<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Val_46 @ Sep 29 2008, 12:58 PM)
<{POST_SNAPBACK}><div class='quotemain'>According to a large number of Hamilton haters Alonso is the better driver.
well i was thinking... Last season we had the pleasure of seeing them head to head in the same car and to be honest even the biggest Alonso fan has to admit that for a rookie Hamilton managed to seriously upset Alonso's game.
This got me thinking, if LH managed to out perform FA in the same car how could one possibly come to the conclusion that FA is the better driver? i mean LH was a ROOKIE and FA had years of experience in F1. Surely after last year LH now has that extra bit of knowledge and experience to push him infront of FA as the "better F1 racer".
Discuss...
Well....this is very interesting!
Like Jane said, I think we might have discussed it before somewhere else, but I'm too lazy to look it up
I personally think that Fernando Alonso is still the best driver out there. You're right, some people hate hamilton, and they might be biased, but I'm not a FA fan, nor a Lewis fan, so I'm very objective
Well I try to!
Fernando proved a lot more than Hamilton in his F1 career, and yes, I get it that Lewis can't be blamed for that. He can't help it that he started his F1 career immediately in a winning car. Fernando started in a Minardi...A MINARDI..and even when it wasn't a good car (to say the least!
), you could tell he was very talented. When he joined Renault, he wasn't immediately doing a great job, I remember Trulli actually doing a good job too, but when Fisi was his teammate, there was simply no contest. Alonso got better and better, and then when he had the chance to win the title in 05 and 06, he did it. He beat Raikkonen in 05. Many say raikkonen had the better car, but that's not true, Fernando had the better car, the more reliable one. That season he showed up he used his mind. He kept his cool. He never did silly things, he just knew, if he didnt have to win, he just scored some points, and in the end, that was more than enough to win the title. As a Raikkonen fan I felt a bit disappointed, because Kimi also won 7 GP's that season, like FA, but Fernando couldn't help it that Kimi didn't have a reliable car. Fernando did what he had to, and he won his maiden title, and he deserved it!
In 06 he started out well, he built a 25 point gap to MS. Everyone thought it was gonna be a walk in the park for Fa, but then MS fought back, and he almost..almost won the title, but then he got his famous engine failure. I actually think MS did a great job that season, but..Fernando did too, and he ended up as the winner. Maybe MS fans, and FA haters will say MS deserved it more, like some Kimi fans will say Kimi should have won the year before..but that doesn't matter. Having mechanical problems or engine failures or simply making mistakes are part of the game, FA did what he had to, and he won his 2nd title in a row. It was clear who was MS' succeeder. I wish it was Raikkonen, but just looking at the facts, it was Fernando Alonso.
I was happy he joined McLaren. Because I thought it was great to try and win the title with another team. I was even more happy when I heard Lewis was going to be his teammate. I supported Lewis the year before when he won his Gp2 title. It was obvious he was super talented, but surely nobody expected him to beat FA. Fernando definitely didn't expect it, I'm sure even Ron and also Lewis didn't expect it, but from the beginning on Lewis did a great job. Almost perfect! But in the end you could see he was still human, and still a rookie, he messed up big time, or else he would have won the title. Even I (a huge Raikkonen fan) will admit that. I think Kimi deserved the title in the end, because he made a great comeback, and nobody thought he would..but Lewis had the title in his pocket. I think if FA had a lead like that he would have won it...like 05 and 06 proves us! BUT..that's because FA obviously has more experience. In the end they (FA an LH) had the same amount of points, the same amount of wins, so actually they didn't beat each other, they were both beaten by Raikkonen. Of course I understand it when people say: ''But FA is a double champ and Lewis was a rookie, so he did better''..well yeah, maybe..maybe not. I really think that McLaren rather saw Lewis win the title than FA. I also think from Hungary on you could tell who was the number one driver in the team. For sure they didn't admit it, but they wanted LH to win. Not a great environment if you want to win the title..from Alonso's point of view. So in the end it's really hard to say that Lewis beat Alonso, because he didn't actually do that, they both had 109 points.
Alonso left...went back to the team who helped him win his 2 titles. He knew he would get the respect he earned, he knew he would get the support he wanted, but unfortunately for him Renault had a crappy car this season..and Lewis had/has a great car. So of course we see Lewis winning races, and FA racing somewhere in 6th place. I think this season showed us, that Alonso is a fighter, he had a terrible car, but still he did a good job, and last weekend he won a race, how amazing is that! It reminds me a bit of MS, who won 3 GP's in 96 with his Ferrari. I know it's not the same, but not many drivers can pull it off. Of course people will say he was lucky, but I think other than that, he fought hard, and made no mistakes...and that was exactly what brought him the titles in 05 and 06. Fernando is STILL the best one. Lewis is doing a great job, and eventhough he's not a F1 champ yet, I think he's more talented than Raikkonen (I don't like admitting it, lol, but it's true!). IMO, he's the 2nd best driver on the grid, with Fernando still at the number one spot.
IMO FA is a more complete driver than Lewis. It's weird to suddenly say, oh..now Lewis is better. No, it doesn't work like that. FA doesn't have the car to show us his true potential, so of course Lewis is getting better results, but we shouldn't forget that FA is the one who beat the ALL TIME GREATEST, Michael Schumacher. Lewis can become the best driver, but I need to see more!
So...for me, Schumacher's succeeder is still a better driver than someone who hasn't even won a title YET! I know it's just a matter of time before Lewis will win the title, probably already this season, but even when he does so, I still rate FA higher. I really hope Fernando will have a good package next season, then we might see him winning races more often!
