Oh really? So that year's Renault was the faster car all year? The Renault was clearly faster until around Canada. After that the Ferrari caught up and was the faster car. Look it up if you don't believe it. MS got beat to the title by Alonso plain and simple. The team threw it away for him at the end with the motor blow up in Japan.
IMO, the Renault was the same all year. The Renault didn't become slower after Canada, it's just the Ferrari finally got it together and came up to speed. Once that happened we saw who was easily the better driver. Both Renault and Ferrari were running equally strong and we saw MS win 5 GP's to FA's 1. We all know why FA got lucky and won that 1 GP and it wasn't due to MS's lack of skill. I disagree. IMO, MS got beat to the title by the freak Ferrari engine failure and the Ferrari's lack of pace in the first half of the season, not FA. FA was in the right car at the right time and was able to capitalize. Please understand that I am not claiming that FA has no driving skill or is overrated. I consider him to be one of the top three drivers on the grid. My opinion is simply based on the 2006 season between FA and MS.
towards the end of last season, I came up with a "wishful thinking" scenario, where each of them end up with 108 points each. In my calculations, I assumed grid positions and racing points for each driver that weren't very plausible, but definitely probable. (just low probability, that's all) In case of a 3-way tie in the last race, what would have happened? ~shahedc .
Exactly. In the end, that's how you win a title. It wasn't that FA or MS was the better or worse driver, it's all the package and luck. MS and Ferrari got beaten by FA and Renault. Ferrari caught up, and was better that the Renault from Canada on IMHO. FA didn't suddenly become slow. Ferrari had a better car at that point and the MS/Ferrari combo was faster The original post was in response to Franco saying FA needed a better car to win the WDC. I pointed out the Renault was not always the better car in 06. MS and Ferrari was stronger than the Renault at the end of the year.
...or spent the Memorial Day holiday weekend at my shore house with my wife. All I can say, Fair-Weather Franco, is when Alonso is announced for Ferrari that you don't let the door hit your arse on the way out.
Dont worry that door wont be closing on me. But when Massa wins his 4th race this year I suspect you will be leaving.
Technically it's actually 3 words: Tuned Mass Damper Yes I remember that ordeal. IIRC, that device wasn't deemed illegal until the end of July for the German GP. MS and Ferrari had already won in the US and France GP's where Renault were still using it. Which is on of the reasons why I still feel that once Ferrari finally got their car together by the US GP, FA didn't have a chance. Also IIRC, other teams including Ferrari were using a Tuned Mass Damper as well and had to remove their's too. At the German GP Renault put out a press release stating that they felt losing the Tuned Mass Damper didn't effect their performance. Renault was claiming blistering of the tires to be the issue. I'm not certain how badly losing the device hindered Renault. I'm pretty sure it probably put a hiccup in the teams moral momentum though. This incident did happened a while ago so I could be fuzzy on the stats. Either way, IMO the banning of the device placed the teams on a more level playing field and once that happened we saw the difference between MS and FA....about 5 to 1
Exactly, which proves my point that Alonso did not have the best car all year in 06 when he won the title.
I see your point. IMO though, MS and Ferrari were not necessarily stronger than FA and Renault at the end of the season. It just took Ferrari half the season to finally give MS a competitive car like what Renault had already given FA.
Renault got lucky w/ the engine failure in Monza or that championship would have ended up in our hands...thats racing...Errrr
Well, I double checked and I'm no longer so certain: It seems that whether Alonso will actually drive for Ferrari in 2010 is still undecided. He might or might use the option he just signed. We all think he'll come, but whether that'll actually happen is another question. This is F1 after all. So would I bet 10k on his arrival? Not really.
The engine failure wasn't at Monza it was in Japan. One could also say that Ferrari got lucky in Hungary when the Renault team sent Alonso out with that loose wheel that let Michael get closer in the points in the first place.
If Kimi's gone after 2009 then I could see Ferrari signing Alonso as he's probably THE driver that can go toe to toe with Hamilton in the foreseeable future. http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/30052008/13/raikkonen-retirement-rumours-persist.html Hot on the heels of strong speculation that Fernando Alonso has penned a Ferrari agreement for 2010, it is being rumoured again that the Italian team's current star driver Kimi Raikkonen could be soon to retire. The reports, suggesting that the 28-year-old reigning world champion will not renew his contract beyond next year, appeared on Friday in the German language newspapers Rheinischen Post and TZ. Rheinischen Post claims that Raikkonen, the laconic Finn, told some friends at a party recently that he does not intend to spend much longer as a Grand Prix racer. "Kimi loves the driving and hates everything else about Formula One," one of Raikkonen's apparent friend is quoted as telling TZ. "The public appearances, the life under the spotlight - he doesn't have the desire anymore," the unnamed friend reportedly added.
Yeah ok, cause MS always drove such a narrow car and was alllllllllllllllllllways fair. Remember this little stunt? http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3741057503206935720
im sorry your right. when people say 2006 I have my blinder's on. it was japan. Monza was just a great day until schumi retired...errrrr got kicked out by montezemola
I don't know what you're talking about? MS was always fair and a complete angel on track. He was simply often just a victim of circumstance... ^^^^and that statement is the very definition of sarcasm! Btw, I agree with you.
