Bernie: Kubica and Alonso better than Hamilton

[WhiteBlue]

Bernie full of Alonso and Kubica
Two drivers better than Hamilton - Ecclestone
17/06/08 15:17
At least two of Lewis Hamilton's key rivals would beat the 23-year-old British driver in the same car.

That is the belief of F1 Chief Executive Bernie Ecclestone, who told The Times newspaper that he ranks former double world champion Fernando Alonso as the best current driver on the grid.

"If he was still in a McLaren he would be showing Lewis the way home - I don't think there is any doubt about that," Ecclestone, 77, said.

Bernie said he sympathised with Alonso, who moved back to Renault this year, after he fell out so spectacularly with McLaren as rookie Hamilton's team-mate in 2007.

"I never asked the guy - I'm going to ask him one day - whether he was told (by McLaren) he was number one.

"Because if he didn't ask and he wasn't told, he would have assumed he was.

Having a guy that's never been in a F1 car in the team with him, he'd expect to be number one wouldn't he?"

"And that's what the problem was. When he found out, although he should have been number one, of course he wasn't," Ecclestone added.

The F1 CEO also rates Robert Kubica, the Canadian Grand Prix winner and new championship leader, very highly.

"If you saw him in a McLaren or a Ferrari, I think I'd put my money on him blowing away Hamilton," Ecclestone said.

I must say that I'm glad to see Bernie suddenly making sense again. Lately he has told so much rubbish that I was a bit scared he might get too old for his job. Now he has me convinced that he just tried to confuse the simple minded in order to muddy the water to improove his fishing for profits.

Back on topic I'm glad to have some competent person rate the Kube so highly. Mario Theissen got tons of flak from Villeneuve fans for giving the job to the pole. I think Robert is silencing those critics this year with flawless drives and fantastic speed.

The other comparison is a slap in the face of Ron Dennis. Failing to prevent a double world champion and a rookie getting into a dirt slinging match destroying two championships for McLaren was a bad thing in the first place. To do this primarily to hype up a guy who runs into parked cars looks really silly now.

So these comments also are a rating of the team principals and I'm glad the whiteblue guy comes out on top.

[Vasco]

To me bernie just goes with the flow....just because Kubica is the man of the moment he starts singing his praises....last year he was loving hamilton, then raikkonen now kubica.

[Ray]

I've always believed that Fernando was miles ahead of Lewis in every area of a racing driver. Lewis imploding last year proved it, give Alonso a sniff at a chance to win and he will deliver you that win. Guaranteed. Nice to know there is someone who can say the truth for a change. Alonso didn't deserve the bashing that he got last year by any stretch. I felt sorry for him and now I cheer every time he does well.

[Miguel]

I don't know what to vote. For one, as Vasco said, I do believe that Bernie goes with the wind. If Hamilton wins, it's Senna who's behind the yellow helmet. If it's Kubica, he's better than Schumi, Clark, Prost and Senna all together in their prime. If it's Alonso.. wait, if it's Alonso he's just the worst WDC we'd had! I'm joking, although I don't really remember a good quote of Bernie on Alonso.

And then to the driver options. I'm an Alonso fan, and I bloody love how he drives, especially on a not championship winning car. I also like what Kubica is doing this year, especially after his slump with his engineer last year. I saw him in the World Series by Renault too. A brilliant driver by any standard. And then we get to Hamilton. I sincerely think this guy is the best braker on the grid (although it costs him in tires), and I remember watching him in the GP2 series and thinking he was an ace. And a true racer.

Who's better? I don't know. Some guys at McLaren know who is better in which areas between Alonso and Hamilton, but they cannot objectively judge Kubica. Bernie surely has better inside info, but seeing how his words change, he isn't showing.

[Vasco]

I actually remember one of the mclaren engineers last year claiming that Alonso did not have that extra speed that kimi had.....anyway it was consistency that won alonso the title in 05/06

[Miguel]

I actually remember one of the mclaren engineers last year claiming that Alonso did not have that extra speed that kimi had.....anyway it was consistency that won alonso the title in 05/06

Yes, I remember reading that someone heard a McLaren engineer say that. Funnily enough, we now have Massa outqualifying Kimi with certain frequency. And Schumi beat Massa with ease. I refuse to believe that Massa has more extra speed than anyone else in the grid and that Schumi was a god on wheels. Irrational, I know, but I bloody refuse to believe it.

Just before the 07 season began, I was ready to bet on Kimi beating Felipe by the same porcentual margin that Schumi did in 06. I was wrong. On the other hand, Fisichella was also decently quicker than massa on the 04 sauber. Do things change that much? Is Massa a world beater? Is kimi not as good as we thought? Is Michael Schumacher even better than we thought?

[f1italia]

Hamilton is the best driver out there. It will be Kimi or Lewis for the Championship. I would like to see Mclaren win it.

[Jersey Tom]

Kubica is not the man of the moment. Look at his record from last year. A handful of retirements, but placed 6th, 4th, 5th, 4th, 4th.. etc. Fairly consistent, but not at the top of the pack.

