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[Denthúl]

Well, MS was heads above RB in racing skill, etc. So, one could make the argument that bar any unforeseeable major hiccup, RB never stood a chance to win the championship on merit from the beginning of the season, so focusing on MS as the No. 1 driver from the get go was the right thing to do and should not be ruled against. It's a team sport or else have individual drivers in one-man (or woman) teams!

I'm not sure I agree. I think Barrichello was pretty competitive and could have given Schumacher a run for his money, if he were allowed to. However, there are other factors to consider. It was not just that Schumacher who was appointed number one driver, the whole team was geared around him and the cars were designed specifically to suit Schumacher's style of driving. Very few people could have driven those Ferraris as quickly as Schumacher could.

I agree with you here. Had the car been designed with both drivers equally in mind, I think we'd have seen Rubens beat Michael a lot more than he did. I really do wish that he'd been signed by McLaren instead. :/

[Hanwombat]

Well, MS was heads above RB in racing skill, etc. So, one could make the argument that bar any unforeseeable major hiccup, RB never stood a chance to win the championship on merit from the beginning of the season, so focusing on MS as the No. 1 driver from the get go was the right thing to do and should not be ruled against. It's a team sport or else have individual drivers in one-man (or woman) teams!

I'm not sure I agree. I think Barrichello was pretty competitive and could have given Schumacher a run for his money, if he were allowed to. However, there are other factors to consider. It was not just that Schumacher who was appointed number one driver, the whole team was geared around him and the cars were designed specifically to suit Schumacher's style of driving. Very few people could have driven those Ferraris as quickly as Schumacher could.

[McLaren Fan]

I don't know what Heikki said after the race,and I don't care. If he was as fast as Lewis he should have gotten behind him and followed him into 2nd place, but on the day he didn't have the speed that lewis did, So why as a team owner would you want to relegate your drivers to a third and fourth place finish as opposed to a first and fourth place finish? That would make for some very bad team management.

McLaren can never win in this regard. Last season, with Alonso and Hamilton on board, people were criticising the team for it's policy of allowing both drivers to race. Then, ten odd years ago people were (falsely) accusing the team of favouring Hakkinen over Coulthard.

There is nothing to discuss about the fact that Lewis gets a LOT more of the teams resources then Kovalainen. It´s sad to see that eversince the championship started this year, Heikki has always been the one doing the Race strategy tests while Lewis can focus on building up his setup. It was exactly the same with RB and MS
I do understand that this whole Mclaren Lewis thing is very important since we are talking about a Brit but why have 2 guys out there "fighting for the title" even if only 1 of them has a chance for it........very sad indeed and I think Heikki would have gotten a lot more out of Renault........But he couldn´t know this back then.......

Absolutely bollocks. Hamilton and Kovalainen get equal resources to compete and equal personnel within in the team. In fact, McLaren are so fussy about this that the same people build Kovalainen's cars, engines etc. the whole time so mechanics, engineers etc. become accustomed with one another. On top of that, Kovalainen's cars have been made up of parts that were not on Hamilton's car, so that the car would suit his driving style better, thus bringing him various benefits. Your comments about how Hamilton and Kovalainen test and setup their cars is also completely spurious.

I agree with you here. Had the car been designed with both drivers equally in mind, I think we'd have seen Rubens beat Michael a lot more than he did. I really do wish that he'd been signed by McLaren instead. :/

He's a driver I would have liked to have seen at McLaren. In my view, Barrichello had, and perhaps has, a world championship in him. His talent has been wasted at misfit teams like Stewart, Ferrari where he was not allowed to win anything, and Honda which has been nothing short of a shambles. Even Irvine looked a reasonably good driver - and that's taking into account that he made Raikkonen look hard-working! D.D. is only telling himself Irvine and, most particularly, Barrichello could not win titles to make himself feel better. His statement that Barrichello had 'virtually nil chance to win the championship' is risible.

[darwin dali]

D.D. is only telling himself Irvine and, most particularly, Barrichello could not win titles to make himself feel better. His statement that Barrichello had 'virtually nil chance to win the championship' is risible.

