Edward Howard2 said:If we’re going by your logic—that winning a championship is just about other people failing to finish their races—then I guess we could say Kimi Raikkonen was basically handed the title in 2007 because Alonso didn't finish in Japan, or that Hamilton was gifted his because he missed out in China. Following that line of thought, Alonso was given the 2006 title because Schumacher couldn't finish in Japan or Australia, and back in 2005, Raikkonen was handed it because Schumacher missed San Marino and Germany. Even in 2003, Raikkonen essentially inherited it since Schumacher had those DNFs. There are a million examples like that, and honestly, it doesn't really matter how the drivers actually performed to secure the championship... If Barrichello had managed to win about ten races in 2004, I suppose he would have been champion over Schumacher under your reasoning... Your logic seems a bit shaky to me; you're basically suggesting that because Massa finished his race, Alonso wouldn't have scored the point, and if my grandmother had been my grandfather, maybe things would be different... 🤣
It feels like Kimi was handed titles by Alonso, Hamilton, and Massa, but perhaps most significantly by Dennis and Max, because if they hadn't penalized Alonso and McM, Kimi might not have been champion. At the end of the day, I recall Massa being arguably better than Kimi last season, especially if you look at the start of the year and how Massa let Kimi pass him toward the end of the season😉. Please don't take this the wrong way, but I truly believe Kimi should have secured a title a long time ago; however, last year's win felt like a mix of pure luck and some questionable calls from McM. As for 2006, even though I'm really not much of a Schumacher fan, I found myself rooting for him at the end of that season. Given how he drove, if he ever deserved a title, it was definitely 2006, and in my view, he was actually better than Alonso☕ but he just didn't have any luck
🤣😂🤣👍👍👍 I, honestly, even when he was just a kid, he was such a complete jerk... 😁, and his teammates were always stuck having to clean up his massive 😬
Alonso managed to snag it😉, which is really just thanks to Massa🤣 working his magic, though I suppose even then, it barely gives Piquet any real shot at picking up points. Personally, I wouldn’t say I’m much of a fan of either the General Motors team or Alonso himself, but if they could actually find a way to contend for the top spots🙏, I think it would be pretty exciting to see a four-way battle for the lead—and honestly, watching races like this one http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j3tXJm9tYGM would be even better. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Edward Howard2 said:It seems pretty plausible that we might see a rainy race where anything can happen. If someone like him managed to snag three points, then I suppose it’s entirely possible for Piquet to do the same.
🤣🤣🤣😂😂😂 To be honest, General Motors has only picked up points so far because the race ended with only six cars finishing, and even then, only three of those were from the top-tier teams—plus Kovalinen made his own mistake along the way. And honestly, I'm not sure if Piquet is even capable of finishing a wet race 😬 given how the current General Motors car is performing; while Alonso might perhaps scrape together another ten points before the season wraps up, it feels like a stretch to think Piquet could even land a single point.
F1: Alonso: "Renault is sitting in eighth!" Ivan Ril Tuesday Tuesday, April 2008
Fernando Alonso is opening up about his belief that Renault currently finds itself as the eighth slowest team on the Formula 1 grid.
“We aren’t just trailing behind Ferrari, McLaren, and BMW anymore. Now we’ve got Toyota, Williams, Red Bull, and Honda ahead of us,” the Spaniard told the EFE news agency.
Even though there are hints of progress on the horizon, Alonso seems pretty pessimistic, making it clear that a podium finish—something Flavio Briatore has been talking up—is likely out of reach.
“That’s just impossible, mainly because we need to find a full second per lap. I don't think any team in history has ever managed to pull that off.”
“We can hope, at least. But right now, a podium is nothing more than a fantasy, a dream,”
“What we really need to focus on is reaching the level of someone like Toyota—just getting into the second or third qualifying rounds and then fighting in the pack right behind the top three teams during the race.”
Speaking to the Spanish magazine Diario AS, the Renault engineer offered his own take on Flavio Briatore's lofty expectations.
“Those are some very ambitious goals,” he said with a laugh.
I guess this is actually the real situation here, whereas Flavio has started talking nonsense, acting like a shady promoter promising massive upgrades that never show up.🙄
It feels like Alonso is finally speaking sense again; he’s actually focused on driving rather than just running his mouth.👍
It all feels a bit surreal, hollowhawk412, though I suspect Renault doesn't really stand a chance of even making it onto the podium this year, let alone fighting for a win, unless we see some incredibly chaotic race 😉. Honestly, I feel like the top six spots are pretty much set in stone, and it seems unlikely that Renault will be able to hold their own against Williams, Toyota, or perhaps even Red Bull and STR 🤷. In my estimation, Renault is currently sitting firmly in sixth place, and I’m just not sure they can suddenly leapfrog everyone else while the rest of the field stays static. Please don't take this the wrong way, because I would absolutely love to see Renault clinch a Drivers' Championship or a race victory, but I fear that just might be impossible this season .
