agdamis

So half way through the season Alonso has taken command of the championship although we half a long way to go. The Ferrari has gone from zero to hero, thanks to continued motivation and will to win. The Ferrari team is feeding of Fernando's energy and leadership. When your guy is getting it done for you it motivates everyone. Fernando qualified first in horrible conditions and proved his mental strength and skill in all conditions. Lastly he drove a perfect race to put his final stamp on a great weekend. I hope this is his year, to silence once and for all his critics.

Carrera51

Heck of a drive by Alonso. Great talent, even if he says and does dumb things off the track. Obviously he knows how to communicate with his engineers and get the most out of his car.

jbossolo

Alonso has proven he's the best driver in F1 at the moment, IMHO. Ferrari has also upped their game significantly. Vettel is talented, but he's not as good as he (or the media) think he is. Put him in the same car as Alonso, and he'd be taken to school all day.

PJorgen

I'm not a Hamilton lover or hater, but I was surprised to hear him say he should retire after his puncture. Real champions never say die.

Of course he did retire later in the race, so maybe he was right?

Nizer

+1 Maybe he should've held his line on track and let Button take them both out....

http://f1orbit.com/2012-07-22/vettel...r-button-pass/

9.5 Degrees

agreed. Hamilton still has a lot of growing up to do. It's not win or go home. There were a lot of points between 1st and 10th and he needs to gather those up if he wants to win another WDC. Let's face it, Hamilton is fast, but nowhere near a complete driver and was lucky to have won in 2008 when he passed glock on the last corner of the last lap in Brasil.

On the other hand, Alonso is the MAN! 34 point lead.... nice.

On another note a 20 sec. penalty for Vettel is too much. Why not just swap 2nd for 3rd?

My993C2

Ultimately Hamilton's car did fail him, so something was wrong. But he looked pretty fast in the middle of the race when he passed Vettel and was able to stay with Alonso until he pitted. As others have said Lewis is a talented driver, but he still has some growing up to do. Never say die. You never know what will happen. It was a different race under different conditions, but Olivier Panis won the 1996 Monaco Grid Prix mainly because almost the entire field retired from the race. If Panis had given up early in the race when he was not doing so well, he never would have been a Grand Prix winner. Never give up, that is why all the drivers chasing Alonso in the championship need to put this race behind them and "Cowboy Up" and take the battle to the Spaniard. There are still 10 races to go.

The DareDevil

How much longer will Massa be with Ferrari?

Ray S

A nice bit of speculation but nothing more than that. With the exception of Hamilton (who beat him with a fair bit of consistency) Alonso's recent teammates have been little more than also rans. Based on that history to believe such a record would allow him to dominate Vettel seems to be wishful thinking.

agdamis

Quote of the weekend by FA:

"I don't really know politics but it is true that the situation is not great in Spain but a Spanish driver in an Italian car, designed by a Greek man is good to win here," he said.

My993C2

Alonso and Vettel would make interesting and potentially very dominate, teammates if they were ever to team up at Ferrari or Red Bull. Maybe Alonso would finish ahead of Vettel or maybe Vettel would finish ahead of Alonso. The only way we would know is if they were ever to team up. But there is no way Alonso would "school" Vettel. If people think Alonso would school Vettel then that is not saying much for Mark Webber who on more than one occasion has schooled the Spaniard (albeit driving different equipment)

Watch the podium celebration and look at Alonso's smile after the young German pours champagne on Fernado's head while being questioned about a Spaniard in a Greek designed Italian car winning in Germany. Clearly we the fans do a lot more partisan bickering towards each other with our preferred drivers/teams than the actual drivers do.

jbossolo

Maybe. Trust me, I'm not an Alonso fanboy. In fact, I don't like him at all outside his car. But the guy can drive. And he's out-qualified and out-raced the field, including the "boy wonder" Vettel, twice in a row. I have a feeling he'll do it again next week in Hungary.

