What if FA went to Ferrari and won 8 more WDC's ???

+1 However, stats don't say everything.

 

-1

We can never compare these things. Today getting into F1 is a different game than it was in the early nineties when MS joined. Electronics help a great deal to quickly get accustomed to the car. Carbon fibre tubs give confidence and safe lives.

While I'm a big Alonso fan and congratulate him on being the youngest winner and champion ever, that really doesn't mean he is any better than e.g. MS when he won his first title. Different times and career paths.

However of course what the young age does for Alonso is give him the chance to work on those statistics. But then again I think if you enter F1 early you will burn out at the usual rate and therefore leave early as well. So the stats will probably have MS on top forever.

 

awesome post Andreas.

 

+1

 

i guess most people will just remember that Alonso won the championship, and not remember the circumstances that made it so...ie, rule changes, and other details, while normally not significant, that year played a huge role. Michelin won the championship for Renault because Bridge couldn't get their act together.

 

It doesn't hurt when you run an illegal traction control system either, as Schumi did in 1994...

 

FYI, I believe there have been rule changes in F1 every year since the series was created...why would the most recent ones matter more?

 

Even though I am a die-hard Ferrari fan and want to see MS win the championship this year, I would love to see FA driving for Ferrari. I think he is a fantastic driver; he is just driving for the wrong team.

 

-1

Those statements say absolutely nothing pertaining to the whether FA is a better driver, only that he is a younger driver. We will see if his skills and temperment can carry him to the number of successful seasons that MS has already enjoyed. I do not discount FA's current skill level, but at this point, his mental focus and emotional self management, both leave a bit to be desired and may lead to a truncated stay in F1. Not that I would wish it upon him.

Bill

 

It does say that Alonso was able to be WDC at a younger age than all other F1 drivers ever, including MS...so, that makes Alonso a better driver at age 24 than MS was at age 24...we will have to see how good Alonso is at age 35 to see how he compares to MS at that age as well as all other F1 drivers at that age...

 

With all his attempts to run other drivers off the road, you think MS had "emotional self-management"? I think there were many times when his ego ran over his ability.

 

I agree somewhat. Both are exceptional drivers who achieved amazing success early on.

Schumacher winning his first GP within 1 calendar year of entering Formula 1, winning his first WDC in the fourth year of competing with F1 and then following it up with a second WDC in the next year itself. In all of this Schumacher had an average car in 1991, 1992 which got progressively better in 1993 and 1994. In 1995 he had the best car in the field. By the time he left for Ferrari in 1996 he had accumulated 19 wins over four seasons. From 1996 onwards, he showed some sterling drives trying to take struggling team to the top of the pack.

Alonso won in his first GP in his second year racing (2003) - he sat one year out as a test driver. He won his first WDC in his fourth year of racing and is very likely to do the double this weekend. He drove a pathetic car in his first season, an average car for the next 2 seasons and the best car in the field for the 2005 and 2006 seasons. By the time Fernando leaves for McLaren with 15 wins (16 possible end of next weekend). Will he do a Schumacher and take McLaren to the top over the next few seasons. I think the task is not as herculean as SChumi's task back then but it will be a creditable achievement.

Thus both achieved pretty much the same thing at the same time in their career. Alonso joined F1 at an earlier age (1 year earlier) so it is not surprising he was a younger WDC by 1 year.

No one has inspired a team to perform at the peak like Schumacher has. Let us see if Alonso can achieve the same magic in the future and whether he can sustain his performance and intensity when faced with a slagging team.

Kimi vs Alonso next year - should be fun!

 

You cannot make the statement that Alonso is a better driver at age 24 than MS was at that age without taking the equipment quality into account. Alonso's Renault is top-rate; the question is how was MS's equipment at age 24.

 

diff eras. makes sense.

 

His equipment was not only top-rate, he had the added advantage of having hidden traction control.

Schumacher's cheating was not confined to simply running his rivals off the road.