2007 F1 WDC-Alonzo, Massa or Button?

In a mediocre Saubar, Massa was not only mediocre, he was handily outpaced by his teammates. Alonso, on the other hand, has shown poise and maturity behind the wheel as well as an imperviousness to pressure. He is the best driver in F1 at present.

The title will come down to Kimi and Alonso. No one else is even close.

 

As much talent as Alonso has, I don't think he'll be in the top 3 if the McLaren end up being problematic. But did the Merc engines have many failures this past season?
Most have been saying that the reason the McLaren was "slow" this year was because the team wasn't able to adapt quickly enough to Newey's absence. That could change this upcoming season.

You could also say that Ferrari might be at a disadvantage. This will be their first season without Brawn and Burn. But they have said that they've been preparing for this transition. So we'll see.

Button? Really? I like the guy, and I root for him also. But untill he starts winning races consistently, I don't think he'll have much of a chance in being WDC. Unless every race this upcoming season ends up like Hungary.

 

What would be the point of a poll if EVERYONE would pick Kimi ?

Think of it this way:
Who will finish second to Kimi in 2007 ?

SOT:
I'm wondering why the brass at Ferrari would ink Kimi to a lotta money if they thought they had a legitimate shot with Massa ?
If not Kimi then who ?
They don't need a certain nationality driver to sell cars, since they are all sold out years in advance..

 

I think you are right. Autosport and F1 Racing both pointed out that Button was very consistent in the second half of the season, and in the last 6 races he scored more points than anyone else. His first win has given him the self-confidence that he really needed to regularly stand on the podium. If McLaren comes through with a reliable car, we will see Alonso challenging for the championship with Button, Massa and Kimi. I still feel that Kimi will not put in the development time to help Ferrari as much as he could, but I hope I am wrong.

 

Next WDC:

http://www.formula1.com/news/5370.html

 

Good one!!! He's not even confirmed at Toro Rosso next year and got mopped by Klien when they were sharing a RedBull.

 

I'm not sure that's a good comparison. He was a rookie, and just had 4 races to show his stuff that year.

 

He entered F1 in a poor Minardi. Go look at his times and qualifying spots. The guy has been a winner his entire life.

 

What he has accomplished for his age is superb. I remember when he was in the Minardi, and even then it was obvious the guy was out of the norm.

Ron, best example of Alonso's maturity and speed behind the wheel was the end of 2002 when he had the WDC tied up and they let him go for it at the last race. His speed and consistency gave Renault the title, Fisi should have done better.

 

Yes but he has a better chance at a race ride than Klien who currently is Honda's third driver.

Besides, nobody dresses better than him......

 

You are forgetting - everyone in F1 has been a major winner in most series they have competed in, from Karts on up... Senna and Brundle ran neck-and-neck in F3, one eventually ended up with great teams, the other didn't, and still others think the third place guy in that series was as good or better than the first two guys.

 

I have to go with Button aswell. maybe this year, the year he hasn't made any brash predictions, will be the year he is a real contender. Massa was complaining about the lack of grip in the tires making the car hard to drive. I think this will let Button shine, as he has a very smooth driving style.

 

I dunno, i wasn't too impressed by him last year. Seemed only slightly less erratic than Speed.

 

The McLaren will break down and Kimi will win. Renault will have the best car, McLaren the fastest driver, but Ferrari the best combination of both.

 

Is it the McLarens that broke down all the time, or mainly the McLarens when driven by the "Fchat adored" Kimi, eh? I seem to recall that the reliability of JPM's or De La Rosa's car was distinctly superior to Kimi's. Hmmmm...

And what about that sub-par, lucky Spaniard called Alonso who only won two World championships in a row because supposedely all opposing teams had worthless cars and supposedly the Renaults were better than anything on wheels; I wonder: Is it the Renaults that never broke down and ran better than anybody else, or mainly just the Renault driven by that worthless Alonso, eh? I seem to recall that Fisi on a Renault did not quite do as well as FA.

OK, sarcasm off, and seriously now, the Ferrari passion (which I fully share) has in my opinion blinded many to the appearance of a very great champion called Fernando Alonso. Coming from a country with no F1 tradition, at a younger age than any F1 champion before him, he has won the last two championships fair and square, beating (yes, beating) the likes of a Michael Schumacher (remember him?).

Next year Alonso will win (once again) and Kimi will break down (once again); I just hope a few people will have the elegance to stop blaming the cars.

Cheers,

Julio

P.S: Button????????????

 

For all the talk of McLaren suffering with the departure of Newey, it seems people forget that next year Ferrari will be without the services of Ross Brawn.

My money is on Alonso repeating as champion. If McLaren has shown anything in the past, it is their ability to bounce back from lackluster seasons. McLaren, post-Senna, was in the wilderness for several years (anyone remember the travesty of Mansell?) before coming back to win back-to-back championships with Hakkinan. They probably have more depth in engineering than any other team in F1. Certainly they will miss Newey but it seems to me that Newey's influence at McLaren had been on the decline ever since his dalliance with Jaguar.

Alonso is not only as fast as Kimi (I believe) but he is also by far the most consistent driver out there. Even if the McLaren is not there on raceday, Alonso will keep the car high enough in the points to likely win the title on his consistency.

I agree with Button as a dark horse for the WDC. If Honda can put a competitive package together, he has to be considered a contender. It wasn't so long ago that he was 3rd in the title race behind the two Ferraris and had, I believe, 10 podium finishes. I think he is the only driver who can be mentioned in the same breath as Alonso as far as consistency in races is concerned.

Kimi is tough on his equipment, I think last year's McLaren was a better car than it appeared. Montoya had difficulty with its understeering tendencies and couldn't drive the car to its (and his) fullest potential and Kimi simply breaks the car too frequently to assess its true performance capabilities. I think Kimi is in for some teething pains adjusting to Ferrari and, while he will almost certainly win the title for Ferrari at some point, next year is not likely to be his year.

Massa and Fisi will make up the numbers next year. Fisichella is not one of the top drivers in F1, though he is better than most. He lacks the ability to string together enough consistent races to challenge for the title.

As for Massa? Well, you know what I think about Fisichella and Fisi blew Massa's door off when they were teammates. You do the math.

 

Actually Byrne has signed to continue with Ferrari as a Consultant and the last two cars (05 & 06) were designed by Aldo Costa. I think that when Newey put the effort in for the 05 car it was magic, but McLaren seemed to have lost the way a bit with out him in 06.

I think the reason Ferrari will walk it in 07 is because of their relationship with Bridgestone, the speed of the car during the last races of 06. I do think Alonso will be in a fight for it, as I think he is the best driver in the world right now. I think over a single lap Kimi may or may not be quicker, but I think Alonso has the total package.

 

I remember reading that Lake Speed(Nascar driver) was better than Senna in karts.

 

Excellent points by Tony-Costa has designed the Ferrari the last 2 years and we saw how good it was in the second half of '06-even massa looked good in it and i'm not a massa fan....

McLaren? Kimi would have easily won the WDC in '05 if McLaren/MB had built a car that stayed together; in '06 they had no Newey and it showed-I think it demoralized KR.

 

Senna won several world championships in karting. I know that Lake Speed competed with him but I don't think he outperformed him.

 

Forzza Massa!

 

I would have never thought so either, I'll try to find the article and post it.