It is quite clear that Red Bull had the fastest car last year, but it's not so obvious as to who had the second fastest car. At some races McLaren were second quickest and at other races it was Ferrari. I believe it was McLaren who were second fastest overall though. I won't try to justify myself by using the Constructors title, as many will argue that (for whatever reason), Felipe Massa was not driving to his full potential. On one occasion, Ron Dennis told his drivers to stop blaming the car for poor results. It was around this time that Fernando Alonso was in the middle of his impressive comeback and was consistently outdriving both McLaren drivers. Ron's comments tells us the car was capable of podiums, and the drivers did not deliver. This suggests that McLaren were second fastest, but still is not conclusive proof. But then we have Tim Goss, chief designer of the MP4-25, who informed us that McLaren had the second fastest car. He also had the data to prove it. We don't know what information Tim used to come to these conclusions, but he has more data available than any of us, and so we can't really argue with him. His findings were that: On race pace, McLaren were 0.136 quicker than Ferrari On qualifying pace, Ferrari were 0.001 quicker (negligable difference) Overall, McLaren were 0.074 quicker than Ferrari So in my opinion, the cars were very closely matched throughout the season, and it wasn't by a dominant margin, but ultimately McLaren had the second fastest car. Feel free to agree/ disagree with me and let me know why.
Yes they did have the second fastest car but stupid mistakes from Lewis in Monza and Singapore and Jenson too slow in all races with a shocking performance in Korea cost them beating the Ferrari(Alonso) as he was brilliant coming to the end of the year but saying that his team made a stupid strategy error that ultimately cost him the title in Abu Dhabi.
I dont know realistically. At the start it was obvious that Mclaren had the better car up until Valencia, then things started to turn around for Ferrari, while Alonso was driving exceptionally well. but overall I would say that Mclaren were slightly better
Well the Ferrari president ( I think he would know ) said the Ferrari was the 2nd fastest car. Goss no doubt has a vested interest in claiming the the MP4-25 was the 2nd fastest, namily his job. Is Goss,s figures worked out with Lewis as the driver or both cars averaged.? It is to close to call because of the drivers input.
The Ferrari was the best car for much of the season, bullet-proof reliability, fast, easy to drive and responsive to updates. However, the Red Bull was consistantly the fastest car. The McLaren was never better than 3rd best, sometimes perhaps even the Renault was as good. Lucky for McLaren they had the best talent on the grid in their driver line-up. Hence Lewis frequently made the car look better than it was, fooling many less well informed veiwers.