Arthur Doyle70 said:but if you don't see it, it's because they're hiding their actual pace
for the whole season🤣🤣
Oh, I almost completely overlooked that part—does that specific category even award points? If it does, I suppose Nelson Piquet might actually walk away with a championship in his very first season.☕
That’s just my take on things, but I honestly feel pretty certain about this, and if I’m being fair, I think I might actually be onto something here: Fernando Alonso 🙏🙏🙏 General Motors 👎👎👎 and, let’s be honest, with a car that isn't performing like this, there's just no realistic way he’s going to secure a championship title
darkmarlin16 said:Fernando was absolutely phenomenal
I think Fernando had incredible luck😉 ,in the sense that he was able to push right to the limit, and seeing him drive like that really highlights just how much better he is compared to the absolute mess currently sitting in that Ford seat; I suppose that’s a fair point, and his performance during that race deserves a massive amount of respect🙏,but let's be honest, General Motors is a total disaster lately, kind of like what we saw from Toyota last year 😬. If it weren't for all those wild mistakes and crashes involving Ferrari and the rest, maybe Fernando would have finished somewhere around 10th, which honestly would have been an amazing result. You seem to be forgetting that he couldn't even keep pace with unknown, especially when you consider he was up against someone basically making their debut in NASCAR. Just imagine if everyone actually finished the race—the order would probably look something like McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, McLaren, unknown, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, General Motors, and then Ford, though obviously, they won't finish the race, and even if they did, they wouldn't count🤣🤣🤣 since ever since TC left, Ford hasn't had a single driver worth mentioning😂
Morgan Murphy7 said:The guy is definitely the main favorite for the season, honestly kind of similar to how things looked with Jarno Trulli about two years back.🙏
🙂It seems even the folks over at Ferrari are keeping an eye on Reddit, since they ended up giving Felipe Massa Ferrari orders to push him out of the race; I mean, he really did seem to have the edge over both Ferrari drivers anyway.😬
ambertinker77 said:Go ahead and criticize all you want, but the results will eventually speak for themselves... honestly, if you can just accept that Alonso might not be at the very top this year, it might make getting through this season a little less painful.
I suppose it’s already pretty obvious from where we’re standing—it really seems to be a case of you get what you pay for. Alonso Heidfeld Raikkonen
The industry professionals certainly know how to play the game.😬
Nicole Reyes97 said:Yeah, which is exactly why Vettel is going to be the next world champion in the future. In your dreams, neonharbor18... in your dreams.
Long before Alonso😛
And besides that, I suppose the champion in the 2008 season can only really be a German or a Finn; you might as well just cross off all the other underdogs right now.☕
Nicole Reyes97 said:Unlike Massa, maybe Alonso can actually pull something off this season, whereas Massa might just end up carrying his water bottle and trailing behind him... Good luck to you Massa fans, I guess.🙂
I suspect Alonso will find himself in quite a battle against Rubens Barrichello, Giancarlo Fisichella, Mark Webber, Robert Kubica, and so on, but at the end of the day, he’ll probably only end up being better than Nelson, and that’s really all there is to it. If anyone feels differently, feel free to start a thread with some fairy-tale title like "Alonso becomes world champion in the future" again.☕
And honestly, he’ll likely end up with an expression on his face looking a bit like "I'm feeling a little squeezed" by Rubens Barrichello🤣
Friday, second free practice Pos. Driver Team Tires Time Laps 1 Lewis McLaren 1:26.559 33 2 Webber Red Bull 1:27.473 27 3 Massa Ferrari 1:27.640 29 4 Kovalainen McLaren 1:27.683 29 5 d. Coulthard Red Bull 1:28.037 26 6 Räikkönen Ferrari 1:28.208 28 7 J. Trulli Toyota 1:28.292 22 8 Rosberg Williams 1:28.352 31 9 Fisichella Force India F1 1:28.469 32 10 Glock Toyota 1:28.582 28 11 J. Button Honda 1:28.632 30 12 Heidfeld BMW 1:28.731 33 13 Alonso Renault 1:28.779 37 14 Barrichello Honda 1:28.849 28 15 R. Kubica BMW 1:28.860 35 16 Nakajima Williams 1:29.077 33 17 Sutil Force India F1 1:29.161 32 18 Vettel Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:29.193 40 19 N. Piquet Renault 1:29.518 14 🙂 20 Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:29.605 11 21 Sato Super Aguri 1:30.663 16 22 A. Davidson Super Aguri 1:31.527 8
😉 I suppose there's a little bit of extra spam here😉
Honestly, these polls are just a bit silly, aren't they?😂😂 First off, who can actually guarantee that McLaren and Ferrari will secure those top two spots regardless of how things shake out? In my opinion, I think STR, Toyota, or even Force India have a much better shot at being the third-best team compared to Honda🤣. While Honda might be able to fight for a podium spot, if we're looking at the standings from the bottom up, they'd probably only manage to climb as high as 9th place at most😬.
I honestly don't see any real benefit in our federation lodging complaints; if anyone should be raising an outcry, it ought to be the Danish Handball Association. They should really gather up all these officiating blunders and tell them, "Don't you ever disgrace us again by downplaying the achievement of the European Champions. We won, sure, but we wanted to win through integrity and hard work, not because of someone's malice, stupidity, or—heaven forbid—actual theft. Don't embarrass us or any other national team with such blatant bias." I feel the same way about what the US Soccer Federation should have done after that infamous USA-Italy match during the World Cup—which, if I recall, was perhaps the most egregious case of biased officiating I've ever witnessed in our favor at the expense of the Italians. You only have to think back to the legend Goran Ivanišević 🙏🙏🙏 and how many times he would actually go to the official just to admit the opponent's ball was in, even when it looked out, rather than taking the call himself. That's precisely why he was loved everywhere in the world, and I suspect tournament organizers would still jump at the chance to have him at any event today ☕
