OT, one quick question: do you know where to find the old F1 race edits? I would expect the official website to have a link to the archive, but cannot find it. Thx in advance!

That's interesting. I've followed F1 since '88 (Great Year to develop an Interest!), and can't recall Senna being called "Magic" as a nickname...at least not in the states. He certainly WAS Magic though. Uncanny and unrivaled driving ability...when he was on.

I never heard anyone call Senna "Magic", Fernando doesn't need some hokey nickname. Fernando or Nando is fine.

lets hope he gets the car!

It is weird, because I don't remember him being usually called "Magic" either, and I lived in Brazil at the time! But for some reason "Magic" was his "official" nickname in Spain (I cannot speak for other countries) - have a look at this 2004 (and hence pre-Alonso WDCs) article form Spanish newspaper El Mundo (http://www.elmundo.es/elmundodeporte/2004/04/21/motor/1082547569.html) on Senna's 10th anniversary: "La Fórmula 1 recordará a 'Magic Senna' en Imola" (F1 will remember Magic Senna at Imola).

As I explained to Poleman, it may have been a Spanish thing. And I agree that Alonso does not need a nickname, it is unfortunate that we cannot make Lobato see the light on this point!

Yeah, he is obsesed with the "magic" thing, I don't see many fans or other journalist using it, even stuff like "Nano" it's not that commonly used either (more than "magic").

I hope Fernando can keep his current form AND also has a car that is as fast and balanced as the Red Bull is, because in another case it will be another year without WDC for him.

ATM, the only who can ruin Alonso's chances for another WDC in 2012 is no other than Adrian Newey . I know some Vettel Fans won't like that I say this, but I would say the same thing if Alonso was in Vettel's place right now. All we have seen countless times the difference than can make a great driver with the fastest car on the grid + a teammate that is good but not good enough. In other words, I have no doubt that Alonso -in his current form- and Hamilton -in his old form- can be as dominating as Vettel has been this year.... Surely, Fernando would not have got as many poles as Vettel in 2011, although he would have got similar number of wins and podiums.

I have no doubt Vettel "fears" Alonso has a car that can match RB's true speed in race AND qualifying.

I don't know who will win if it ever happens (ie: Alonso and Vettel competing each other with similar cars in terms of performance) surely it will depend on external factors, as usual. I just want to see it so we can see what are they made of, especially Vettel who needs to prove he can be still brilliant when someone has a similar car to him in terms of speed in qualifying and race which hasn't been the case in the last two years.

Well I see it as Vettel of the last 20-25 races vs Alonso since mid 2010 in the reliable Red Bulls would be past the record for most 1-2s in a season (9 i think), the dominance would be scary, but if theres anyone who can give Alonso a game at the moment its Vettel.
I'm not so sure he fears him too much but after watching Silverstone it was an ominous display when Alonso showed what could be done with a winning car, although I think Vettel has improved even since then.
Put them head to head and the biggest factor Alonso has over Seb is the experience and my gut feeling that he's going to be more of a finished article than a 24 year old Vettel right now.

The thing is that we don't know how good Alonso is with a dominant car or pretty good one at least since 2007, he has improved his driving since he drove a true great car (McLaren 2007). We are comparing Vettel in a dominant car (2011) vs Alonso with a decent car (2011) or a good sometimes great car (2010). I have the feeling that with a "close to perfection car" Alonso will be slighty better than Vettel (in races, maybe not in qualifying) but with a non "close to perfection car", Alonso will trounce Vettel. But Vettel is so young, and it's somehow unfair to compare a guy with 24 years old with another with 30, imagine how good Vettel will be with 30 if he keep improving, right now he have a pretty damn good base with only 24 years.

Alonso is more polished than Vettel but the kid does have his head screwed on correctly. Perfectly capable of settling for the points and being ominously quick when required without making silly mistakes. He really has matured this year but a small question mark still remains because he has had the best car by a country mile and more often than not has not been close to the limit.

Hamilton's stock has fallen somewhat over the last year and a half... Hoping for a better season from him.

Alonso had PARTY

http://youtu.be/zK1wHD9_bu8?t=4m35s

I must say... I am really surprised because I didn't expect this from someone as private and quiet as Fernando. He never ceases to impress me

vettel and alonso in ferrari: i love it

Well, you could see him in the background here having more of a party time: http://youtu.be/zK1wHD9_bu8?t=6m30s and http://youtu.be/zK1wHD9_bu8?t=9m1s

LOL!

We know so little about our favourite drivers, i'm sure the more time we spent in their company, the more surprised we would be.

