alonso -- one of the drives of the season ?

i must admit i was dissapointed when vettel went out as i was fully expecting and hoping for a battle between vettel and the pair of very quick mclaren machines that were ideally suited to the abu dhabi track ,

for me the prospect of hamilton trying to hold on to vettel and button playing the long game before bringing himself into the drs zone to maybe pass hamilton and chase vettel was mouth watering ,

however ------ my little scenario was shot to hell 10 seconds after the red lights went out when vettels tyre went belly up , initially i feared hamilton would just waft off into the distance when alonso"s slower ferrari got in front of the half asleep button -

how wrong i was when the spaniard began to pull away from button
( even before his kers problem ) and kept hamilton honest in his relentless pursuit of lewis -
for alonso to have done this must have been similiar to driving the race in qualifying mode whilst trying to catch the much quicker mclaren machine -

for me this qualifies as one of the drives of the season and to be honest i cant think of anybody else who could of put such a drive together in such an uncompetitive car ,

fair play to alonso - when i thought we were in for a boring race he alone kept me interested for much of the race ---

 

if only he had a better car this year =(

 

There were several outstanding drives at Abu Dhabi 2011 and undoubtedly, Alonso's performance was one of them. But it should be obvious that Hamilton's control of the race and tyre management was sufficient to overcome this pressure.

However, the most outstanding drive was surely Button, who had all manner of headaches to deal with at the most critical phase of the race (his intermittent KERS causing drastic unpredictability in the braking zones and a very 'unbalanced' car). - This required a huge extra workload for Button to overcome, due to several factors:

• The above mentioned unpredictability.
• Concentrating on what needed to be done by having conversations with his race engineer.
• Attempting to reset the KERSystem.
• All whilst defending a very feisty attack from a real fighter in what is essentially a faster car.

This was surely one of the outstanding drives of the season.

 

must admit buttons drive was fairly good with the KERS problems that he had -- however for me he blotted his copybook allowing alonso to get past him in the slower ferrari ,

his kers problem never materialised until lap 12 by that time alonso was 6 seconds in front of button which to me says that button was a little inconsistant in those early laps ,
however all in all it was a decent drive by jenson once his problem did show itself --

 

I'm taking nothing away from Alonso - who once again did a great job - but his tyre strategy allowed him to attack very hard from the start, knowing he would pit early. On the other hand, Button had no KERS off the line and planned to go further with a more conservative approach in any case. The early advantage held by Alonso was essentially negated over the full race distance, but he retained a more comfortable position as a result of Button's very significant difficulties.

 

This for me is very important. People claim that Vettel has been very good on his tyres, however both Alonso and Hamilton (typically harder on tyres) also managed them very well when in the lead, which makes me believe that Vettel's reputation for preserving tyres is undesered. For me Button and Perez as the best on tyre management

 

are you sure button had no kers off the line -- i read it started to play up from lap 12 onwards --

as i said it was still a decent drive from button ---

 

My understanding is that it was intermittent from the start and that it was not working properly on the parade lap and was not fully charged; and that it became a more serious problem (failing completely) from about the time you mention, gradually being overcome by repeated re-setting of the system - once they'd worked out a way of doing it…

 

you could be right cc - i thought it was from lap 12 onwards -


http://sport.uk.msn.com/f1/news/button-rues-kers-problems

 

I could also be wrong but this is what I've heard amongst the grapes…

 

I don't recall Button or McLaren mentioning that KERS wasn't available on the first lap. As far as I'm aware Button's KERS failed on lap 12 and the reason why Alonso pulled away from Button in laps 1-11 (other than Alonso being exceptional,) was because Button lacked pace - his own words were "I'm not sure my pace was entirely there on the soft tyres". Button did a good job to recover from his KERS issues and defend against Webber but it's very difficult to see how Button's (or anyone else's) performance yesterday comes close to Alonso's masterclass.

Let's be clear, McLaren have more downforce and much much better mechanical grip than Ferrari. Alonso's drive was without a doubt the best drive of the race and certainly contender for drive of the season.

 

For you Forza.

But clearly this is not everyone's opinion.
If this does not shed doubt upon your claim, nothing will; but I have to say your stringent accolade smacks of blinkered idolisation!

Alonso drove very well but "best drive of the race" is obviously up for discussion, as evidenced by this whole thread!

 

Don't take the holier than thou approach with me. I don't slam you for your "fanboy" style opinions of any British driver.

I spent the first paragraph explaining why I felt Button's performance was inferior to Alonso's.

 

Yes, you explained your reasoning. It was quite reasonable.
But then you came out with this: "Alonso's drive was without a doubt the best drive of the race and certainly contender for drive of the season." Well, if that's not a 'fanboy' comment, I don't know what is!

[My underlining]

 

Well it is Forza's opinion.
Alonso had a smashing drive on Sunday, credit where credit is due.
But contender for the best this season, no... I can certainly think of a better one.

 

what other drive was comparable with alonso"s given the uncompetitive nature of the ferrari then cc --

 

come on then eternal - lets hear it -

 

Is it too difficult to understand that what I was saying was an opinion?

I say it how I see it. Don't be self-righteous and criticise others for an opinion. If you're willing to have a debate with me about the topic I'm open to changing my opinion but if you're just going to ridicule my opinion, don't bother responding to me.

 

All opinions are valid. I'm not criticizing Forza's opinion that Alonso put on an exceptional performance, but it is a shame that this appears to be being misunderstood.

Nothing to do with being self-righteous Forza!
As I said, your earlier post was quite reasonable. I have also acknowledged (repeatedly) that Alonso's performance was exceptional. I simply disagree with you assertion that there can be "no doubt" of his being the very best drive (as in standing alone) when I believe that one of them was at least on a par with it, as I have explained.

 

Why was Alonso so special - the Ferrari is often good in race pace, and really good with some sets of tyres ( a bit odd I know).
Yes he got past a cautious Button, who you could say made a minor mistake. But after that - what? Yes his pace was good , but there were no signs of him on the edge all race. He stayed where he was. Good but no way special.