grande of the weeke

[faster69]

alonso had the best car in the field and didn't do anything spectacular. kimi went backwards at the start, both ferraris easily passed hamilton to be 1-2. after that alonso passed button -- who was on 20 lap old tyres -- and he passed vettel who was on a different strategy, in a much slower car and not wanting to lose time defending.

massa hasn't been near alonso's pace for three years. massa was about the same pace as kimi. if massa has shown his true pace in the last three years then that would mean alonso is a good half a second quicker than kimi.

wait, i can go further. hamilton matched alonso immediately in his first year of f1. i assume hamilton has improved since his first season (he was incredible in 2012 but had the worst luck on the grid). so if hamilton is faster than alonso then hamilton must be 0.6 or 0.7 of a second quicker than kimi. hamilton might be 0.2 of a second at most quicker than kimi.

the fact is santander pays all this money in a bad economy to have alonso on the top of the podium not massa.

or maybe alonso's just half a second a lap better than his competition. i find it hard to believe after getting beat by trulli in 04 and matched by a first year driver in 07. if he's half a second better than his rivals then surely he could have passed petrov in 2010???

[henners88]

Even so, he was absolutely worthless when on the primes. He was unable to be anywhere near Alonso's pace, let alone overtake. While Fernando managed to overtake pretty much everyone he had in front, Felipe just dropped backwards.

That's perhaps because Alonso is a much better driver than Massa. The car obviously suits both drivers this year but Fernando has found the balance on both sets of tyres it seems.

[steveaki13]

alonso had the best car in the field and didn't do anything spectacular. kimi went backwards at the start, both ferraris easily passed hamilton to be 1-2. after that alonso passed button -- who was on 20 lap old tyres -- and he passed vettel who was on a different strategy, in a much slower car and not wanting to lose time defending.

massa hasn't been near alonso's pace for three years. massa was about the same pace as kimi. if massa has shown his true pace in the last three years then that would mean alonso is a good half a second quicker than kimi.

wait, i can go further. hamilton matched alonso immediately in his first year of f1. i assume hamilton has improved since his first season (he was incredible in 2012 but had the worst luck on the grid). so if hamilton is faster than alonso then hamilton must be 0.6 or 0.7 of a second quicker than kimi. hamilton might be 0.2 of a second at most quicker than kimi.

the fact is santander pays all this money in a bad economy to have alonso on the top of the podium not massa.

or maybe alonso's just half a second a lap better than his competition. i find it hard to believe after getting beat by trulli in 04 and matched by a first year driver in 07. if he's half a second better than his rivals then surely he could have passed petrov in 2010???

The faster way to Laugh.

[Tazio]

Felipe has been back on form of late as seen in recent races.

Precisely, plus let’s not talk about what happened between Hamilton and Alonso 5 years ago it has nothing to do with the form of Alonso lately. If certain members can't appreciate that at this point in time Alonso is as good or better than anyone else out there then I'm not going to try to convince them, just watch and enjoy. I know I will regardless of who wins the WDC

[kfzmeister]

alonso had the best car in the field and didn't do anything spectacular. kimi went backwards at the start, both ferraris easily passed hamilton to be 1-2. after that alonso passed button -- who was on 20 lap old tyres -- and he passed vettel who was on a different strategy, in a much slower car and not wanting to lose time defending.

massa hasn't been near alonso's pace for three years. massa was about the same pace as kimi. if massa has shown his true pace in the last three years then that would mean alonso is a good half a second quicker than kimi.

wait, i can go further. hamilton matched alonso immediately in his first year of f1. i assume hamilton has improved since his first season (he was incredible in 2012 but had the worst luck on the grid). so if hamilton is faster than alonso then hamilton must be 0.6 or 0.7 of a second quicker than kimi. hamilton might be 0.2 of a second at most quicker than kimi.

the fact is santander pays all this money in a bad economy to have alonso on the top of the podium not massa.

or maybe alonso's just half a second a lap better than his competition. i find it hard to believe after getting beat by trulli in 04 and matched by a first year driver in 07. if he's half a second better than his rivals then surely he could have passed petrov in 2010???

You're right. May he cruise to his third title this year. Alonso's a God. Grande of the race.

[mstillhere]

Massa has only one opponent: FA. I am sure that if he would be able to put his car in front of Fred's I bet any money he would race like we have never seen him before. But........since that doesn't happen really after he gives it a shot in passing FA for a couple of laps he realizes his chances to win the race are already over and then he just sits back and waits for the race to end waiting for a better chance at the next one. And that's how all those years at Ferrari went by..............

[faster69]

Precisely, plus let’s not talk about what happened between Hamilton and Alonso 5 years ago it has nothing to do with the form of Alonso lately. If certain members can't appreciate that at this point in time Alonso is as good or better than anyone else out there then I'm not going to try to convince them, just watch and enjoy. I know I will regardless of who wins the WDC

i think alonso is 3rd best on the grid, which is quite an achievement. but there must be good reason that ferrari keep massa when he's been uncompetitive for three seasons. it goes beyond giving him adequate time to recover from what happened in 09.

look what happened to trulli at renault when he was beating alonso in 04. look at singapore 08. whether alonso were part of these decisions or not, it shows that a team boss will go to enormous lengths to advantage alonso.

07 alonso was expecting to create manipulate the situation like he had at renault, but wasn't able to so he resorts to blackmailing ron dennis.

then you have now. who knows the exact details but santander aren't the title sponsor of ferrari to see massa on the top of the podium. alonso is no doubt quicker than even an 2006-2009 massa, but the difference over the last three seasons is greatly exaggerated.

at the end of the day, ferrari have put all the eggs in the alonso basket and in three seasons haven't got any closer to winning a championship than massa did, have only 5 wins since 2011, despite having a huge budget.

[Knock-on]

At which border are you? If you come from the baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) make sure you stop at Velikiye Luki the chaps burn a fantastic Vodka there 63 Volt, that'll disinfect you from inside - the viruses never ever have a chance

Crossed at Ubylinka as I have an Agent there to fast track me

Stuck in crappy Moscow now until I head down to Kiev on the 19th and Budapest a few days after that and then back home.

[Garry Walker]

Alonso and Ricciardo impressed me the most.
Kimi, despite having car damage to due a blind mexican driver, was quite good too.