Its why i never fail to laugh at all the psychoanalysis babble.

So right now Fernando has 72 podiums in his F1 career. It all depends on the car of course but next year he can smash Senna record and maybe by the end of his career, Prost record.




Very good stats taking into account that he started in a Minardi and has participated in 175 races.

Is he smoking in the background?

nah it's a straw

Looks like he is smoking a cigar to me. Not 100% sure though.

edit: I think engel is right, he may be just his straw. Whatever, it doesn't really matter.

oh right, I know i was just curious.

Today - birthday of Raquel del Rosario

Nice!

Who is this nice looking fellow?
Boyfriend maybe?

That is Bob Sinclar a pretty popular DJ. As for your other remark I won't dignify it with a response other than what you see here.

Man, FA in my opinion is at his Peak

He is driving the wheels off that Ferrari

Happy Birthday Rosario.

i don't know whether ferrari would ever give him a championship car,but i believe he is the best thing happened to ferrari since schumi first came...

I guess the 3 world titles to Ferrari that happened between Schumi and Alonso dont count for much in your book

Jesus Fernando, smile a little more, it's your wife birthday . Happy b-day to Raquel and good luck with the new album, you will need it, the single it's awful (in my opinion).





He is talking about drivers, so he is quite right.

If you consider Mr. Sinclair a nice looking fellow... You and I will never have an argument about men...

And as far as I know, Mr. Sinclair is a good friend of Mr. Alonso... So yeah, if he is a friend and he is a man... You can consider him a boyfriend.

And I seize the opportunity to wish Raquel a great birthday.

from a racing purist view, what alonso is doing right now with that ferrari is one of the greatest performances, the world has witnessed ever.

Very funny.

Yeah, very, very funny...

Gosh, we are at the end of 2011 and there are still people like that around... How sad...

Like what? I have no idea what are you talking about. Do I have to like bad jokes?

Sorry for the misunderstanding, I was not talking about you, I was refering to the guy who wrote the post about the dj being Alonso's boyfriend...

My apologies again...

Ok It seems that I didn't understand your response.

It's al clear now... I'm glad.

Ferrari is apparently planning a 599 Fernando Alonso Edition for launch in January with only 40 samples to be made. It should be lighter than the current 599 GTO (which is fast); if made I can't wait to see this next year at Ferrari Racing Days. Would be funny to pit this next to Infiniti's FX45 Vettel Edition, who has the fastest (road) car now?

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=342216

It could be a good idea because on track, Fernando is no competition for Seb so... Why not?

you misread my post..actually 14 world titles happened in between(6WDC.8WCC)..

You must be insane. I will stipulate that in the current situation with Seb having the better car, ALO is no match as the car simply isn't good enough. However if you give both drivers the exact same car, I'd put my money on Fernando any day. Either way he'd give Seb all he could handle, probably more. But it's irrelevant because they're not in the same car & currently Seb has the fastest one. This will change a bit in 2012. I hope. )

People still belive it is just the car?

"JUST" not, but a very big part!

Pople believe that the car is a major factor in Vettel's 2011 performance, which is very different from saying that "it is just the car". Do you dispute the fact that the RB7 is the best 2011 car by a healthy margin?

Webber is only fourth, so the WDC is not that to easy to win with the Red Bull, although it's a great car.

Let me put the question differently - do you think that Vettel would have won this WDC had he been driving a McLaren or a Ferrari versus, say, Button or Alonso driving the RB7?

PS And no, I don't think that Vettel is "just the car", but the car has been a decisive factor this season.

It's complicated because neither Button nor Alonso are in the same league as Vettel, who is a perfect on saturday.

And the Red Bull need clean air for the best perfomance, otherwise see Webber. The straight line speed is even with KERS and DRS often lower than the speed from Ferrari, Mclaren or Mercedes without DRS.

If the 150 Italia was of the same performance level as the RB7 the WDC would still be in contention. Or maybe Alonso would have won it already. Either way it wouldn't have been a runaway by Vettel.


I like Mark very much however I believe that Fernando is the better driver thus the WDC classification would be different if this were the case.

"maybe"

We know the Red Bull is clearly the best car if you on position one after the first turn. And we know Vettel and Hamilton are the best Q3 drivers, so firstly I would say Hamilton is better suited for the Red Bull than Button or Alonso. And we know Hamilton has a bad year, with too many mistakes.

I have no reason to believe Alonso (or Button, Hamilton) would win against Vettel even with the same car, although I think he would have more points than Webber.