F1 End of Season Report: Rate the Grid - Fernando Alonso

apex11 · Dec 14, 2017

If he'd been in the Merc instead of Lewis he'd of been on 5 times WDC now. He's better than Rosberg and Bottas so at the very least could of matched Lewis's WDC haul in the Merc.
Such is life.
For it to be a true WDC one day hopefully we'll see them all in similar spec cars....till then its a Constructors championship IMO....

Matthew327 · Dec 14, 2017

For what it's worth, I think Alonso has been sublime all year. He made the most of a car that was not competitive at best and absolutely f***ing dreadful at worst. He delivered some exciting racing, a few hilarious moments on the radio and made a promising debut at the Indy 500. Not to mention his upcoming endurance adventures.

I sincerely hope we see Fernando in a winning car next year.

Redvaliant · Dec 14, 2017

Boy, are we going to miss him when he's gone.
Heart and soul of a racer - he could be from the 60s or 70s - but the decision making mind of a petulant teenager. What he got out of that car this year was extraordinary.

Deleted member 205301 · Dec 14, 2017

Honestly I don't like the guy (no particular reason), but damn ! what a driver ! Never, even a little mistake, never give up (on track I mean), and how the hell can he find some speed ?! : brilliant. Some could deplore his (too) many complains on radio, but who here doesn't do the same behind his wheel ?
Gave him a 8/10, with a better car next year we'll see who's the Boss...
@++

apex11 · Dec 14, 2017

The only issue i have with his complaints is that as one if not, the, highest paid F1 driver and half of that from Honda, he should really of kept a lid on it.
I suppose once a driver gets into a car that has that much of a performance barrier to the rest they maybe panic that they have been found out and the legacy will start to break up...
But Alonso eventually worked around that and almost it became the making of him...dragging a car into positions that maybe it should not be in...
The only real issue that McLaren had was it did not have a Merc engine in it... chassis was fine.
Lets see what Renault power brings but sadly (unless you are a LH glory hunter) F1 isn't set to change from Merc dominance till at least 2 more seasons....

LeSunTzu · Dec 14, 2017

He was marginally better than Vandoorne.

apex11 · Dec 14, 2017

LeSunTzu said:
He was marginally better than Vandoorne.

Lewis was marginally better than Bottas.
Lewis was marginally better than Nico.

Kjell Eilertsen · Dec 14, 2017

On track: 10/10
On radio: 7/10
I'd score him lower on radio for his bitching and whining if he didn't also provide a few moments of comedic value.
Overall this year just turned me into more of a ALO fan, guy runs the hinges of whatever his team gives him.

LeSunTzu · Dec 14, 2017

apex11 said:
Lewis was marginally better than Bottas.
Lewis was marginally better than Nico.

Being marginally better than Nico is quite a feat

Terry Rock · Dec 14, 2017

I gave him a solid seven...should be 7.5 if half points were allowed.
Poor guy probably wishes he never heard the name 'Honda'.
Gave Monaco a 'pass' to see if he could change his fortune.
Looked set to challenge for a good position or possible win, only to be smacked in the face again by their unreliability for the 'umpteenth' time in 2017.
Think he'll mention their name after the year ends?

apex11 · Dec 14, 2017

LeSunTzu said:
Being marginally better than Nico is quite a feat

Is it really.
You think your precious man could win in a McLaren Honda? of course you do.
Don't know why i'm bothering with you.

LeSunTzu · Dec 14, 2017

I dont know why you take it personal but whatever.

I just pointed out the fact that Alonso's results and performance this year were not really better than Vandoorne and do not justify the hype around the man. His Indy 500 effort does but F1 is the topic here.

And yes, Rosberg is quite a driver. Beating Schumacher and Hamilton in equal cars is not within the reach of an average pilot.

Alen Terzić · Dec 14, 2017

I also give it a mark of 5/7. Can't get any better.

snyperal · Dec 14, 2017

I gave him a ten. He had the best season in the only seat available to him. If he wasn't such a pita maybe he could've had Bottas' seat. Got to be better to be a number 2 driver in a fast car than a number one driver in a cruddy one.

Neilski · Dec 14, 2017

Meh. He's super-talented but he didn't show it much this year... 6/10

danracer2000 · Dec 14, 2017

i would like to see all the drivers with the same car...so we could value his skills. I hope renault engine will be better and enought to battle with the other brands. He is so talented and i hope he does not ends with his only 2 world championships...it would be sad.

Esploratore · Dec 15, 2017

LeSunTzu said:
I dont know why you take it personal but whatever. I just pointed out the fact that Alonso's results and performance this year were not really better than Vandoorne and do not justify the hype around the man. His Indy 500 effort does but F1 is the topic here.

And yes, Rosberg is quite a driver. Beating Schumacher and Hamilton in equal cars is not within the reach of an average pilot.

Beating a 41 and 42 (2012 schumacher did better than him) years old schumacher isn't the same achievement as beating a 30-35 years old one.

Schumacher was probably raikkonen level when he was beyond the age at which average drivers race, and beating raikkonen shouldn't be weighted as much as beating schumacher.

As such, rosberg is bottas level imo, we'll see how he fares against hamilton in the next season.

2016 wasn't even beating hamilton, need to correct for mechanical problems every single season when it comes to assessing performance.

Likewise, alonso was much better than vandoorne even if points don't reflect it, else why would people give him so much higher score despite vandoorne being a rookie?

Alonso lost a lot of points through bad luck, once again you need to consider this, gave him a 9, was incredibly undecided between 8 and 9 and I see I wasn't the only one since they're perfectly evenly split.

ohi · Dec 15, 2017

10/10, but -1 for the radio whining, but again +1 for the words "karma" in Italy. So a 10 from me.
I wish I had 1% of his motivation, then I would do miracles at work.

apex11 · Dec 15, 2017

LeSunTzu said:
I dont know why you take it personal but whatever. I just pointed out the fact that Alonso's results and performance this year were not really better than Vandoorne and do not justify the hype around the man. His Indy 500 effort does but F1 is the topic here.

And yes, Rosberg is quite a driver. Beating Schumacher and Hamilton in equal cars is not within the reach of an average pilot.

Rosberg was only ever good because he was in the Merc in the first place though. Anyone can win in it as Bottas has proved, in fact Bottas had it harder as the Ferrari was a bit closer, but by no means was the Ferrari the car to have.
Also Bottas rarely ran the same level engine as Lewis as Brazil proved. Its all engine modes and spec engines etc, Lewis even in seemingly the same car gets actually an extra boost.
Lewis is clearly great, but the Merc flatters anyone in it.
Unless we are now saying that Bottas is actually the 3rd best driver on the F1 grid..... or that Nico is one of the top 10 best ever F1 drivers.....lolz.....
Lewis fanboy glory hunters... you don't var about Motorsport, you only support him because he's mates with Bieber......

Kakusso · Dec 15, 2017

Alonso - A good driver that thinks he is better than he actually is. He was struggling against Hamilton in Hamilton's rookie year on the same Maclaren car. Alonso actually finished 3rd in the championship that year behind Hamilton.
Now that he will have the same engine as Redbull we will see if he is actually better than Verstappen or Ricardo. My guess is that he is probably between the two, Verstappen being the better of them.