Which is why in his interview with Bernie Ecclestone he said that he would not have anything against driving in the same team with Vettel.
Vettel is still a boy, Kubica, Hammy, Alonso, Button, these are men...

Bravissimo! That was excellent!

What? He has been saying since Bahrain that his main rivals are Vettel and Hamilton, even when they were behind him or their team mates.

Can't say I remember any mentions of Vettel but happy to be corrected. Maybe it was 'Vettel in a dominant car'. And Fernando now hopes the RB dominance is coming to and end.

Great interview, Alonso seems to be very reasonable guy.

Don't know what your definition of "doing anything to suggest he is on same level as Alonso", but Kubica has outperformed Alonso every year except his rookie championship (2007) where he only finished 3rd behind in Sauber. And now of course he is doing much better than Alonso was at Renault. Heidfeld too I think is exceptional driver and to be honest (though I realize it's idea you would hate and react to very badly) wouldn't be surprised if he would be doing just as well as Alonso (4th in championship) if was driving Ferrari F10.

Different years, different cars. How you can compare that?

I like Kubica a great deal. I genuinely believe he is hungry and dedicated enough to challenge for world championships but he needs a top seat to do that. But really, 2ms, that statement is quite a stretch. Not saying it's wrong, but nothing in what you have presented makes it right either, does it?

The point of 2ms's posts is just to "prove" how much better Räikkönen was than Alonso and to vent his frustration over Ferrari replacing the former with the latter. It's his legitimate right but his posts shouldn't be taken seriously and the less time and effort is wasted on them, the better.

Hmm. That it's possible he could be 4th if was driving a Ferrari rather than Renault? I mean, he has 73 points (1 point out of 6th) to Alonso's 94. The Ferrari has generally been at least the second best car all season (though the McL now looks like may have now caught up or passed it) whereas the Renault is considered well back...

It was well back when Alonso was driving it too of course. No question about that. And in fact I do think that, based on the fact Alonso drove well in 05,06, and 07, there's evidence that he would be able to do better than the 9th he got last year if was driving this year's Renault (i.e., I think the new Renault probably is better car than last year's since I think Alonso is better than a 9th place driver, basically).

However, there comes a point where you have to say "Look, Alonso drove wonderfully those years ago but now his successor is doing better than he was at Renault, so far he has not been able to get the kind of results his predecessor's did when he got to Ferrari, and Ferrari is doing the worst in both WCC and WDC that they have any year in any recent history (except last where they only had one driver of course)." I think there's a place for pragmatism in comparing f1 drivers. To me this involves recognizing there's a point where past results are no longer sufficient basis for assumption that other drivers who are doing extremely well (particularly in inferior equipment) might not be just as good.

In other words, I think there's a point where, if a driver has once gotten great results but then doesn't for a while, the onus is on him to show that he's better than the newer drivers who are getting better and better results all the time. Particularly in situations like Kubica where Kubica jumps right into Alonso's seat and takes the team to new level. Sure, it could just be Renault made miraculous improvements and Alonso has had terrible luck for years etc. However, for me the onus is on him to show that these things are the case. To me he hasn't whereas drivers like Kubica and Rosberg have been doing nothing but exceeding expectations with tremendous consistency. For me the question is more "what exactly are the reasons we think Alonso is better than some of these other drivers?"

Because he's had enormous races.

Btw this years Reno is MUCH better than 2008 and 2009, look at the very rookie Petrov and how well he is doing compared to what Alonso rookie team mates where able to do. Or do you have any reason to suggest that Petrov is better than Nelson (2nd to Hamilton in Gp2) or Grosjean (ok in GP2, totally devastated by his season in Reno).

Best post I've read in a while.

There's no rational explanation, but I think Kubica & Alonso are the best drivers out there, followed by Hamilton, and Vettel in that particular order.

Kubica has probably been better than Alonso this year because Alonso has made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes. But a driver shouldn't be judged on a couple of races. And even in these races his class has still been clear as he has been able to make a number of great recoveries.