BMW has certainly stepped their equipment up this year and has shown both cars to be fairly competitive and certainly reliable. With the increased performance of the BMW chassis, Robert's placement has gone up and he's finally won a race. Clean consistent driving.. in a Ferrari or McLaren I would imagine he would be very fast indeed, on par with anyone else.

Hamilton is certainly a very good, very fast driver.. but he makes mistakes. And I feel he's very abusive to tires.

[WhiteBlue]

I feel that Kubica has an attitude that makes him simillar to Kimi. He doesn't care who else drives the same car. He also has some aspects I liked in Michael Schumacher. He works very hard on himself to be perfectly prepared and is never tired to try harder. Compared to Senna he has the same kind of brass balls but I don't know if he yet has the engineering skills and technical understanding of the great Brazilean or the German. Only a full WDC campaign would show his sportmanship.

Hamilton can be brilliant at times and we last saw that in qualifying in Canada. But he is prone to make more silly mistakes than he should be making as the McLaren lead driver. Perhaps that is more a fault that Ron Dennis is responsible for putting him into bigger shoes than good for him. But then the Hamilton men have a gift of doing silly things (LEW1S, visiting play grounds with Porsches).

Fernando is a known quantity. Great driver but no clue how to deal with the good friends of the Spanish media. His first championship was very lucky as the Ferrari was crap and the McLaren unreliable. He needs to settle into a team with potential and do some serious work to claim the leadership. nobody will deliver that to him. he has to do it on his own. I have my doubts that he can push Briatore and Goshn into the investments required to win in the next two years. so we will probably see him swaying all ways until he finally finds the opportunity with Ferrari or a top team of the year.

[mike]

Funnily enough, we now have Massa outqualifying Kimi with certain frequency. And Schumi beat Massa with ease.

the main reason Schumi can beat Massa is because they were both driving in Schumi's car Massa is only a driver to fill the seat and be the perfect number 2
i also remember in 2006 Massa has to drive a lot more laps in practise to get data for Schumi and Michael usually has more good tyres in qualy. bare in mind in the end of 2006 Massa quailfied better than Michael in a few races

in 07 however Kimi and Massa are more or less equals and car development are not centered around Kimi


back to the topic Alonso is way better than Hamilton
during qualy the better of the strategies were determined in the 2nd session during 07 in Mclaren and lewis usually gets than and hence a better car in qualy 3 and better strategy in the race and more chance of winning. The tyres were new for 2007 and hence kimi and alonso who havent drove in bridgestones for 5 years or so, struggles against Hamilton and Massa. i think that the end of 2007 really give us the chance to see whos the best kimi clearly better than Massa and Alonso clear better than Hamilton. look at races like Spa, Monza and sliverstone

Kubica is also a great driver, but i think have too much attention on his first success will not help him at all. great drivers are people who make more of their machines we can not simply say that he is better than Jacques. as Kubica has won a WDC nor has he won a CART championship, but we can say that he is clearly better than Lewis in so many ways

[Rob W]

I've always believed that Fernando was miles ahead of Lewis in every area of a racing driver. Lewis imploding last year proved it, give Alonso a sniff at a chance to win and he will deliver you that win. Guaranteed.

I absolutely agree. Day in, day out - all things being equal - I'd rather have Alonso driving than Hamilton. The sheer number of times in years past when he made sure he scrounged like anything to come 2nd or 3rd (when he couldn't win) - earning valuable extra 1 or 2 points - made him a fitting world champion.

R

[RH1300S]

Bernie is just having fun and he's not too wide of the mark (at this moment in time and until he has another thought to share).

I can't vote - [-X

Alonso, Kimi, Lewis, Kubica - all great drivers; I don't know who shades who on speed. Alonso consistently out-performs his car. Kimi is - quite simply Kimi, just plain fast. Lewis (IMHO) is possibly the fastest of the lot the way he manages the weight transfer of the car, but has shown frailty in a race - at the same time showing stunning opportunism at times. Kubica is driving far better than his experience suggests and is intelligent with it (more like Alonso than the other two).

Who else do we have on the grid? Rosberg & Vettel stand out and (to my surprise) Massa has been outstanding this season.

What I'm trying to say is there are A LOT of very good drivers on the grid this year and I don't like polls like this.

[kenshaaka]

Totally agree with RH1300S.

When the pressure is on someone else, you can sneek a suprise like Hamilton did last year. This year the pressure is on him and that might explain his mistakes. We dont know how kubica would perfom under pressure. Alonso has yielded to pressure in the past and Bernie still thinks his the best (so do i)

[Ray]

I agree to a point with you RH1300S. All those listed except Lewis and Robert have proven very fast in way less equipment than they have now. Neither of them have proven themselves in the likes of a Minardi or Sauber.

[jaho101]

Totally agree with RH1300S.

When the pressure is on someone else, you can sneek a suprise like Hamilton did last year. This year the pressure is on him and that might explain his mistakes. We dont know how kubica would perfom under pressure. Alonso has yielded to pressure in the past and Bernie still thinks his the best (so do i)

In the lead at Monaco in the wet, no pressure at all.