SeijaKessen wrote:Nando wrote:He´s definitely in the Trio of Alonso, Hamilton, Vettel.
He´s not a fighter in the sense of Hamilton or Alonso which are plain ruthless on track.
but he has shown everyone and shut my mouth that he can race and he can overtake, there´s no question about that.
In 2010 and 2011 he was given a car so dominant that the Championship was his from Race 1.
It was up to him to not lose over 19-20 races.
That´s a totally different kind of championship then let´s say 2007 or 2008 where if you wrecked your car in Qualifying one day it could mean that you ended your run for the Championship even though it´s still theoretically possible to win it.
Having to compete against one person is a whole lot easier then competing against 3 other drivers which are considered the best in the world.
Which leads me to 2011. This is a 2007-2008 year.
If it stays like this we will probably see the championship decided in the last race, in the last corner.
And whoever stands above everyone else this year will have a strong case for claiming to be the best driver in F1.
Alonso is the best driver on the grid by far.
I don't consider Hamilton, or Vettel to even be equals with him.
Think about this, when has Vettel had to contend with a dog of a car like the F2012 was at the start of the season, and then subsequently went on to drive the car beyond what anyone thought it was capable of doing?
It's not a knock on Vettel, it's just a reality.
When the RB8 wasn't looking so hot earlier in the season, he spent plenty of time whining publicly about the car not being great. As soon as the RB8 started getting improved, he suddenly shut up.
Drivers do gripe about the cars, I have no problem with that. But he reminds me too much of Mansell. When you've been gifted good cars, it's kind of difficult to get an idea how good the driver really is especially since there is no real comparison to be made yet. Although as mentioned, in Mansell's case, we do have a baseline for what happened when he wasn't given a frontrunning car.
Here's the thing about 2011, if you gave the RB7 to any other driver on the grid, the likelihood is more than 50% of them would have won the championship with that car. When you have seasons like that, it's less a good way to measure the driver, and more a way to measure how good the car is. Yes he drove the car, and he did drive it well. But what competition did he really have?
Same applies for the Williams FW14B...yes Mansell walked away with the championship in that car, but if you gave the same car to Ayrton Senna that year, do you think Mansell wins that championship? Unlikely.
I'm not asking for Vettel to go drive for HRT just so we can get a baseline, but within the scope of things, if RBR has a down year, I definitely think we'll have a better idea for what Vettel does.
To get an idea of how good a driver/athlete is in any sport, what they do in the face of prolonged adversity is the true test.
Allow me to expand a little.
Alonso to me is the best driver on the grid, no question about it.
But why is this? Well a few things.
1. He´s in his prime
2. He´s in a good place mentally
3. He has become a complete driver over the years.
Remember that Hamilton and Vettel pretty much started at the same time in F1, Alonso was then already a 2-time world champion with 7 more years of F1 experience then they had at that point in time.
This alone puts him further up the road in terms of experience not just how to do a fast lap but how to talk to media, how to create opportunities by being in the right place at the right time, when it counts.
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But why do i mention Hamilton or Vettel in the same sentence as Alonso?
Well first of all, let´s start with Hamilton.
He is in my opinion a Prodigy in the same sense as Senna in terms of pure speed. I think without a doubt that Hamilton is the quickest driver in the field. The person with the most untapped potential of them all, and i also think the person who will also come out on top when it´s all set and done for the three kings.
He´s been a champion in 99.9% of all classes he´s ever participated in. I think 100% if you exclude karting.
He has records in F3 and GP2 that still stands today, he left a massive mark in those series like no other person on the planet has done.
He comes to Mclaren, gets a 2-time world champion as his teammate, the same guy we now refer to as the best right now.
He ends up actually beating this person in his rookie year in F1. (beating is a correct term but let´s say matched instead as it came down to who had the most 4th places)
What he did was unheard of and will probably never be replicated by another driver ever again.
I still think to this day many people are not giving him the credit he deserved for his first year in F1.
Hell even his first start in F1.
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Vettel, Vettel, Vettel.....
Fomrula BMW champion and widely considered as the next Schumacher.
Apart from Formula BMW which he dominated he got beaten by Paul di Resta in F3.
Despite that he got a chance to jump in for Kubica i believe in Indianapolis.
Right there and then he showed that he is indeed not just an ordinary driver.
He right out of the box was quickest in FP2 i think and came 6th in the race i believe.
After that he went to Toro Rosso to be nurtured and really learn Formula 1 before getting to Red Bull.
He consistently beat his teammate, he consistently drove really well in races.
He did his job to the fullest in Monza and took advantage of every disadvantage Kubica, Kimi and Hamilton had that day.
One could argue he needed much more time to develop then Hamilton but he has shown that he know is at a similar level to Hamilton and Alonso.
He has shown us everything we doubted him about. Sure he might be an annoying little sh*t sometimes but we can say that about Hamilton and Alonso if we look through their career quickly.
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So in my opinion there are three driver´s that stand out from the rest and out of those three Alonso is the best, no doubt.
Not because he´s the quickest, not because he´s the smartest but because he´s the most complete driver i´ve seen in a long long time. I would almost say he is THE most complete driver i have ever seen.
Vettel and Hamilton will get there, they just need time as they both are not even in their prime.