Kubica was not really any better than Heidfeld at BMW. If he was faster it was not by much and Heidfeld often had the upper hand on him. Heidfeld is a good driver but his career suggests he is nothing exceptional. He was not really any quicker than rookie Raikkonen at Sauber. And whilst he got the better results against Webber, atleast in qualifying I think it was Webber who was the quicker of the two. I really doubt after 3 years that Alonso or Hamilton would not have comfortably asserted themselves over him. At the moment Kubica can look good with the low expectations around the Renault car, and a rookie team-mate. And even in Turkey we seen that Petrov was close to Kubica and was even quicker in Q1 and Q2.

Kubica has never shown to have exceptional speed, unlike Alonso. And Alonso actually started to get great results when he returned to Renault, powering them to 4th place in the championship and even grabbed a win on merit and they were heading in a very good direction that year. They went from being way off to within striking distance of Ferrari and Mclaren, but they got the new regulations all wrong.

A driver is limited by the car. He hasn't got the results because he hasn't had the car. This year if Ferrari can develop the car (which there is a question mark over) he should have that, and if he is to live up to his reputation he has to deliver. But that is how F1 is, the past is forgotten quickly, and you sort of always have to prove yourself.

A driver can only do so much though. Its not Alonso's fault that the development hasn't been strong or that Ferrari arn't the team they were in Schumacher's time there. Its not right to assume that because Kubica is doing better in the 2010 Renault than Alonso was in the 2009 Renault that means he is as good as Alonso. In the same car I doubt Kubica would be able to keep up with Alonso consistently.

Excellent interview Thanks much for that.

First of all, let me say that Alonso is imho definitely better than Kubica.
Second of all, if he doesn't win WDC this season he only has himself to blame (unless Ferrari falls back in development of course) - without all errors he himself made so far he should have been in lead by some 20-30 points in WDC so far, so he can hardly blame Ferrari. This doesn't mean he is worse driver than Kubica, but this season - yes, he is.

P.S. Don't bring me Massa 2010. comparison - he can only do with narrow setup window, and this season this window is obviously missed by a lot for him. Basically, he has similar problems Kovalainen had in McLaren or Button in 2009. in mid-season.

2010: Certain Fans high on Kubica hype




No offence but please, lets take it easy. Ofcourse he is very good. Oh, im gettin drunk already.

Vettel saw more cocaine and naked hoes than you and me will see it for three lifespans.

Bad luck for Alonso today.

No luck.

It was not bad luck.
It was sheer incompetence, even idiocy of the race direction. How hard was it to send the safety car in front of the right car?

Fernando is not going to give up, he will be stronger in the next race, let's hope the car works too. Shame goes for Massa.

P9 in a Ferrari on homeground is not good, 4 sure he will get some FIA help to get some more points though.

Fernando was racing 3rd,
doing best lap at that time,
and closing his gap on Lewis 2nd,
preparing for an attack during the pit stops.
then the incident happened. its worth being studied.
was the result fair?
was the race manipulated?

for me, this championship is ever more adulterated.
lack of blue flags in Canada was bad,
but this is too much.

The WDC is not over yet, there are still 10 races to go and 250 points to grab. Nothing is impossible

The yellow flag ruined a great race, indeed.
The Ferraris were in pursuit mode trailling Lewis and Vettel.
However Alonso couldn't overtake Buemi, could he possibly pip Lewis ?

the different tyre conditions between those 2 moments hint that launching an attack was possible.
succesful or not, we'll never know

Kova was the best of the race.
that and Webber not being injured in the accident

Got to love FA's passion. If it was only desire that made you win, he would win everytime.

It's amazing the level of hatred towards Alonso here.

If people think Alonso may win, they state his car is the fastest one in the grid even before tasting the track.
If he looses due bad luck or problems in his car (tyres, gearbox, etc) it is that he got owned.

i disagree. it would be Lewis winning every time.

sportmanship and respect are a limiting factor.

-passion-

He would have jumped him at the pitstop, Ham changed his front wing.

