[Chihuahua]

Originally Posted by URBAN LEGEND

Almost doesn't count.

except in hand grenades and horseshoes?

[954Stealth]

Kimi holds the lap record at the next track on the circuit, Singapore

[Castle]

Originally Posted by URBAN LEGEND

Huh? That's a 2 time world champ that beat Schumy and the Scuderia at their Zenith. Alonso could die today and his capabilities have been proven.

Plenty of 2-time champs that weren't really that good. Hakkinen, Piquet, et al.

[Mtxzptlk]

Hakkinen not that good?

[Castle]

Originally Posted by Mtxzptlk

Hakkinen not that good?

Hakkinen had a superior car. That same car gave many victories to some other drivers besides Hakkinen: Coulthard, Raikkonen, you could even stretch it to Montoya and Alonso. Once the car stopped being superior, Hakkinen faded away...

Compare that to other superior cars like the Ferrari of Schumacher, where Irvine and Barrichello didn't really win much, or the Red Bull of Vettel/Webber or the Renault of Alonso/Fisichella, same case.
With Hakkinen's McLaren, it was always close with Coulthard. Not to say Coulthard was not good, but he was clearly not in the top tier.

It's my opinion, of course. Not to disrespect Hakkinen or his fans...

[solstice]

With two exceptional cars you can afford one mediocre driver. With two mediocre cars you need two exceptional drivers to compete in the constructors championship.

Ferrari now have two great drivers. Massa is nice but he is simply not fast enough unless he is in an exceptional car. I'm not saying he is slow but I doubt Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Kimi fears Massa one bit but they do fear each other.

That said I really hoped for Kimi to stay with Lotus. I would have absolutely loved for Lotus to win the championship and show that talent ( driver and constructor ) counts for more than the deepest pockets.

[EINSER M]

Originally Posted by solstice

With two exceptional cars you can afford one mediocre driver. With two mediocre cars you need two exceptional drivers to compete in the constructors championship.

Ferrari now have two great drivers. Massa is nice but he is simply not fast enough unless he is in an exceptional car. I'm not saying he is slow but I doubt Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel and Kimi fears Massa one bit but they do fear each other.

That said I really hoped for Kimi to stay with Lotus. I would have absolutely loved for Lotus to win the championship and show that talent ( driver and constructor ) counts for more than the deepest pockets.

+1

[JarekSanto]

Alonso only won his second championship because Schumy's tire failed in the last race of that year. If his tire doesn't fail, he wins 8th title. That said, I think Alonso is the best driver the last two years. He is driving an inferior car and still competing with Vettle. Same goes for Kimi... Who else could drive the Lotus and be in the hunt?

Finally, a little inside info. Met an engineer from Seattle area who worked at Ferrari for ten years. F1 budget was cut from something like $600 million to $200 million.

As good as Kimi and Alonso are, better than Vettle in my opinion, they won't win unless Red Bull shifts the bed.

[954Stealth]

He might not race in Korea. Apparently his back problems were exacerbated this weekend in Singapore. He'll be spending a lot of time with Vettel's Physiotherapist.