore, car sucked, there were mistakes etc. etc.
Now this season has had their mistakes also and I don't think you should draw too big conclusions after two victories although it does look good at the moment.

And don't think for a moment that Ferrari's improved performance has nothing to do with the fact that in June they hired former McLaren designer Pat Fry as their new assistant technical director.

Don't take this wrong, especially if you're Italian. I love Italy and go there many times a year but the history has shown that it's difficult to be successful if you're trying to have a "National team" instead of hiring talented people from all around the globe.

ltc

Bingo !

ltc

Didn't understand the RBR strategy during the race.

Nizer

500_19B see smlporsche. Luckily it didn't cost him anything but easily could've been worse.

RajDatta

In his post race interview, Seb did say that his tires were going off and Alonso would have still been faster on new primes. Vettel would not have had any advantage by staying out another lap or two. That is why they stuck with their strategy.
Raj

9.5 Degrees

Finn,

I find your comments racist and highly offensive. So just because a team is based in Italy and hire Italians, they are automatically bound to bumble and fail? It's no different from someone coming on here and saying all Asian drivers suck and shouldn't be in F1 because they are crash prone (sato excepted )

And to be perfectly clear, Rob Smeadly has been with Ferrari since the Schumacher days and continues to be employed as Massa's race engineer. The organization is make up of nearly 600 employees in their F1 operations alone. It is truly a United Nations of corporation and to imply that it's just an Italian operation is simply short sided.

My final point of clarification is that Ferrari has won their last 2 races, but you failed to point out that Ferrari also won the first race of the year in Austrailia. This all before Pat Fry came on board!

Has Alonso made mistakes, yes he has and I admit he has, but he has a lot of pressure on him to perform, not only from his countrymen and team, but from his personal sponsor as well.

Both he and his team needed to adapt to each other and they have no testing to do so, so in essense, all the familiarization is conducted on race weekends.

The next time you take your vacation to Italy, you should stop by Marinello and take a tour. Then you will see the many nations represented in the history of Ferrari including your poster boy Kimi and his WDC that he brought to Marinello.

morganabowen

Wow, I think you have a point there. My point is proven by virtue of FA winning pole, and never giving up the lead from start to finish