Before You read this I'm sorry if I made spelling mistakes or made a complete fool of myself regarding the numbers, I pritty much wrote this on top of my head and getting results from multi wiki pages. STORY TIME: Ever since Alonso became the youngest world champion in 2005 I'm sure most of us thought that the youngest world champion record would stand for at least a decade. The new "legend" on the race track defeated the might of Ferrari and Schumacher in just 4 years of the sport. Yet after getting his 2nd world title the year after, he left for McLaren to help dominate which schumacher did with Ferrari but as we know certain reasons aka "Ron Dennis, Lewis Hamilton" didn't help the situation. Lewis came along, a young Brit who showed his ability with a dominate McLaren that he showed us he can match a double world champion blow for blow, nearly becoming the first ever rookie world champion. In his first year another star was born to equal Alonso's stardom from his Renault and McLaren years, yet he didn't win the WDC, but the media thought otherwise thinking they were equal. All through the 08 season Lewis and Felipe traded blow for blow for leadership in a very tight season, going down to the last race which as we saw Massa won, but didn't win the WDC. Alonso looked through that season unable to stop Lewis to take the world title with an inferior Renault after being ousted out of McLaren, he was once top dog but then became "just a driver" until he joined up with the might of Ferrari. But in the backround through the 06-07 seasons a young 19 year old german named Sebastian was slowly being groomed into F1, a test driver in BMW Sauber for Kubica and Heidfeld. Though sadly it took a major crash for Robert in Canada to give Vettel his first ever chance at a grand prix in the USA. He was given a car on the grid (pace wise) behind the obvious 2 front runner teams, qualifying 7th and finishing 8th. He was then shipped to Toro Rosso halfway into the 07 season which was quite obvious at the time a back runner team, his time in winning would have to wait. The mind of Adrian Newey help build up both Red Bull and Toro Rosso in particular to midfeild teams, able to challenge the likes of Williams and Toyota. Vettel came out on top with Webber following the rear beating coulthard, but only vettel won a pole posistion and a grand prix that year, putting him on radar for challenging Lewis and Alonso in the near future. HERE WE ARE TODAY: All from the seasons 09-11 we all know that it's looking only cars can really seperate these 3 in terms of "complete driver". All 3 of them have taken different routes into F1 dominance. Alonso went the old fashioned way going into Minardi and then to Renault having the team built around him. Lewis was bought up by McLaren and then put into one in his first season, showing great nerve until the very end, but as history shows the best drivers get the best cars in the long run. Vettel was a mixture of both, being bought up by Red Bull but having to help Newey bring the team up from scratch to "F1 dominance" that we are seeing now. You might think Adrian Newey gives a free meal ticket to a WDC or an "extra one", tell that to Kimi, Montoya, Senna, Damon, Villeneuve, Hakkinen, Vettel, Coulthard and Webber who have all lost the WDC (or more) in a Adrian Newey car while driving against others. Yes the odds are better if you got one, but it doesn't mean you will win it blindfolded and driving backwards. So I feel vettel's skills are belittled because he is driving a Newey car which won last season. People will also bring up graph charts and stats which try and "proove" which one of the 3 is the better driver on paper over their careers. Yet these charts are useless with Alonso and Vettel's stats being lower because they were in far slower teams than Lewis through their careers. Alonso and Lewis' stats are also too high compared to vettel's achievments since Vettel has had to face far more competiton for his WDC then either Lewis or Alonso did. You also get to hear "If so and so was in a RB6 they would of also won" but the same thing can be said for Alonso's dominant 05,06,07 cars and Lewis' dominant 07,08 cars which makes vettels first year in a dominant car look somehow tarnished compared to the other two. People also mock Vettel's overtaking skills eventhough he has done it plenty of enough times in a Toro Rosso as a back runner, again the public and media talking BS if you ask me. (Don't think I'm trying to hype up vettel on this post, i'm just trying to see it at every angle.) I don't understand why vettel should have to overtake if he is doing his job properly....He's in a fast car winning, thats the job he is told to do in Red Bull, not fighting with the midfield like webber. Lewis is also doing his job in a slightly "slower" car but having to overtake is also part of his role to "maximise" the car. Both of them are doing both roles extremly well and succeding compared with Alonso who looks to be on damage reduction until the car gets sorted. People also say If vettel was in a McLaren he couldn't do what Lewis "would" do, well if that's the case lets put Lewis in a Toro Rosso and lets see if he can win a race and vis a versa with Alonso with his Ferrari last year. Could they have both got close winning the WDC with the 3rd best car (In my opinion), on the grid? We will never know that's in the past... THE OTHER BORING PART: (((Oh yes ladies and gentleman the stats of all 3 drivers positives and negatives to sum up the seasons on who was fighting with them for it when in a "dominate car" to get the WDC.))) Alonso 2005: CONS: Straight two driver fight between Kimi, schumacher unable to match with both cars, PRO's: Their teammates not even getting close to them, also unable to drive in the US GP thanks to rich idiots so stats for Alonso could of been higher or lower. Pole posisitons: 6/19=31.5% Wins: 7/19=36.8% Podiums: 15/19=78.9% Retirements/No points: 3/19=15.7% Alonso 2006:CONS: Again a 2 driver fight but this time with Schumi, Kimi unable to match them even in a Newey car, PRO's: Same again with teammates unable to match them... Pole posistions: 6/18=33.3% Wins: 7/18=38.8% Podiums: 14/18=77.7% Retirements/No points: 2/18=11.1% Lewis: 2008: CONS: Carbon copy of the dominate 07 car, Heikki a easy number 2, again a two driver championship but without Alonso not in title fighting car. PRO's, BMW sauber strongest it has ever been, pulled McLaren through just but a good showing considering his age at the time. Pole posistions: 7/18=38.7% Wins: 5/18=27.7% Podiums: 10/18 55.5% Retirements/No Points: 4/18=22.2% Vettel:2010: CONS: Adrian Newey car, made stupid errors, Webber matching him. PRO's: Strongest field of all time, unreliabilty always hitting him, having 5 drivers going for the WDC until the last 2 races, became world champion material when he knuckled down for the final 4 races which for his age is crazy considering the rest were cracking under the pressure. Pole posistions: 10/19=52.6% Wins: 5/19=26.3% Podiums: 10/19=52.6% Retirements/No points: 21% Out of all these stats which if you consider ignoring all the other CON's and PRO's I bring up before, is that Alonso is the better driver out of the 3 when he is left to his own devices. With Lewis and Vettel pritty much even. Sorry for wasting your time lol, it'll never happen again...
