Ok, am about to go on a bit of an annoyed rant here. I cannot wait for SPA to roll around because forumers are going stir crazy with their comments! And I just have to get this off my chest - why the hell does Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher have this so-called "development drivers" reputation? Apparently, these two are maestros at steering the development of an F1 car into the right direction. I mean, where is the proof of this?
I call bullshit. I don't believe there even is such a thing as development drivers! Loosely, this is what I believe a driver's role is in the evolution of an F1 car from drawing board to track -
What a driver does is test out the parts and bits and bobs developed by the factory. Based on the running, they present their feedback into how the car felt on track. That's what the driver does. The engineers and technical analyst then take that feedback back to the design department and whatnot and try to improve or redesign the part of the car the driver feels doesn't contribute to a healthy car setup balance. Then the new/redesigned parts are put on the car again and the driver proceeds to do more testing and thus relay more feedback to the engineers/technical department. Cycle repeat until car is race ready.
Considering that testing is a limited affair in F1, it becomes even harder to have so-called development drivers coming up with magical theories to better enhance a car.
And even if this so-called development ability is not a figment of many F1 fans imagination, then why the hell has Ferrari and Fernando Alonso not been winning back-to-back championships since his Ferrari arrival? Why has Schumacher been languishing in mediocrity at Mercedes since his comeback and not been setting the team alight with rad improvements on the F1 car? Why is the development sub-par? Development drivers my arse!
Gosh, I am so irritated by the comments of some of these Alonso fans who are in a tizzy over some unfounded rumour regarding Ferrari wanting Kimi back to replace Felipe Massa. Geez, your driver is not the God of F1 racing, neither is Kimi but to hell with all of you who suggest Kimi is in any way inferior to Alonso. I've talked about it before, Alonso is an opportunistic driver, he doesn't produce magical drives - he takes stock of what happens around him and uses it to his advantage. He is more of a thinker that way. But an out-and-out racing driver is Kimi - who is not only smart but his drives are phenomenal. I can't recall ever watching Fernando drive a race I would call "amazing". I've seen amazing drives from other drivers but Alonso is a bore to watch generally.
And the gall of these fans to then suggest that Kimi fans are not sane for believing Kimi is as good a driver as Fernando, if not better. We (and even if I don't post in these forums I'm going to stand in solidarity with them) are then accused of fanboy-ism when we attempt to defend Kimi against some of the outlandish claims I have seen ever uttered against him! Granted, there are some Kimi fans who are a tad on the irrational side and I don't condone them but for the rest of us who do have the ability to be objective when it comes to Kimi, I cannot stand if we are all going to be villified for our convictions!
So let's lay it out - Alonso vs Kimi, toe-to-toe. When it is pointed out that Kimi helped Ferrari to TWO constructor's championships aside from his own driver's championship in the 3 years he was at Ferrari compared to none of those from Fernando's similarly even keeled tenure, well, then we get the argument that the car was so good in 2007 and 2008 compared to the dogs Fernando had to drive in 2010 and 2011. And apparently 2012. Honestly, this year's car may not be fast for Ferrari but I strongly believe they have overstated their pessimism. Back to the cars supposedly being good during Kimi's years. They say he should have done better. Ok, fine, I'll spell it out - Kimi won the WDC and WCC in his first year with Ferrari. Alonso in 2010? NADA (thought I'd put it in Spanish, he is a Spaniard after all). Kimi went on to assist Felipe Massa in the WDC in 2008 and though the WDC was lost, he performed well, finishing 3rd behind Lewis and Massa, to make sure Ferrari won the WCC that year. 2009 came along - whatever happened in that year I will not delve into - but that F60 WAS A COMPLETE DOG! There is no ifs, buts or whats about it. It was awful and I am going to maintain that it was Ferrari's most awful car in recent years. The development on the car was stopped during the F1 summer hiatus (after Massa's head injury at the Hungaroring). While every other team were still in the development race, Ferrari, after deciding to sack Kimi for whatever reasons, stopped developing the F60, focusing instead on their 2010 car which Kimi was not apart of. All in the likelihood to prevent Kimi from taking any technical knowledge with him to another team in 2010. Nonetheless, despite having a car that was development-wise stunted, he went on to outscore everyone else bar Lewis Hamilton in the remaining races of that season - even managing a rather impossible win at Spa-Francochamps, Ferrari's only win of the year. Ferrai finished the season fourth in the constructor's championship, largely due to Kimi's stunning efforts as every subsequent teammate he had to fill in for Massa could do nothing with the F60. He brought on the points haul himself, finishing in the driver's championship in a respectable 6th after enduring the worse kind of treatment you could go through within your own team. And then he gave a big F@*K YOU to Ferrari by making them pay him not to drive an F1 car for 2 years!
