Astroman

Only in this bizarro internet world are 9 F1 grand prix victories and 13 pole positions considered "hardly impressive"... especially while your teammate is winning most of the other races. I guess either you're WDC or you suck.

NaroEscape

I do not like Vettel at all. I'm not a big fan of Lewis either, or Alonso...

But...

I have to give props to Seb for the past 4 years. Car supremecy or not, he still won, and won handily. Compare to Schumacher? Well, at that time Ferrari had the best equipment didn't he?? What did Schumi do at Mercedes? Hmm....

Unfortunately I have to agree that Alonso is one of the best drivers out there right now.. Pains me to say it, but while I am a fan of certain drivers, I can also see reality.

But here's a question: why are we always saying that the Ferrari is so bad?? Maybe, just maybe the car is set up and suited for Alonso's driving style, and not Massa or Kimi... just like the RBR car was set up for the past years for Vettel and not Webber. Maybe the car really ISN'T as horrible as the media says. No, it was not as good as RBR the past few years, or Merc now, but maybe it's not a wretched as everyone keeps saying.

sorry, just rambling after a bottle of wine...

9.5 Degrees

No one said Webber sucked, I said he was a journeyman at best, "serviceable" if you will. My comment was to the remark of "Great Contributions to F1". I honestly cannot think of one. Jackie Stewart worked greatly toward driver safety. Mark Webber was part of the Grand Prix Driver's Association and railed against aggressive driving but yet was one of the worst offenders himself. A hypocrite.

Over the course of his career he averaged less than 1 win per year while driving the best car on grid for 4 of those years (72 races in the best car).

Regarding Alonso, it's now clear even to the haters that he is truly the greatest driver in this era. If the car was set up to his liking and not Massa, why would Massa give him such props when he left Ferrari? He's that good!

enduro911

Luigi, very interesting re: Vettel and low downforce cars. That would seem to make sense. I think that this year is kind of proving my initial thoughts that if you had a team and you knew the car wasn't going to be the absolute best, you want Alonso on your team. He's able to drive a bad car better than anyone. While he's IMO one of the top three fastest guys he's not quite as quick in the same car as Hamilton or, again IMO, Vettel. Vettel is a perfectionist when the circumstances are good and I would argue that he's potentially more dominant than most drivers could be when the car is dominant (in other words when you don't need it). When they aren't, his results fall off much more quickly than Hamilton or Alonso. Hamilton is the most freakishly talent of the 3 but I think he hasn't done as good of a job as Alonso when the car hasn't been perfect and he sometimes has the potential to overdrive the car.

RE: Vettel though, remember Lewis took a bit of time to adjust to the Mercedes and I'm pretty sure everyone agrees he's really good. Give Vettel time.

One more thought...anyone think that Mercedes will win EVERY race this year and surpass Mclaren in 1988 as the most dominant team?

Seeeu911

Agreed !

My993C2

Yup ... count me as one who made this bold claim after the 1st race. Heck Hamilton could win 18 races in a row and smash all the single season driver records and then continue the winning streak into next season as well. Though the odds of that are stretched as you have to think Nico will sneak a win in here or there. But short of an accident between Hamilton and Rosberg, I can't see any other team coming remotely close to beating the Mercedes works team this season.

Seeeu911

Wow a bold prediction. I like it. But don't count out the RB team yet. I posted on another thread that it was conspicuous that Adrian Newey was not in China. Don't be surprised in Barcelona if Vettel makes a massive leap ahead with the Aero witchcraft AN is cooking up now.

ilko

I don't know if anybody else noticed Adrian Newey's absence from the Red Bull pit wall this past weekend. This is where he was hiding:

PPo

It will be painful for me to watch if Lewis wins the majority of the remaining races. The chances are high I must agree.

Hopefully by the time Monaco, Spa, and Canada come around we can see some competitive challenge to Mercedes... I must admit, they seem to have many seconds to spare currently. They are almost cruising to victory.

JustinL

I think it will take more than aero to catch the Mercs. They already likely have the most aerodynamically efficient car in the field, but with no power. Renault /infiniti are the ones who need to step up their game.

Bob Rouleau

I could sense Seb's frustration when Alonso pulled away from him on every straight. The RB was better in the corners but for top speed - no way. Every driver HATES that.

consolidated

^^^ The Ferrari went from 13th best trap speed in Bahrain to 4th in China, Domenicali's promised upgrade and leap for China proved to be true.

YourFace

Every driver HATES that.[/QUOTE]

Except for Gilles

My993C2

Is it true that the engine power plant designs have been locked in for the next few years? That Renault and Ferrari will not be allowed to change their designs for the next few years? If this is indeed the new reality of F1, it does not look very promising for competitive racing. Kudos to Mercedes for designing the superior product with their split turbo, but from a racing point of view is this what we really wanted? Will the Honda power plant when they return to the sport next season be able to emulate the Merc's split turbo or have they too already been locked into a design.

Circuit Motorsports

I made the comment a couple races ago that Vettel was not figuring out how to deal with the low traction issues compared to Ricci and was ridiculed by a few on this board......