Quote:
Originally Posted by cfusionpm
But the fault of Ferrari not winning championships isn't Alonso's fault, it's Ferrari. He's probably the most talented driver out there, at least when he's not in a top tier car, and he's shown that over and over again. Especially yesterday when he passed Vettel relatively easily, then it took Vettel something like 10+ laps with 2 DRS zones to finally get by him by late braking off the track limits.
Raikkonen is a lot like Vettel, if he's in a car he's comfortable in, he performs excellently. It requires a mix of confidence and zen. Alonso said it best when he said "I don't care what the car feels like, I just want a fast car." And he's shown plenty of times he can stay in contention with a garbage car. Imagine what he could do in a GOOD car?
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I am entirely in agreement with you. I am however confused about your point, I never questioned Alonso's abilities and he is unarguably one of the top 3 drivers on the grid today and for the last 10 years.
I'm not sure how Ferrari's incapability of developing a competitive chassis recently reflects on Alonso's driving ability. If we're playing "What-ifs" then Brawn would have been punished for the double diffuser in '09 and Vettel would be a 5 time champion, Mclaren would have finished every race giving Raikkonen championships in '03 & '05, Hamilton could have been brought in one lap earlier in China '07 winning his debut season championship leaving Ferrari with no championships since 2004 and Raikkonen still championshipless. Of course giving Alonso a magically 'better' chassis in hindsight would give him better results and more championships. The same can be said for literally any driver on the grid from Chilton to Perez to Button to Hamilton and everyone in between.
Edit: except Maldonado, the fastest chassis on the grid is useless if you ball it up 25% of the time
Edit 2: I'm saying Raikkonen will likely stay next year, he's a solid driver but I'm not expecting improvement based on history, there isn't a shining star replacement that will make Ferrari money next year.