A nice objective pace analysis from the last 10 races between McLaren-Honda & Ferrari... Original article link: Vettel and Alonso: Who will have the last laugh? · F1 Fanatic Image Unavailable, Please Login
Alonso will be out of F1 within the next 2 years, and a mere 2 WDC to his credit. Vettel holds 4 WDC, with at least another 1-2 to come, IMO. Will Vettel's next WDC come with Ferrari? Perhaps. But, I will wager Vettel makes a wise late-career move if needed - whereas Alonso has historically jumped into seats holding more water than the previous.
The big problem for Alonso is that time is not on his side. Probably it will be Vandoorne or whoever drives the McLaren after him the one who is going to laugh last.
It's Honda that wanted him onboard, never doubting on their abilities to give him a good engine. For Alonso and Button, the McLaren-Honda fiasco is probably the end of their career.
Mclaren is slowly improving their car, while Ferrari seem to be struggling, neither car is close the point of competing for any kind of championship. Vettel might have to move back to red bull if he wants to win another championship.
Here's hoping that the end of Alonso's career comes w 1 or more wdc titles to his name. Whether you hate or like Alonso, you have to recognize his talent and completeness as a driver. We can all debate endlessly about who ranks higher or lower, but we can all agree Alonso is one of the top talents on the grid.
And Alonso is sooo much closer to winning titles now than Vettel is! The funny thing is, I've seen a couple of races where the Mercedes boys have had to watch their mirrors to keep an eye on Vettel in the Ferrari - Just in case, but I don't recall them having to even contemplate thinking about Alonso in the McLaren throughout a race weekend, let alone in a race!
half a second behind first. 5 seconds behind first. same difference bro. Still an L... Being first of the losers is some bragging right lol. And last I checked, Mercedes hardly had to worry about a Ferrari in their mirrors...they just flip a switch and boom half a second faster!
But of course! - In racing it's far better to be lapped and finish 13th or less than to finish 2nd or 3rd on the same lap as the winner and be on the podium getting a trophy! Again, for someone who claims to be passionate about Ferrari, you seem very eager to publicly humiliate them!
It's a lot easier to make a slower car go faster. It's a lot harder to make an already fast car go even faster. Allison will get it right. With a small budget at Lotus he build a winning car. He was at Ferrari with the Schumacher years (when they started cleaning up proper). Have faith, and all that. Vettel will win a couple of titles with Ferrari, I'm sure.
According to auto sport, one of the teams conducted a study which attributed 15% to The driver in the equation and the rest to the car. For a team of limited budget the money is best spent on the car. For a big budget team there is obviously a law of diminishing returns in terms of car improvement. That is why for a big team it's better to pay big bucks for a driver. I assume McLaren did not expect to be so uncompetitive so of course at the time 50m on alonso is not a big waste. I suspect in some cases the driver makes up a lot more than 15%. Say in a Kimi vs alonso situation or say Hamilton vs kovalenein or something like that. I don't think the Ferrari car is that bad - it's drivers are currently driving very poorly and admit week after week they were unable to get the best from the car. The red bull drivers are driving impeccably well and although their car is probably worse they make it look better through their performances. I think that if Vettel and Kimi can recover from their bad form we will see Ferrari hadn't really regressed that much. In terms of the question, I think both alonso and Vettel won't be laughing. Alonso will retire before McLaren make a good car and I suspect Ricci to Ferrari in 2018 who will beat Vettel to a title if the car is good enough. I think the real winners in it all are Hamilton and verstappen. Hamilton will get 5-6 wdcs then retire and then the verstappen reign will begin and who knows how many he will get. His rate of improvement Is rapid
You dont get it. Multiple WDC's dont want a win here and there. They want to be competitive and battle for the WDC to add to it. Alonso coming in 10th and vettel coming in 3rd is the same thing in their eyes. They're not winning. Yes i do agree Alonso is the best, but i think Vettel made the best jump. He'll win another WDC or two before his career is over and cement his place behind Schumacher as the 2nd most winning driver ever. Alonso is making extreme amounts of bank and will jump to sports cars and win a few 24H of lemans to cement his status in history as one of the greatest drivers around. History will always remember him as the guy who took down Schumacher regardless of facts, fiction or opinion. unless Mclaren end up doing something amazing next year that nobody expects and starts competing.
He had to do something extreme. He knew he didn't have the time to wait until Ferrari gets it right, if and when they ever do. Vettel on the other hand is young enough that he can wait a few years. McHonda is working hard and improving all them time. A risky move but really what other choice did he have? Redbull doesn't want him and MB is full. For the moment anyway...
+1 Vettel is thinking a Schumi round 2 will happen but they are lacking the talent that backed up MS to make it happen. Ferrari have no Brawn to start with at the top.
Why are you so eager to celebrate mediocrity? Ferrari is better than that, and until that happens they will be criticized, whether publically or not, is so irrelevant.
It's a long term project, not that difficult to understand. Fact is, Alonso sacked up and took a risk rather than be the bridesmaid and not the bride for another 5 years at Ferrari. It might work, it might not, but at this stage you can't say he made a mistake leaving. Period.
You are correct. Not sure why 4rePhill can't wrap his head around this concept. I'm guessing he can, but has an axe to grind with Alonso.
Were Ferrari contending last year or this year then yes we could say he made a mistake. They aren't so he didn't in my estimation. Some folks don't get that.