ltc

BTW, I do acknowledge that Alonso is a very good driver.
He always puts himself in the best position to maximize his results when others DNF or make mistakes. The best? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder...Luca clearly thinks so....at least for now.

However, his "colorful" past (McLaren ... Stepneygate, sitting in the pits for 10 secs until hs physio signaled him to leave...not the head mechanic.....Renault (Singapore) and his final destination at his dream team Ferrari (half a Sauber anyone?) ...

These are the reasons why I revel in watching him and Luca fail. It is even better that he and the team choke (2010 Abu Dhabi) and lose by a single point or this year lose by 3 point. Watching their reaction is simply priceless. It sort of makes me believe in karma.

On the other hand, I enjoy seeing a kid like Vettel, who in karts and FBMW (RIP...good program), was obviously something different. It is rewarding to see him work in a team like RBR and maximize Newey's cars. Even if it ended tomorrow, it was still nice to be able to witness it.

But now it's over. So much work to do on my planes, so little time.

multi21

The torch has been passed

Eifeler

+1 I look forward to watching Vettel get better and better.

skl

Pete- great pic. I was going for Seb as well. No doubt Fred is very good, but if I had the chance to just sit around and talk racing with someone, I think I'd enjoy it more with Vettel. His guest shot on Top Gear showed his great personality...
And he also showed his critics that he can also drive through the field and not just motor away from the lead, which he also does better than anyone since Schumi.

gbuff

I'm picking this up at the end so apologies if this has been said, but I don't think I've ever seen anyone get less mention for winning a race than Button did. I realize the race had many subplots but, as he's done many times before in the wet (i.e. Canada), the guy just drove a masterful race staying out there on slicks while everybody else screwed around with multiple tire changes. Same for Hulkenberg until he lost it near the end....can't wait to see how Button does next year as a number 1 driver.

Gary

Ray S

Your post implies you believe Hamilton received favored treatment, but that certainly did not seem to be evident during the season (in fact Lewis sported the yellow t-bar). Lewis outperformed him fairly consistently and despite far more car problems outperformed him in final points.

Button is a very good driver, but I think there are several on the grid that are better.

multi21

Lewis sported the yellow Tbar because IIRC he was outscored by Button in 2011. Button seems to be very good in changing conditions. If it's totally dry or totally wet then he is a tick behind others including Hamilton.

RajDatta

Spot on. Good to see you descibe him to the T. He is truely a class act!

RajDatta

Aren't you dealing with some health issues? Karma maybe?
Be careful what you say about others unless you are absolutely perfect.

ltc

I ignore my doctors. According to them, I should have already been dead.

I have amended my will and asked my bride to make sure she sends you an autographed copy of my obituary, since I would feel better if you were the first to know.

It would have been nice to be able to someday walk my daughter down the aisle at her wedding ... but watching Luca and his mistress choke the past 3 years is an acceptable consolation prize IMHO.

A high point was 3 WDC ago, with Alonso sporting a 15 point lead over Webber and Vettel and watching them absolutely screw the pooch...

You remember that, right? IIRC, it was something like "if Alonso wins the WDC, I will leave Rennlist permanently" ... remember that? I'm sure you do.

Granted, it was a sucker's bet, since I knew Alonso and Ferrari would collapse just like the Yankees in 2004 (losing 4 straight to the Sox after being up 3-0), but it was still fun nonetheless.

Don't worry Raj, someday Alonso will win a WDC for Ferrari and I'll be long gone... a win/win for you.

Happy Holidays

Turb-OH Brad

Axis of Oversteer sets out to prove that

1. Vettel is a ****.

and

2. He stole 4 points.

Regardless of what anyone says, or what the record books end up showing, Alonso won his 3rd WDC on Sunday.

500

Axis of oversteer is not the best news source.

The interview with the Senna comment was in German. As is often the case, things are a little clearer when once understands the whole context. I am quoting the below:

The important part of the interview is actually missing. The interview was given to RTL, a private German broadcaster, who utterly hyped Schumacher and has since jumped on the Vettel bandwaggon. The 'completely unbiased' commentators went utterly ape-excrement, when the incident with Bruno happened. They went as far as saying publically that Senna should have been nominated for the "blithering idiot of the year award". Welcome to German Television .

The interview was conducted by Kai Ebel, who is an extremely manipulative guy of questionable intellect. He gets regularily taken the pi$$ out of by Schumacher and Vettel for his idiotic questions and doesn't even get it. He dug in several times, trying to bait Vettel into saying something bad about Senna, going as far as bringing Ayrton into play, which Vettel tried to avoid twice, before coming up with the line:

"Ayrton Senna's grave is here in SP. Maybe I should visit it and tell him what his nephew has done."

Everyone, who knows the history between Vettel and Ebel can see that Vettel takes the mickey out of him with that line, because he gets usually quite annoyed when being compared to Senna (which he thinks is a preposterous idea). Unfortunately an Italian rag took that statement, ripped it out of context and constructed a 'tasteless scandal' from it. Sore losers at it's best. You wouldn't believe the things Italian rags 'dug out' on Hamilton, when he beat Massa by a whisker in 2008 or what Schumi got to read, when he dared to sign up with Merc in 2010. The Italians are passionate, but a very fair people. Their yellow press however is something this world doesn't deserve. But then that's true for the yellow press in any country

It looks a little different when you know the whole story. It still was not a great comment, but more something dumb he said while being relentlessly questioned in a particular way.

As for the "stole four points" - even Ferrari's Pat Fry agreed that it was a waving red/yellow striped flag and that the stewards had got it right.

The "real" F1 press (e.g. Joe Saward, James Allen etc.) are not bothering with any of this, which is pretty indicative to me.

Turb-OH Brad

Three separate incidents. I will agree that this is the case in the incident you mentioned, however, watch the video. There is a very clear violation of a pass on a Toro Rosso before reaching the flashing green light, and there were very clearly two yellow track condition LED lights on Seb's dash.

Before you call me out, look at the video on the link I posted. It's worth watching, if only for an intelligent argument.

consolidated

All been cleared by the FIA. There are other pics/video showing a green flag when he passes. Flags take priority over in car indicators. Ferrari says no protest, Spanish press is going loco and fetal because they can't cope. RB still had points to take by Massa'ing Webber in front of Vettel.

consolidated

It amazes me that Fred fans happily wished for a Vettel DNF, for a non-existant flag violation, anything except a fair fight, which is what we had and the better driver and team won.

Cry baby Luca saying his driver deserves it, WTF? More Ferrari entitlement that makes me dislike the team. What sort of sport is that?