Excellent race from Fred...I reckon Valencia might be very interesting.

Ferrari have been strong at Valencia.

Good to see him back fighting for the victory. It seemed to me like all 3 drivers on the podium were happy to have no Red Bull on the podium. I hope Ferrari is able to make the car fast enough to challenge McLaren just a little.

Like all of this season he looked quick but he didn't have a perfect weekend and that cost him a win

Probably favourite for the title though, have to think he will get it together in the second half of the season

Hmm good race from fonso particularly versus Massa - but I dont understand the blaming of traffic for being passed. Yes he did get passed due to traffic, however, it appeared more to do with him mishandling traffic badly twice that lost him his places

Fernando was brilliant this weekend and loved watching him race but the traffic errors were costly, that said he showed that he is a force to be reckoned with and if Ferrari can get their Valencia upgrade right we will be looking at a good second half to the season!

Fernando was good last weekend,but brilliant, no way.
Button overtaked him way too easily.That was embarrassing to watch

Button was in a McLaren, McLaren has an efficient F-duct. End of argument.

Superb race from Alonso. Had he taken the win, he'd have deserved it. Very unlucky with the backmarkers, I thought. Phenomenal turnaround from Turkey.


McLaren's strategy blunder handed Alonso points in Australia and their mechanical blunder handed him points in Spain.

Alonso just ****ed up. Like Cardin already said "He allowed Hamilton and Button to eat his lunch". End of argument.

Your expectation level has dropped but at least you're happy

Alonso found a moving chicane called Chandock ignoring blue flags and driving on the racing line just in the middle of a real chicane. He had to take a bit of evasive action to avoid the HRT and couldn't get a good line & speed when accelerating. Button was on the ideal line & got more speed out of the chicane, so it was easy for him.

Even both McLaren drivers said that traffic was decissive on the race and they got profit from it, who are you to say the opossite?

BTW, Alonso managed to 'overtake' (move was not totally finished as LH went into the pits, but FA had the position virtually gained) a faster in straights McLaren, was that also embarrassing to watch?

a very nice move
mad kova destroyed all what Alonso was capable to do in this race, but as Alonso said, sometimes you profit from traffic and sometimes not
Alonso

I think that what you have written pretty much explains why there is and can be no embarrassment: Hamilton was not overtaken by Alonso because he pitted and the move was not completed. Had the move occurred few metres further back it would have been completed and Hamilton would have been happy to wave him through, as he was pitting, but the McLaren driver cleverly delayed it for as long as possible and it is possible that this quick thinking was what won him the race.

In my opinion not having been at the sharp end these past couple of seasons is costing Fernando mentally this season which is why he is making these silly mistakes - and I would include the Chandhok incident as an error by him. Once he is once again attuned mentally to the rigours of a title fight in which he has to bring his 'A game' to every round he will stop making the silly errors and become once again the formidable competitor of old. But it's probably too late for this year; he is simply too inconsistent and I don't consider him a serious title contender even in the unlikely event of Ferrari keeping pace with or exceeding McLaren's development rate.

and that is a misjudgement!

Alonso is still in the battle for the title, and that although in none of the races so far he had the best car (different to mclaren and red bull drivers).

If the Valencia upgrade and the other upgrades that will follow allow Alonso to fight for podiums and wins there is no reason, why he shouldnt become a thrid time world champion.

Alonso is the best pilot at the moment. Not just his speed, but the way he manages the media and the way he works with the team is superb. I really hope he will be the champion at the end of this year. Anyway I'm going to Hungaroring and I will support him as I can. I would see a win from Fernando there.

Well, I'm a Williams fan (there are still a few of us left) and so can be objective about this.

From my view, the best cars on the grid are the Red Bull, the McLaren and the Ferrari. No question that the Red Bulls have the best overall package (although Canada did not really suit them) and the McLarens and Ferrari are pretty close to each other with McLaren having maybe a small edge over the Ferrari. But it is not a decisive edge and Ferrari will catch them!

As for the drivers, there is also no question that Alonso & Hamilton are the most supremely gifted and are just better than the rest of the drivers.

This is not to be disrespectful to the others but is to acknowledge that which we all see with our own eyes. After Alonso and Hamilton there is a group of drivers who are exceptional but not quite at the same level of the first two. Vettel, Button, Webber, Massa etc are all great drivers and are all capable (with the right car and a bit of luck) of winning a WDC. Button already has won the title and Massa came very very close.

But for me, beyond doubt, the two supreme talents on the grid are Alonso and Hamilton.

If you doubt this, you have only to think how the standings would be if either of them were in a Red Bull, the best car on the grid. How would the results look if Fernando had been driving the RBR? How big would the gap be then? The same for Lewis. How many races would the RB6 have won if Lewis were driving? If either one of them were in a Red Bull it would be totally dominant, in a way that has not been achieved in the hands of Vettel or Webber.