No it's not! RB had no chance to win with MS driving the sister Ferrari - MS is the best and greatest driver ever while RB has always been a decent number two driver, nothing special.

[texasmr2]

[AKR]

Maybe, Or it could just be the fact that Hamilton is just that much faster. Don't forget Hamilton kicked Alonso's bottom last year in equal cars..... Not to mention that Alonso was reining world champion and Hamilton was a rookie.

No he didn't. The reailty is that they actually finished on equal points. Lewis Hamilton may of been given second place over Alosno because of an extra race win, but the reality is thety scored the same points. Also McLaren helped out Lewis Hamilton more than Alonso so he got "Extra" help anyway.

[KyrosV]

thats true Mclaren were not a team last year. Alonso basically had to go it alone last year and McLaren focused on LH who was there prefered WDC candidate. And theres no denying that. So I would say Alonso got the better result last year considering this. If all this Shizzle at McLaren didnt happen last year, Alonso & McLaren would of been world champions 2008 without a doubt.

but the McLaren lambs dont like to belive this so shhh!

[bud]

thats true Mclaren were not a team last year. Alonso basically had to go it alone last year and McLaren focused on LH who was there prefered WDC candidate. And theres no denying that. So I would say Alonso got the better result last year considering this. If all this Shizzle at McLaren didnt happen last year, Alonso & McLaren would of been world champions 2008 without a doubt.

but the McLaren lambs dont like to belive this so shhh!

why did McLaren let Alonso win in Monza if they wanted Lewis to win the title?

but yeah youre right on one thing, if they Favoured one of their drivers they would have won the championship without a doubt . they were too busy taking points away from each other!

[csrracer]

thats true Mclaren were not a team last year. Alonso basically had to go it alone last year and McLaren focused on LH who was there prefered WDC candidate. And theres no denying that. So I would say Alonso got the better result last year considering this. If all this Shizzle at McLaren didnt happen last year, Alonso & McLaren would of been world champions 2008 without a doubt.

but the McLaren lambs dont like to belive this so shhh!

They weren't a team because Alonso couldn't cope with the fact that his rookie team mate was faster than him.
I was an Alonso fan until he became a whiner. Every fast driver in racing believes that they are the fastest driver there is, regardless of wether it's in a Kart or in F1. You don't make it to F1 by not believing that you are the absolute fastest man there is. Case in point when was the last interview you heard in any form of racing, with the guy in 2nd place, that had admitted he just didn't have the ability to be faster on that day. It's always the car, the team, the strategy, or the tires that keeps them from being the fastest. In Alonso's case he would have not started anything against Mclaren if they bowed to his wishes and held Hamilton back. Alonso didn't turn over evidence to FIA until after he threatened Ron Dennis to do so. When Ron Dennis told him he was not going to favor him over Hamilton, that's when Alonso went to FIA and Mclaren lost interest in him. He brought it upon himself, because his fragile little ego couldn't deal with being slower than a rookie.

[KyrosV]

thats true Mclaren were not a team last year. Alonso basically had to go it alone last year and McLaren focused on LH who was there prefered WDC candidate. And theres no denying that. So I would say Alonso got the better result last year considering this. If all this Shizzle at McLaren didnt happen last year, Alonso & McLaren would of been world champions 2008 without a doubt.

but the McLaren lambs dont like to belive this so shhh!

They weren't a team because Alonso couldn't cope with the fact that his rookie team mate was faster than him.
I was an Alonso fan until he became a whiner. Every fast driver in racing believes that they are the fastest driver there is, regardless of wether it's in a Kart or in F1. You don't make it to F1 by not believing that you are the absolute fastest man there is. Case in point when was the last interview you heard in any form of racing, with the guy in 2nd place, that had admitted he just didn't have the ability to be faster on that day. It's always the car, the team, the strategy, or the tires that keeps them from being the fastest. In Alonso's case he would have not started anything against Mclaren if they bowed to his wishes and held Hamilton back. Alonso didn't turn over evidence to FIA until after he threatened Ron Dennis to do so. When Ron Dennis told him he was not going to favor him over Hamilton, that's when Alonso went to FIA and Mclaren lost interest in him. He brought it upon himself, because his fragile little ego couldn't deal with being slower than a rookie.

