That's exactly why it's more valuable now....

Gotta thank Alonso. Cheers mate

after analysing the race, i also think that it was a mistake of ferrari to drive that agressively in their first 3-4 stints, but at the end they would have lended in 5th so or so.
although they wouldnt be lapped.

Who's giving the advice, the tire changer? For sure Nando's skill at giving "advice" is not better than Luisito's this year.

just if the ingenieurs within the team are good enough, last year alonsos advices improved ferrari to let him fight for the title till last race.
let us see what this year will happen.

touche

haha!! I would say Luisito has had the edge in that department since 07. He arrived at McLaren and McLaren all of the sudden became a great car, and has kept McLaren at the top of the development while Alonso's teams keep going backwards!!!!

Whatever. If you want to believe it was Alonso who was 3.5s/lap off the pace, fine.

What I saw was the hard tire and the F150 not getting along. Alonso had an amazing start and was lucky to lead for as long as he did.

Good effort to maximise points at your home track. Qualifying was very good, first lap very good, ferrari got some work to do, but another damage limitation performance to be proud of especially at home race.

Fantastic job by Alonso on the start. He definitely got rid of whatever issues he was having in the first three races. Ferrari needs to improve for qualy so they can have tires for the race.

Overall flawless job by Alonso .

It was clear the driver was the strongest element of Ferrari today. Can't wait for Monaco.

BS. Alonso nearly bagged the title in his maiden year with Ferrari. And if you did not see that car improve last year, then what DID you see?

Not often you see someone pwning himself like that. Well done.

Usually I'm not complaining about this, but man this can be a sorry place sometimes. On a rare day we were treated with 3 top drivers at once performing close to their absolute briliant best, still the fans berate eachother and desperately try to play the other guys perfomance down.



Oh yeah, let's cast this sort of general doubt about other drivers performance too, shall we? Maybe Vettel should really have finished 30 secs down the road of Hamilton if he had perfomed adequately. Or maybe if Hamilton was any good the race should have been his with ease. Not necessarily true, but still an interesting assumption that we were watching two drivers at the top of their game....

Yeah, he didn't look very good at the start of the season but seems to be getting his groove back.

Alonso is going to be decisive this year. He won't win the WDC that's for sure but I predict Alonso is going to be terribly annoying to Red Bull and Mclaren, just like Kubica was a few times last year. It will be funny to watch indeed

Today, for example, he helped Mclaren greatly to get both podiums, and ruined a Red Bull 1 and 2.

Yep. But I don't think Ferrari will stay third for too long. I definitely think they have something good coming up... Fernando, as I said multiple times, didn't look so bummed for a man that got lapped while previously having led the GP.

Well perhaps I'm being unfair but I've never seen a drive where the driver was lapped held up as an example of a top driver close to his absolute brilliant best.

I imagine most neutrals (thereby excluding myself) will be talking about two drivers not three after this race...and I'd like to think if lewis is in a similar position (5th and off the lead lap) I wouldn't be proclaiming it as an amazing drive simply because he got an amazing start and it's a track you can't overtake on.

I obviously wasn't really concentrating on fernando though so maybe it really was a sterling performance.

Did you miss the start?

No, it was an amazing start as I acknowledged above

I think that's the point. He led the opening stint but was then lapped later in the race. What happened there? Is there really much to be celebrating? After pushing the Red Bulls all the way in Turkey, this race, despite the superb efforts of Alonso himself, seems like a huge step backwards for Ferrari. In the space of one race talk of a championship fight has given way to resignation that Vettel will be WDC.

eh? fernando never said that. he still thinks that he can do it.

Alonso's great start made the race. If he'd not got in front of the Red Bulls, they would probably disappeared off into the distance and the race would have been even more boring than it was.

He did 1 half of the job and the wrong one.

To me the Turkey GP felt like an anomaly for Ferrari, and not an indication of their true pace. Just as him being lapped today is not an indication that everything sucks. I think 5th is pretty much were Ferrari/Alonso are at right now. No more no less.

The new hard tires obviously do not agree with the F150. And Ferrari has a disproportionate amount of strategy misfires this season. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't recall a single instance were Alonso came out ahead after a pitstop? And their stops are slow, compared to RBR and McL.

But that was not the point. People were saying what a great race Alonso drove today. That may be overstating it, but I do think he had an amaaaazing start and a good, solid race after that. I guess the fans are just happy to see he's getting his groove back.