As an objective F1 fan, the prospect of watching the rest of the season's battle between Alonso's Ferrari and Hamilton's McLaren is utterly compelling and I can not wait to see them race.

As proved by Button and Massa in the other McLaren and the other Ferrari.

You forget that Turkey is Felipe´s supreme race - he also outclassed Schumacher and Raikkonen there, and so he outclassed Alonso two weeks ago. This weekend we have seen the normal gap between Fernando and Felipe.

This is all in line with Enzo Ferrari´s philosophy that "if we win the race it is the car, if we lose the race is the driver". Nothing inconsistent there.
Just wait, I think Fernando and Ferrari will gel into a super team for years to come.

Don´t forget that they are working together only for half a year now, whereas Lewis and McLaren work together more than ten years and in F1 for more than for years (Lewis testing the F1 McLaren in 2006, when in-season testing was still allowed). So Fernando and Ferrari will get increasingly in synch. Even now you can feel the power that they together exude.

Alonso in the Ferrari is a mighty combination, and of course it pains us to see the lack of straightline speed the Ferrari has compared to the Macca, you saw how easily Lewis was getting past Webber and how difficult it was for Fernando, taking more than a lap and then finally Webber pits, so the Ferrari didn´t have to get past.

So the McLaren F-duct is state-of-the-art and naturally Lewis and Jense profit from it.

Let´s hope Ferrari catches up - when the car is up there we will see Fernando dominating and wonderful battles between him and Lewis coming up. It might even become another classic period like the Senna-Prost years.

^^^^You really are an optimistic fellow aren´t ya ? Alonso has made lot of rookie like mistakes this year doesn´t seem so mighty combination so far...
I quess time will tell...

Overtaking is also something where Hamilton happens to be best by far at the moment in F1. If Lewis can pass somebody and Fernando cant that could just as well be because Hamilton is better overtaker than Alonso, not because of car advantage.

About Mclaren F-duct, yeah sure, they were innovative so good for them, but RedBull has yet to bring out their version of it - and yet they are still car to beat (not in Canada, neither in Valencia, but in normal tracks), whats Ferraris excuse for not being faster than RedBull then?

In recent years there has been usually some very innovative solutions in one team which others have then copyed. This year Macs have the F-duct which give some advantage to them, last year BrawnGP/Button won WDC because DD, few years ago Fernando won WDC due to advantage that massdampers gave him... it comes and goes, sometimes you are driver who benefits, sometimes some other driver benefits and fans keep whining even though their driver has had advantage in previous years.

Straightline speeds of the Ferrari and the McLaren were very similar at Canada. McLaren used the F-duct to run more wing without being down on straightline speed.

great weekend fernando!!! without the backmarkers this race was yours, way to go fernando, bring on valencia!!! I can't wait for another ham vs alo and this time alo will get the 1.

I'm gonna bet the attitude to racing is the only difference. Preserving tyres and waiting for your moment or going hell for leather and getting punctures and severe tyre issues every now and then when its too much.

no no no, he would have been passed! he ended up 8 seconds behind jenson, and lewis showed he could turn on the pace when he needed too towards the end so he would have passed for sure. the best fernando could have done was 2nd!

There are many factors involved... What if Hamilton was following Alonso closely and screwed up his tyres??? I believe that if Alonso came out of the pits ahead of Hamilton he would have been holding all the cards. But these are just ifs...

He finished 8 seconds behind jenson because he slowed down at the end, as did the two RBs...

fernando just backed off, used his calculator wisely, no more backmarkers, no chance to overtake in normal conditions, tyres with more than 20 laps and a big upgrade coming up with limited number of engines for the rest of the season, no reason at all to screw his 15 points, better 15 than nothing with more than half of the season remaining

what tells me fernando had also more pace was his lap time once hamilton pitted, low 1.18 easily, both cars were pretty similar in term of performance

You know a fanboy's getting desperate when he has to resort to this. He's actually pretty inept with media - unless you count the likes of Lobato and Miquel as "media" - and he's such a good team player that he was fired from the team he'd always dreamt of driving for for attempting to blackmail them and ultimately getting them a $100 million fine, putting himself in uncompetitive machinery for the next two years as a consequence. Let's hope the Ferrari love affair lasts a little longer, as otherwise we'd be deprived of some excellent racing between the two best drivers on the grid....

talking about fanboys .

if the incident with backmarkers happened to a 22-year-old fernando fireworks would have blown all over, but if you are unable to take off the fanboy glasses to clearly appreciate a significant change in fernando's approach to media, you're the only blind fanboy here.

btw, alonso wasn't fired, alonso tried desperately to get out of that nest of vipers, a consensus guaranteed his exit and mclaren secret of what happened inside intact

Man it's easy to overtake when you have a good car and a F-Duct or Kers... Look at Button how he cleared Shumi in the first lap in Turkey. And I'm not bashing anyone here...
When Hamilton overtook as many cars Alonso overtook in Japan 2005 in dry conditions without an device that gives you straight line advantage?

at this very 'different' track ;) they were poor at istanbul, a track that truly shows a cars performance in all areas, nothing on mclaren there and it wasn't because of upgrades at montreal that they've totally caught up because they didn't have anything significant

So why Hamilton acknowledged in the press conference that he took the victory thanks to others? Don't answer...

and? yet fernando had the chance to fight for victory, turkey happened 3 weeks ago

When did he do that?

