Both Hami and Alonso had 109 pts. Remember when Alonso was penalized 5 places for blocking Hami in the pit lane during qualifying. Hami came in 2nd in the WDC that year and Alonso 3rd. Both had 4 wins but Hami had more 2nd places. So Hami is the better driver now, bit Alonso may be a better development driver. Massa (or whoever drives in his place) will have to watch being blocked in qualifying.
Isn't the answer to the OPs post easy? Because Alonso is the best driver who could be recruited when considering driving skills, existing contractual ties and potential to bring in big sponsors. Others might be better options (Hami and Vettel to name two candidates), but they are all glued into existing contracts or Ferrari considers them higher risk. Overall, I think Ferrari have done well to get Alonso.
Personally, I am not a big Alonso fan, but he has done well in a sub par Renault. He is fast in anything and can develop like no one else driving. Although, after 2 "gates" at 2 teams, one has to ask, whether its the teams or the people they associate with... -dsd
Surely, that he could drive a POS car into a strong points position (with a little help from the racing stewards).
i think that alonso would be the best driver for ferrari(besides massa)..he has loads of experience and wins and he's great with developing cars as a test driver..he will definitely do the job a lot better than kimi did for ferrari..
I think you have hit on a key point. I know some of the senior folks in Telefonica who used to be a big sponsor of Alonso. They sponsored him right though from Karting until his first departure from Renault. They told me he apparently he did not even tell them he was leaving Renault for McLaren, let alone ask them and they were so p****d off they pulled their Renault sponsorship, did not try to outbid when Vodafone took over McLaren sponsorship. Now Telefonica only sponsor Spanish F1 events, not car or driver. Quite a loss for F1 and sponsorship I would say. On the other hand, I guess Alonso may have learned his lesson and perhaps even made it a condition of his move to have Bank Santander with him....and that money is important to him and Ferrari, I am sure. Lots of sponsorship withdrawals this year must be worrying for the teams. P
One way to figure out who is the best is the amount of teams that will be glad to have the guy aboard if he were on the market. Also how early they sign the deal or work with the next team years in advance - e.g. Alonso worked on/signed a couple deals (McLaren, Ferrari) nearly 1 1/2 years ahead of time. I remember in Michael's days, every team owner would have given their eye teeth to have him on their side. Even the notoriously parsimonious Frank Williams would have paid him whatever he required (as per Patrick Head's comments). I guess Alonso, Hamilton, Kimi, and Vettel are in this bracket today. Alonso despite his soap opera style dramatics is the most complete driver since MS. Hamilton is fast, aggressive whatever the circumstance. You can count on him to drive the team forward. He will maximize his points at each and every race. Kimi seems to be a little past his prime IMO - yeah he's awesome when he is on the cusp of a championship but otherwise he's bored if he is not assured of one.Just like Mika IMO. Vettel is fast and a future WDC without doubt. He is still young, learning and makes a few mistakes while doing so. A little bit of ironing out of these faults and you will see him dominate.
Alonso has beaten the great MS. From what I have read Ferrari has already been working on there 2010 car and it has been said in F1 mag. that the seasons that happen this year will not happen next. They have the front wing thing under control. Alonso has also won races in a car that has not been good for some time. All he needs is a fast pace car and it's over.
