I'd say Alonso and Raikkonen. The 08 McLaren was pretty impressive, better than the Ferrari, so Hamilton's one doesn't count. If Vettel wins this year, add him to the list, that Red Bull is not the best car at all.
The McLaren was probably the better car in '07, not sure about '08. McLaren cost themselves the title in '07 and you could argue that Ferrari cost themselves the title in '08. Yeah, Hamilton took a few stabs at throwing it away too, granted... but that Ferrari was a highly competitive car.
Alonso and BUtton have both yet to win teh WDC in second rate cars. Theirs had massive advantages early in the season that rocketed them into the WDC lead before anyone had a chance to catch up. The 07 Ferrari was not the fastest certainly, but he was helped my McLaren's infighting and Hamilton's error in China to sneak the WDC from under McLaren's noses. Certainly shows you should never give up until something becomes impossible.
Despite what people say about Schumacher... Was it 3 wins for Ferrari in 96? Gotta credit him for that. Edit. Got my years out
You could argue that Fernando in 06 and Jenson in 2009 simply capitalised better while their car was infront. Nobody will ever win the title in one that "second rate". The Ferrari in 2007 even was too close to be called that.
Fernando would have probably won easier in 06, but the Michelin tyres had to be altered, because Bridgestone (Ferrari) complained.
Seb in 09 should be more than enough proof of him battling with a lesser car to the guy with the top. Even with all the reliability issues he still pushed Jenson to Brazil in a unlucky qualifying session by RBR screwing him over for the WDC shot at Abu Dhabi. And of course those lovely reliability issues that cost him about 12 points as well which would of handed him the title...
Valid point, i forgot how good that Brawn car was at the start of the season, but the Red Bull was possibly marginally better at the end of the season.
True, but Jenson was never under any real pressure in the first half of the season where as Seb and Mark were going up against McLarens and Ferrari's in the second half of the season when they caught up. I wont say Jenson wasn't worthy of it, but I would say he was damn lucky to hold that gap thanks to Lewis and Kimi getting in the way of Seb plus! reliability slowing him down.
The Red Bull was easily the best car in 2009, the Brawn was only the best car for about the first 6 races and then it got overtaken by the Red Bull and then even overtaken by the Mclaren near the end of the season. Button just maximised his advantage when he had it, and then did what he needed to do to secure the WDC. Vettel did not win because he made too many mistake while Button did not really make any. The Red Bull has been by far the best car for the last three years now.
Lucky it isn't this season, actually gives us a championship battle, rather than Vettel re-writing the record books in record time.
I know, now everyone is winning. There have already been more different winners this season than the last two seasons combined.
It's 2008 (Hamilton, Massa, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Alonso, Kubica, Vettel) all over again, or 1982 (10-11 different winners, can't remember them all) if you're old school.
Indeed he made mistakes, going OTT at Monaco losing another couple of points, messing up at both Turkey and Australia as well when he would of got decent points, Singapore as well was also an avoidable incident. Yet not having mechanical DNF's at Hungary and Valencia Seb would of ended up as WDC even with those mistakes. I don't believe the RB6 was the best car for the second half, more like the McLaren more so with it's impossible to defend KERS at the start. You would have somebody like Lewis go from 5th to 1st before the first corner, unless somebody made the perfect start in the first row it would still be tight. Ferrari's would also play into Buttons hand slowing down Seb as if you got stuck behind a KERS car you would very likely be staying behind them for the remainder of the race. I think Spain was a good example, Seb was stuck behind Massa for the whole GP if I remember right. Jenson was never under any threat at the first 7 races and having his rivals fight it out behind him he would have a stupid lead impossible to gain up on. Yeah the Brawn fell behind or was it because everybody caught up? but yet both were still able to get wins, podiums and solid points so it wasn't that bad, its just the others caught up finally. Seb and Mark had the best car for about 4 races with stiffer competition compared to what Jenson had. Then the updated McLaren and Ferrari came along and started to outdo RBR. It was possible for Lewis to get 5 straight podiums towards the end and that car was nowhere near to what it was at the start of the season. Heikki would qualify well but he was terrible at the races because he was said to be too timid to go up against the more aggressive drivers. Anyway I've nagged enough about 2009, I would just say Jenson was lucky to hold on to the WDC in the end with Seb being unlucky, yeah he made mistakes but he still pushed Jenson to the end with the chance of something failing on his car and it cost them. I believe the moral of winning the WDC in any car is to make the most of it when it's a dog of a car, a midfield car or the fastest thing since an RB7. Don't **** up any chance to increase the gap, hold the gap or even reduce the gap to the guy leading, make it count!
Performance first, reliability a distant second. Though RBR have reeled him in on it, RB cars have been quite reliable......so far!
The Brawn was in a class of its own at the start of the season, and Barrichello was still able to win races in it in the second half of the season, Red Bull ended the season stronger but by then there were four competitive teams, even Force India were had a better car than Red Bull at power circuits like Spa and Monza (where they had the 5th or 6th best car). Brawn had by far the best car over the season.
Andrew Benson's blog - Very Interesting! http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/05/will_hamilton_stay_at_mclaren.html If you dont want to read it the breakdown is as follows; All 4 top teams are willing to talk to Lewis's managment team about a potential drive. Merc are waiting on a Schumacher decession. Ferrari keen and sponsers Phillip Morris (Tobbaco) and Santander are interested in Lewis. Santander would also drop Mclaren if Lewis switched to Ferrari! Possible complication is that there is a supposed Pre Contract fro Vettle in 2014 which would mean that there would only be a 1 year option for the driver replacing Massa? If this is the case, then the Red Bull seat could be an option if Webber takes the 1 year option at Ferrari, because whilst Lewis would spend a season with Vettle in the Red Bull he would then be the No1 driver for 2014 - with Newey!