He alludes to traffic playing its part (it did) but I'm not sure he goes so far as to say that was the only way he took the win. In the press conference, too, I'm sure Hamilton will have been referring to Buemi (who was racing for position, so that overtake was entirely merited by Hamilton) than Kova (I suspect Hamilton will have been unaware of what happened there at the time of the PC).

did you not read what i put? he had a chance because the track is so different to everything we've been on before! and it's not as if there's many more like it in the calendar so i don't see them keeping this performance.

and it was 2 weeks btw

First, he was not fired from McLaren.

Second, it was clear that he realised the team was very different to the one he was "dreaming" about.

Well it was rim failure, not puncture which Hamilton had this year. Anyway, you cant deny that Lewis is the most racy and most entertaining driver on grid by far, can you?

I understand Fernandos attitude, which is shared with most drivers = drive preserving tyres/engine/whatever and wait if the opportunity comes... but as a spectator I prefer Hamiltons insane racing instinct = attack now! - it makes races which would otherwise be boring, a lot of fun.

because he got spanked.

your question was, are you sure fernando would have had a chance of winning without backmarkers? and I answered yes. Whatever happened ferrari had the chance of winning in canada, different track, ferrari good strategy, tyres management...I don't know, but the chance was out there and just trulli and chandock impeded him

for the next races I'll wait until the new upgrades, then we'll see.

whether you like it or not, fernando with a clearly inferior car sometimes even worse than the mercedes and renaults is yet only 15 points off the lead.

i didn't ask that

yes, he's done well, i just don't think they can keep up now

my english is far from perfect, but I think this time I got the message correctly

I´m not so sure that Ferrari was that much behind Mac in straight line speed, what makes you so sure about it?

Or because it was for him like Red Bull was for Webber in Turkey race day, but all the time and without the correction actions and apologies. A nightmare, not a dream.

Its one important and tricky part of racing to be able to deal with traffic and defend your position simultaneously. Almost all races we have seen three drivers or more driving within few tenths of each other ( for example in Trulli train) , that is difficult situation for a driver who is in the middle because he need to try and find away around guy in front and in the same time make sure that guy from behind wont pass, this could continue several laps because all are on same lap so there is no blue flags, despite that, good drivers usually dont lose positions in such situations. What Fernando did was nothing but mistake, he should have made sure all the time that LH/JB wont get pass him while he is lapping backmarkers... instead he botched it twice and let both overtake him

yeah, but we'd moved on lol, the reply you gave to my reply was nothing to do with that

I don't see the mistake at all, trulli blocked him, lost a couple of seconds and fiercely waved his hand, and chandock did a strange evasive maneuvre, even the htr apologised after the race, getting out of the racing line costs time, but getting stuck behind a backmarker to avoid the dirt after a chicane costs even more time, and thus if a car behind is as fast as your, you've just lost the momentum. No mistake at all

Of course he got fired. What euphemism do you prefer for "being released from contract" to go back to old team after just one year to be near-backmarker?

I agree he realised the team was very different. Different in that he thought with Kimi gone he would be able to be the fastest driver. Instead, not only did he get beaten by Kimi but he also got beaten by his own rookie teammate in same car. The problem was that he was too young and immature with inflated ego from having best car previous two years to be able to handle it well. So he couldn't get along with team. That's why he got dropped. He'd probably handle it differently now after couple years of being near-backmarker. But who knows.

Alonso wasn't fired, it was a mutual agreement between him and Mclaren to finish their relationship. Alonso wanted to leave Mclaren at all costs because he didn't feel comfortable working with a team that was racing against him. Ron Dennis: ”We were not racing Raikkonen, we were racing Alonso", remember?;)

When Mclaren realised Lewis was really that good and could win the WDC, they started to support Lewis more. They always looked more happy when Lewis got a pole position o win, it was so obvious... . In the last races of 2007, when the pressure was on, I accept Lewis and Alonso had the same car, but nobody will convince me both drivers had the same treatment. I accept also that Alonso should have dealt better with the situation at Mclaren

The truth is that he prefered to return to an uncompetitive Renault and win less money than to stay in Mclaren but where at least he was always loved and respected (and still he is) as he deserves. In other words, Alonso prefered to work for a midfield team like Renault where he feels happy and comfortable than for a top team like Mclaren where he felt like an outsider. It says it all to me.

In Ferrari, he feels like home and seems genuinely happy and nice, so I can see him staying there for the rest of his F1 career

Forza Alonso