Sorry- was referring to the 'talk' on this forum, not Alonso's own words.

not from me

I kinda feel sorry for him sometimes, such a great talent, basically getting wasted in his time at Renault after he left McLaren, and it seems like it's going to be wasted at a Ferrari in a decline for a few years, hopefully he can get his hands on a competitive car again, and hopefully his fans wont stroke it too hard when he does and it can be enjoyable for everyone

you were talking the same BS exactly 1 year ago...then eventually you had to STFU

did I miss anything?

Hey he did an amazing job today. He took that lead sled and put it on first place when he stole that first corner.

Somehow I have the feeling that Alonso could pull a rabbit out of the hat in Monaco. Wishful thinking maybe, but it's the kind of place were the car is not necessarily the determining factor.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least! I think Fernando will also be strong in Canada and the updates will keep coming.

Alonso was outstanding in quali and the first part of the race, but eventually, the true pace of the car and it's bad marriage with the super hard tires dopped him back down to where the F150 belongs ATM. The fact that Vettel and Hamilton lapped down to 5th place is indicative of the difference in Red Bull and McLaren being able to make those tires work.

Red Bull will nuke everyone at Monaco.

Yes, wishful thinking, the car still plays a big part

You guys...don't bust my bubble...

still believe my friend. none of those problematic hard. we can do this!

Monaco hasnt ever been a strong track for Fernando. He has won there twice, yes, but his other results are quite poor. In 2004 Trulli got Renaults only win there while Alonso retired and whats most important, he retired while being behind Jarno, so not a lucky win for Trulli.

Anyway, here is Alonsos stats from Monaco:

2010 - 6th
2009 - 7th
2008 - 10th
2007 - 1st
2006 - 1st
2005 - 5th
2004 - dnf
2003 - 5th
2002 was a test driver
2001 - dnf

It doesnt look like a record for someone who is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat, now does it? Other than his two victories, his best result is 5th! place. I doubt that this "drivers track" will help him to be more compatitive against the likes of Vettel and Hamilton.

lol

so let's not take two victories into account, or the fact that he started from the back of the grid last year and fought his way back up to 6th?

And he did not perform well anywhere in '08/'09.

Yeah, two wins with best car are great, I said so already. But look at his all other perfromances there with non-best car... 5th is his best result, so no rabbits from hat in Monaco by Fernando next week with his "not-the-best-car" I´m afraid.

BTW he didnt actually fight his way to 6th last year, rather he (or rather his team) gambled on early safety car and it worked out perfectly. Oh yeah, and being last of the grid was totally his own fault too, so no sympathy for that either.

He did the best he could,F1 is "all" about the car mate.

Better cars,better results,he is human after all.

Of course he did, he won his great result in crashgate, one of which he's apparently very proud of!!!

Has anybody ever read a stuff like this from any team boss, in any era, in any sport: ""There is no denying that being lapped hurts. It's even more painful after seeing a driver of Fernando's calibre putting on such a breathtaking display at the start and then fighting like a lion to keep drivers with clearly faster cars behind him for almost twenty laps. "

I'm completely hopeless for the championship, I just give up.

However I'm happy that Alonso is back to what he once used to be so I think it's gonna be interesting to see what he does in the following races. His starting today was one of the best ones I ever seen lately in F1. At least that he'll give espectacle and quality racing makes me happy. He's definitely cleaning his image again, good.

Alonso's driving is impeccable but the F150 is weaker relative to the opposition than the F60 was....much weaker. Sad.

SD said the truth. Driver in a car more than second slower leading race for 20 laps? It's very rare.

And not only SD said this:

Pat Fry: "Yesterday, a fantastic lap from Fernando had seen us for the first time get a place on the two front rows of the grid. Today, the Spaniard did it again with an incredible start, which took him into the lead, putting him into a position that was clearly superior to the objective worth of our package."

If you count out Ferrari you're a fool. Need i remind you what happened last year or is that to logical for you?

yea, so far it's working out beautiful for him

I think you'll find alonso was 4th in 2005. I have a good feeling about alonso in monaco and canada.

They're were in the same situation last year where they were 1 second down in qualifying to the redbulls in spain and they managed to fight back quite well for the rest of the season. Ferrari have more updates planned for monaco and another big update planned for Canada (The same race which they turned their season around last year.) Not to mention the new exaust over run ban which could have terrible concequences for redbull. Nothing is over yet, but keep hating if it will make you feel better

Well I have the feeling that every time the championship leader has had such a big advantage as he has now, the championship was over. Nothing is over but a winning car is a winning car and a dog of a car is a dog of a car.