He has guts if fe dares to talk about race mamipulation after singapore 08

Come on ,you have to admit that it was pretty ridiculous how he was crying in the radio (it´s not fair)
Maybe he should concentrate more on to his own driving and defending his position and less about complaining others
After all Valencia supposed to be a circuit imposible to overtake.

If he would put his passion into driving rather than into chatting with Stella then maybe he would have overtaken somebody today.

Result is not fair for Alonso, just like in every race you have a driver that feels his result wasn't fair. Was MS Monaco penalty fair? Was race manipulated? How about Lewis Hamilton Spa 2008.? How about Singapore 2008.?

first interview to Fernando after the race.
Nira Juanco for LaSexta, translated only the answers:




...



spanish audio youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyiSTwCk06c

Come on, we saw that Button was ultimately over 1sec per lap faster than Kobayashi, given the pace he started doing once Koba pitted. And Button was never in with a sniff of overtaking him.

I suspect Kubica was probably similarly faster than Barrichello too.

At a circuit such as Valencia, where it is clearly very dusty off-line, there is no overtaking without a significant grip advantage into the braking zones (as Kobayashi had once on the super-softs in the last couple of laps), or an error from the driver in front. Hence, once Alonso was behind Buemi, that was basically it.

And notice Alonso said he "aimed" for 2nd. It is not that we are stating that he would have achieved that. But it was fair to aim for 2nd.

But it was very unlucky for Alonso due the SC and then Hamilton cheating.


Where are the "oh, bad luck brigade" now? Of course they disappeared as the one who was damaged was Alonso.

Why? He did his job, he didn't know what was going on with Nelsinho.

Yeah right

Well thats conclusive then...

So pls explain Alonso's early it stop in that race.

That's not the point though, the point is that he was a direct beneficiary of that action, and to then suggest that he has been slighted by something that he feels is 'manipulation' is rather crass and silly to say. He has been unlucky with the SC positioning, and then done nothing special the rest of the race, in a race where some overtaking was possible...

This only shows that Alonso is a retarded diotI. Complaining on radio during the race. Instead of getting along with staying ahead of Kobayashi and Seb.Buemi!

Hamilton fans...

He didn't decide his strategy alone, they had to listen what engineers have seen on the computers. He had nothing to lose because he finished 15 on Saturday and he had to do something completely different to the rest of the teams.

He stopped early in Monaco 2010, expecting to get some help with a SC or some kind of race incident. Do you think he should be suspicious about Massa crashing against the wall? Explain why he had to pit early in Monaco 2010? Explain another urban track like Singapore is different?

Other than Kobayashi overtaking Alonso and Buemi with a clearly significant grip advantage (though this is not to take anything away from Koba's fine opportunism in doing so), I saw precisely no overtaking whatsoever at the sharp end in that race.

It's his own fault he made yet another mistake on not getting in a clean lap in quali. If he did that he wouldn't be in the mess.

His complaining of Hamilton over the radio while not concentrating on his own race was idiotic. I thought he learned from 2007 but he hasn't. It's like Hamilton too easily gets inside his head mentally and he cannot cope.

Again today he lost his cool calling for others to get penalties, yet he got overtaken by himself.

He lost his focus.

Maybe he should study some Yoga or Tai Chi.

Why does Alonso always moan when he's not winning? OK so Hamilton made an honest mistake and should have been punished sooner. But Hamilton also drove quicker in Qualifying and was ahead of FA. If the positions were reversed would Lewis be moaning as much as Fernando is? I really doubt that.

Alonso is just a moaning cry baby. How is it that at Mclaren Lewis has no problem with Jenson? Yet before FA had even joined Ferrari he had already upset Massa..... There is a pattern developing here about FA's character and maybe just maybe we now see why LH is considered by some to be the better driver!

Maybe Hamilton would moan and then lie and say he did not moan if you asked him.

And I think you need to eat more fish as your memory is damaged. The one throwing mind games was Massa. Actually Alonso only sucked up everyone including Massa from Ferrari,