Contracts aside--who would you take: Button or Raikonnen?

[zako85]

It's a difficult question. Raikkonen's inconsistency is the second biggest story of failure of the year, after Vettel's. On one hand, you can argue that Raikkonen is inferior because of his performance at Ferrari this season.

On the other hand, take a look at what he had done in 2012-2013 seasons. He was probably the most influential, the most likable F1 character of those seasons. After missing F1 for two seasons, he comes back in 2012 and scores big points in every race after the third GP and finishes third in WDC while driving a Lotus. He also did quite well in 2013 up the moment where his relations with Lotus got sore over his unpaid salary and his move to Ferrari. In 2012-2013 seasons, he enjoyed a continuous streak of 17 races between Bahrain 12 and Hungary 13, where he scored points in every race. Plus he scored two GP wins and many podiums. Then he goes to Ferrari and he is much slower than Alonso.

The way I see it, there are two issues here. First, Ferrari is a one-car team. All of Ferrari staff, including the second driver, throw all of their resources behind the car number one. Remember how many times Massa was used as a canon fodder to benefit Alonso in 2010 or 2012. Second, Alonso is such a great driver that he can put nearly anyone to shame. He could have been one of the greatest drivers of all time, and yet he scored only two paltry podium finishes this year. This proves how poor the Ferrari car is this season. So personally, I don't know if Button could have performed better than Raikkonen in the same seat. Massa did a little better last year, but if you use Alonso's performance in 2013 as the yardstick, then Alonso did somewhat better back then too, he even won a GP.

Another "argument" in favor of Raikkonen, just look at how well Massa started doing after he quit Ferrari.