Vettel is excellent at qualifying and winning races when everything is going his way and when he's driving a car that's faster than the next car by a second a lap. Alonso can take a piece of crap and podium it. 'Nough said.

My993C2

I hope you are not including the Ferrari which has raced since the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix as a crappy car. Just because Massa under performed this weekend does not mean that the Ferrari was not the best car on the grid. Vettel's Red Bull had no answer for the Ferrari's speed on the straight leading into turn #6 (not that surprising since Red Bull is often not that fast on the straights). But Button's improved McLaren also had no answer for the Ferrari's speed on the straight leading into turn #6 and Hamilton's McLaren had no answer (the only three cars that found themselves behind Alonso the entire race). I am not taking anything away from Alonso's win. He deserved it as he drove an error free race. But we need to stop this nonsense in claiming that he is driving inferior equipment. He is in one if the best if not the best car right now.

enduro911

I still believe Alonso is at his best when the car isn't. That is where he would have the biggest advantage over any other F1 driver. I am not implying the Ferrari is garbage in its current state. Rather, I think the team has done a fantastic job getting the car up to the pace it has now (first or second fastest). But if you're comparing Alonso to Vettel in a bad car, there's not comparison. Vettel is at his best when the car is at its best. He's inch perfect, is blindingly quick in qualifying, and runs away with races. Ask him to drive from the midfield or with a mediocre car, he's good, but not unbelievable. Still, I think other than Hamilton and Alonso, he would probably score more points than anyone over the course of a season.

Alonso is one of the top three quickest drivers on the grid in a perfect car, but how often do you have that going on? His weakness is his inability to deal with fast teammates. However, sponsorship money seems to have mitigated that and his commitment to staying with Ferrari in combination with his past performances seemed to justify in Luca di Montezemolo's mind that the team should be built around him. Like it or not, F1 is about politics and relationships. Always has been. Always will be. Great drive from him this weekend.

multi21

The Ferrari is not the fastest car on the grid. Never has been this year, the car is just better than it was. If it was the fastest car, Button and Vettel would not have caught up with Alonso so quickly.

What you saw yesterday was a short track with one legitimate passing zone. The rest of the track is uber narrow where passing is impossible. Alonso used his KERS as defense mechanism and a wide sweeping line to gather up his straight line speed vs. others would would use a more shallow line. It would allow his rivals to get close, but never a good chance to pass. Alonso did this until his rivals tires would go off in the dirty air created by following him.

Alonso is a master at race management and he put on a clinic yesterday on how to maximize what he is given. At one point I thought he would be passed as he was by Webber in the previous race, but knew that he would hold on to get max points in 2nd or 3rd.

And although the season is only halfway over, he has experience in managing point leads as we witnessed in 2005 and 2006.

The fastest car on the grid is definitely the McLaren... once again..... Words from Button:

McLaren has the fastest car again, says Button

22 July 2012


Jenson Button’s confidence has shot up after Hockenheim, with the Englishman now sure that McLaren has the quickest car once again. Finishing second after Sebastian Vettel’s penalty, the 2009 Champion was on the podium for the first time since China.

McLaren undoubtedly started 2012 with the most rapid chassis, as Lewis Hamilton and Button locked out the front rows of the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix. The squad also led the Constructors’ Championship before Red Bull took control in Bahrain.

“We’ve done a good job and we have good pace,” Button told the press in Germany. “There is no-one quicker than us at the moment and so we can fight for the win at the next few races. Yes, I’ve had some difficult races earlier this year, but in the last two I’ve felt confident in both myself and the team. To fight for victory again here was a very special feeling.”

McLaren rolled out a raft of significant upgrades at Hockenheim this weekend, most noticeably new sidepods and a new rear wing. Exactly halfway through the 2012 Formula 1 campaign, the Woking outfit has moved back ahead of Lotus for third in the standings and is now just 17 points behind Ferrari. At the same time, McLaren out-scored Red Bull by four points in today's tenth of 20 races this season.