the way i see it is Lewis Hamilton shades Vettel on skill, but is far more likely to make a silly mistake or collapse under pressure, looking at his F1 record he generally makes his mistakes in the races that follow him taking the lead in the WDC. I think Vettel is hard done by in Britain, the name crash kid was given to him by a rival team principal (Whitmarsh) as part of some inter-team mind games, (accidents in 2 races isn't that bad, and I personally think Webber was very lucky to escape criticism for his weave on Vettel at Turkey, a dirty driver, which is why my dad likes him) which seemd to work for a while as he also had Webber making snidey remarks (as usual), it could easily have broken him. Alonso, well, I don't think he's recovered from 07 tbh. What I really wanna see though is Kobayashi in a good car. BANZAI!!!!!!!
Very balanced view imo. I see it pretty the same way. Well, i am a Vettel fan since he came to F1, i also like Hamiltons driving style and speed. I respect Alonso for his fights against Schumacher. What i dont like are the mind games of Hamilton/McLaren. Sometimes they open their mouth too wide. What i would like to see in the future is Ricciardo with Vettel in the RB8 or RB9. I think those two (and of course Hamilton) would really go beserk regarding speed ;-)
The "if Alonso/Hamilton was in a Red Bull" argument really pisses me off. Alonso made a string of errors at the start of last season and Hamilton at the end. These weren't down to their cars. It's a ludicrous argument and completely without foundation, you could just as easily argue (and it would be equally untrue) that the Red Bull was actually the third best car on the grid last year and it was Vettel and Webber's superior driving that meant they kept winning. I think Vettel is very rapid and a brutal front runner, there are question marks over his race craft. Hamilton is obviously fast and has decent race craft. Question marks over his mental ability though, his performances seem to drop off towards the business end of the season, whereas the pressure seems to galvanise Alonso and Vettel. I still haven't made my mind up on Alonso (which is odd considering he's been around the longest). Sometimes you think "yeah this guys something special" whereas other times he's seems a liability. I think he's a control freak, and when things don't go his way he cracks, when things are good though he's ruthless. He's a real complex character, and I'm not sure that's a desirable trait in a racing driver. Kubica deserves a mention. The only question marks over his qualities are how he copes with pressure. This isn't because he's ever exhibited a tendency to falter under pressure, but more to do with the fact he's never been tipped into a title fight. Potentially the best driver on the grid, he's just never had the car to prove it.
@ AG Idd I was going to extend on it that post considering the likes of Kimi, never actually being given the best car, a front runner car but not the best, yet he did beat Fernando and Lewis at the end...barely. In a sense if Kimi was given the same car he should outperform both Lewis and Alonso since his Newey McLarens always blew up just like vettel's did but against rivals who had faster and more reliable cars. So if I can get this straight, kimi can win the WDC without the best car, Alonso can get close to wining the WDC without the best car, Lewis and vettel look "at the moment" they can only win with the best car...yet vettel had the same luck as Kimi considering Newey cars with reliability problems, yet he won with a Newey car which Kimi couldn't, but if vettel was in a 1v1 championship like Lewis and Alonso had when they won, he would of lost......It's like a constant repeating circle with this 3 lol! With Kubica he outperformed Schumacher just like Nico last year but in the 5th best car, "maybe" if he was in a Merc he would of beaten Massa for points over the season, but then again that's just if's and buts, maybe petrov made the car look worse than it did. Considering out of the 8 drivers who should of beat him out of the 4 best teams only 7 drivers beat him. 2 only just beat him, Nico by 6 points Massa by 8 points which is nothing to the new system of giving out points. If Mercedes got their act together we would be seeing 4 driver championships every year.
