... that Alonso and LH are effectively 1 and 2 in the WDC. Yeah I know that others are in the way, but Williams and BMW AND their drivers either have not won a championship or its been so long they have forgotten, thus the real players are McLaren and Renault. Now like it or not, Alonso took a piece of **** and got 4th place points with it ... yes there was a bit of luck involved, but thats motorracing. MS "used" luck too . So after last years bickering between the McLaren team mates we have a WDC where LH's strongest competitor is once again Alonso , with Ferrari fighting their own battle in the wilderness. Now if Alonso can get a few improvements from Renault, especially in qualifying trim then it might get interesting, in a wheel bumping way Ofcourse if LH wins a couple more races I fully expect Ferrari to protest, either using the ECU or McLaren obviously are still using too much Ferrari as their car is beating us argument ... but that is another story and hopefully does not happen. I might have to keep watching Pete
You are dilusional if you really think that Alonso is in the hunt for WDC. I certainly wouldn't hedge my bets on Alonso finishing in front of either Williams or BMW. Oh, as a matter of fact, he didn't.
Correct, but I would not right him or Renault off either. Both Massa and Kimi in far quicker (at this time) cars failed to deliver ... and in the end 4th place was brilliant for the Renault at its current performance level. Pete
No question that Alonzo benefited from the heavy attrition and some dumb luck. He showed good patience and let the race come to him like a true World Champion of his caliber should. But, the Renault is a piece of crap and unfortunately this maybe the best finish that Alonzo will see all season.
Even Ron Dennis said today that you shouldn't count Ferrari out and I'm going to agree with him. Kimi is still Hamiltons biggest threat as long as the Ferrari holds together. Ferrari will bounce back and Kimi will have a car worthy of his talents. Everyone on the team made mistakes this past weekend. Some more then others but, you move on. Let's hope the testing in Bahrain pays off and we get a Ferrari victory out of it. While I don't count Alonso or Renault out I certainly don't think their level of development is better than the rest of the second tier. BMW looked dreadful at the beginning of January and they did a wonderful job of sorting the car out. Toyota has done a good job of it as well. I expect both of them to be continuing to advance quickly as well as Williams. It's shaping up to be a good season.
McLaren and Ferrari (considering they get the engine fixed) are the main contenders for WDC/WCC. BMW are very strong, but I think we can judge them better after another race. Alonso is a dark horse at best, he is on the 5th best team, his teammate is the probably the worst on the grid, and Hamilton/McLaren will do everything humanly possible to make sure he doesn't win. I would be extremely surprised if Lewis or Kimi did not win the WDC.
I don't agree with the assumption. Williams and BMW performed well - but you discount them because they have not won a championship lately, yet you think "a piece of ****" is a viable contendor for the championship???? Doesn't make sense.. Also, you count Ferrari out based on the results of 1 race??
+1 The tragedy is that Alonso is not in a Ferrari or McLaren (his own doing) but a no talent like Massa is.
Well, I wouldn't call him an idiot but if I hadn't have already read many of his past posts I totally would have believed this post was just a hilarious joke! Unfortunately, I think he really believes what he posted was true......now that is hilarious!
So they come here (if you really, really, really did not want to know the result you would not even log on to the Internet) and navigate to the racing section ... ... oh dear, I think I was rather restrained Pete ps: Most F1 races I watch are recorded the night before, because I live in Sydney. I can assure you that the second my alarm radio goes off I leap out of bed, either kill the radio or run out of the room and get the TV going asap, ensuring I do not accidentally hit the news ... if I cannot watch it for a day or so, I make it very obvious to my F1 interested work collegues to leave me out of their conversation. They abide by this because many times we have to do the same for them ... and we leave the internet alone for a couple of days.
Who is "op"?. Assuming (probably incorrectly) that you are referring to me, then yes I do not count Nick Heifeld and Rosberg and true championship contenders. Nick will never win one, and Williams is probably not ready. Ofcourse Ferrari is not out of the hunt, but it is interesting that after only 1 race that the only serious threat is Alonso. And I never write of Renault. Other than Ferrari, Renault is the manufacturer of F1. Plus stirring you one eyed Ferrari blinded guys up a little is also fun . Where did I count Ferrari out of the END result?. I was just commenting that it is interesting that Alonso is yet again LH's main opposition so far. And I am way more an Alonso fan than I am a Kimi or Massa. Alonso is a proven consistent winner. Kimi only won the WDC because of the protest and poor driver management at McLaren. Alonso SHOULD be 2007 WDC. Pete
No way. At this point the BMW isn't good enough to challenge the Mclaren. Lewis left Robert behind, even when Lewis had way more fuel. I would say the WDC is between lewis and Kimi, with Heikki beating Massa to the 3rd spot. If BMW does improve, it'll be too late because Lewis would have racked up many wins.
I love how people always settle the championship after the first race. Kick massa out , Alonso will be champ lalalalala ...
I have never said much good about Alonso. I still do not want to see him in a Ferrari. And I have said over and over, this year in a tertiary car, we will see what Alonso is made of ( I apologiaze to all grammer students for ending that sentence in a preposition, I admit I am wrong but too tired to reword this sentence correctly). I believe he only really earned one champioship, the other was handed to him. To me the only way we can prove a driver is great is to put him a mediocre car and watch. Now I can say without any reservation, for my personal opinion diary, I think Fernado Alonso is an excellent driver, deserving of the WDC status. That Renault is a total piece of crap. Just like the Ferrari of 2005 and part of 2006. He showed his skill Sunday. I am impressed. And I also like his relaxed attitude this year, knowing he is driving crap, he is still calm and professional. Good job Fred.
Ha ha, so true. Kubica is cool though, did you see him falling asleep sitting in his car in the garage?
Never said that ... just that Alonso is LH's closest serious competition after the first race ... again . Practicing for your lawyer degree are we Pete
I would say that Hamilton's closet competition is multiple: Kimi, Felipe, Nick, and Kuby. Fred is a stretch for WDC, but he will podium.
So far. If he can stay focused and lay off the whining, this year may be the best thing that could have happened to Alonso's career. He's always been a good driver (if a little hard on his tires). But he could use some improvement in the "work and play well with others" department. He'll have to learn that to get something out of the Renault. At least he doesn't seem to have to worry about being challenged by Junior for a while.