On to Alonso. Let's compare 2009 first. "Development Driver" you say? Alonso finished 9th in the driver's championship and Renault, the team he was driving for, were eighth. I would say Renault had a better driver pairing compared to Kimi but 8th is all they managed comapred to Kimi's fourth, running one race sans a second car, even (Hungary GP 2009). I do not see how 2010 could have been a dog year for Ferrari cos they started developing it early in 2009. Alonso came on board with them 2010, even if the car was not to his liking initially, his supreme driver's development skills should have been able to steer him and the team to infinite victories that year. What happened? Sebastian Vettel won his first WDC for Red Bull instead. 2011 arrives, he has had from mid-2010 to most of January 2011 to give his technical expertise towards the development of the car - that car should have been bulletproof and like a rocket. Reality? Sebastian Vettel made 2011 his bitch, winning back-to-back titles.
And here we arrive at 2012. Currently, Alonso is leading the driver's championship with a 40 point lead over 2nd place Mark Webber. Kimi is a further 8 points down on that. All well and good for Ferrari and Nando, I do not begrudge them the way they have made lemons from lemonade - good job! Stats-wise, Alonso and Kimi are the two drivers who have gained the maximum points in the last five races - Kimi doing this without a win to his name, just five podiums. Kimi is fifth, a solitary point behind Lewis Hamilton after the Hungarian GP last weekend, 6 points behind Vettel and 8 points behind Webber. The 4 drivers above him have had race wins, 3 for Alonso, 2 for Hamilton, 2 for Webber and 1 for Vettel. Kimi has none. Together with Grosjean (more so Kimi's effort than the latter), they have hauled Lotus F1 into thrd in the constructors' standings, trailing 2nd place McLaren by a single point and Red Bull by 54 points. Ferrari are fourth in the standings with 189. Just so we are all clear, let me point out yet again, the dude, Kimi, has been rallying for the past 2 years. Two years in which things have changed in F1 - refueling is banned, Pirelli took over being the official tyre manufacturer, there's DRS. To be on par with the other top 4 driver's after being away for that long and having to adapt quickly to the new rules and regulations of the sport, what is that if not blinding speed, intelligent driving and god-given talent?
Like I said in the post before this, as a racing driver, Alonso is not to be trifled with, but as a person, I generally don't like him. He is petulant and selfish and he is great at politics and mind games. I might have mellowed out somewhat in my absolute dislike for him but his fans on the forums are anothr story - awful and deluded is all I will say. Rant over....:D
UPDATE (05/08/2012):
Okay, in the absolute boredom of TV No-Mans_Land as well as the F1 hiatus, I decided to rewatch some F1 races from earlier in the season. Just started with the Valencia race and I will admit here that Alonso did drive superbly from 11th on the grid to go on and win that race. Of course, he lucked into the 1st place with Sebastian Vettel's unexpected retirement but he did manage that overtaking maneuver on Romain Gorsjean for 2nd very decisively and precisely so kudos on that move. He put himself in primo position to inherit that win after Sebastian's car troubles. On a related note, I think I am overdosing on F1 via youtube. Been watching tons and tons of F1 related vids. To the extent that I'm starting to really think Fernando Alonso is an attractive dude. Gosh, I'm so ashamed. Found a couple of videos of him performing card tricks - what an adorable dork, lol. He's really rather good at it, it's quite impressive. Sigh. Zlena, no more softning on the Fernando Alonso front - maintain the disdain! Am sure it wn't take long for him to do something completely obnoxious. Also, Sebastian Vettel is such a cheeky git! And quick witted too.