None of those points are actual facts, No one really knows what happened (other than mcLaren and Alonso who are not telling all), were just told stories by the media, and you know what those guys are like. So I wouldnt go round telling points that arnt proven true...

[Reckless Rat]

I know one thing that's true. Alonso is a git.

[csrracer]

thats true Mclaren were not a team last year. Alonso basically had to go it alone last year and McLaren focused on LH who was there prefered WDC candidate. And theres no denying that. So I would say Alonso got the better result last year considering this. If all this Shizzle at McLaren didnt happen last year, Alonso & McLaren would of been world champions 2008 without a doubt.

but the McLaren lambs dont like to belive this so shhh!

They weren't a team because Alonso couldn't cope with the fact that his rookie team mate was faster than him.
I was an Alonso fan until he became a whiner. Every fast driver in racing believes that they are the fastest driver there is, regardless of wether it's in a Kart or in F1. You don't make it to F1 by not believing that you are the absolute fastest man there is. Case in point when was the last interview you heard in any form of racing, with the guy in 2nd place, that had admitted he just didn't have the ability to be faster on that day. It's always the car, the team, the strategy, or the tires that keeps them from being the fastest. In Alonso's case he would have not started anything against Mclaren if they bowed to his wishes and held Hamilton back. Alonso didn't turn over evidence to FIA until after he threatened Ron Dennis to do so. When Ron Dennis told him he was not going to favor him over Hamilton, that's when Alonso went to FIA and Mclaren lost interest in him. He brought it upon himself, because his fragile little ego couldn't deal with being slower than a rookie.

None of those points are actual facts, No one really knows what happened (other than mcLaren and Alonso who are not telling all), were just told stories by the media, and you know what those guys are like. So I wouldnt go round telling points that arnt proven true...

So in your mind Alonso sabotaged his own team,and his own chance to win the championship, just because he's some sort of crusader for fair play????
I guess that would explain his comments of how he will do everything in his power to help Ferrari win the title this year. Wake up and face reality.

PS. I'm not a Mclaren Fan so don't assume...

[KyrosV]

So in your mind Alonso sabotaged his own team,and his own chance to win the championship, just because he's some sort of crusader for fair play????
I guess that would explain his comments of how he will do everything in his power to help Ferrari win the title this year. Wake up and face reality.

PS. I'm not a Mclaren Fan so don't assume...

where have I said Alonso sabotaged his team? McLaren sabotaged themselves. Alonso was an outcast and a scapegoat. And naturally, got bad press from the english Media

[racechick]

Maybe, Or it could just be the fact that Hamilton is just that much faster. Don't forget Hamilton kicked Alonso's bottom last year in equal cars..... Not to mention that Alonso was reining world champion and Hamilton was a rookie.

No he didn't. The reailty is that they actually finished on equal points. Lewis Hamilton may of been given second place over Alosno because of an extra race win, but the reality is thety scored the same points. Also McLaren helped out Lewis Hamilton more than Alonso so he got "Extra" help anyway.

No he didnt. Check out the team strategies.

[csrracer]

So in your mind Alonso sabotaged his own team,and his own chance to win the championship, just because he's some sort of crusader for fair play????
I guess that would explain his comments of how he will do everything in his power to help Ferrari win the title this year. Wake up and face reality.

PS. I'm not a Mclaren Fan so don't assume...

where have I said Alonso sabotaged his team? McLaren sabotaged themselves. Alonso was an outcast and a scapegoat. And naturally, got bad press from the english Media

I live in the states and don't have a clue what the British Media said about Alonso. Alonso was neither one of those things until he started threatening Ron Dennis. Up until that point Mclaren did not favor Hamilton over Alonso and if they did Hamilton would have won Monza and also Monaco. Those extra points would have easily made him WDC.