Alonso's the best of 2010 ? [Archive]

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pino

3rd December 2010, 05:51

Fernando Alonso has been voted as the best driver of 2010 in AUTOSPORT's exclusive team principals' top 10 poll.

1. Alonso 229
2. Vettel 220
3. Hamilton 196
4. Webber 146
5. Kubica 129
6. Button 86
7. Rosberg 68
8. Hulkenberg 17
. Massa 17
10. Barrichello 11

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88556

I am sure most of you will disagree with this poll, so post your list, vote on the poll and let's discuss it. Come on let's have some fun :p : :s

ShiftingGears

3rd December 2010, 06:54

I thought Hamilton was. Very fast and the most consistent out of the top runners. Kubica was also very consistent - lists like this always show that people make the association that drivers in the fastest cars are the best drivers. If the Renault was a fantastic machine this year Kubica would be much higher rated.

Hulkenberg was not better than Barrichello.

UltimateDanGTR

3rd December 2010, 07:54

I voted Lewis on the basis that he only made 2 meaningful mistakes all year and was on fire in the first part of the season. To still go into the championship finale with a shout of the championship in arguably the 3rd best car was a real achievment for me.

It was close between him and Kubica though, Who was also fantastic and stood out at the 3 real drivers tracks of F1; Monaco, Spa and Suzuka.

Retro Formula 1

3rd December 2010, 08:28

How did Vettel get rated above Hamilton???????

Best cat by a country mile, preferential treatment within the team and he only squeaked it at the last race against the odds.

Luckiest driver of the year is more accurate.

Alonso did a great job all year but Hamilton gets it for me because he had the 3rd best car and outdrove it superbly.

555-04Q2

3rd December 2010, 10:07

Hey, where's Schumi :p :

yodasarmpit

3rd December 2010, 10:07

I don't see Kamui Kobayashi on the list.

555-04Q2

3rd December 2010, 10:09

How did Vettel get rated above Hamilton???????

Easy, the majority of people (voters) are idiots.

CNR

3rd December 2010, 11:48

52Paddy

3rd December 2010, 12:12

I don't see Kamui Kobayashi on the list.

He is definitely in my top three. Rosberg and Kubica were most impressive in my books. Both kept a cool head and showed great consistency the year round, in cars that would never beat the big boys out raw anyway. All of the championship contenders in the closing stages had huge faults: Vettel was over-exhuberant, Webber lacked pace when it mattered, Alonso also lacked pace at times and was nowhere in the middle of the year, Hamilton made schoolboy errors and Button couldn't get comfortable with his car at a handful of races.

maximilian

3rd December 2010, 13:09

It's ridiculous to say anybody but Vettel was best this year. If it hadn't been for several mechanical failures, he would have clinched the title earlier and by a much larger margin. As such, all the talk about "best car" is also rubbish, because while it may well have been the fastest on many circuits, it was also comparatively unreliable in Vettel's case.

Hamilton is #2 for me. He really DID do an amazing job, but blew it with his 2 crashes.

Alonso would be 3rd - he did very well too, but that team orders thing just leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. He had no team mate to compete with to lose points to, like Vettel did.

Webber was brilliant at times, but just didn't have the pace in the end, and those 2 unforced crashes were just stupid and cost him everything for no reason at all.

Button probably made the fewest mistakes of the top runners, but just wasn't quick enough ultimately.

Massa had a horrible year. Remains to be seen if we'll ever see him back at his best.

Kubica had a great year, but it could well be that the Renault was just a great package, and that Petrov is worse than we think :) I don't buy into the Kubica hype, still.

Rosberg did have a great year, considering the dodgy car.

Kobayashi definitely gets an honorable mention!

wedge

3rd December 2010, 15:53

The producer of the Senna documentary http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/11/who-were-the-top-five-drivers-of-the-year-a-producers-view/ and BBC journalist Andrew Benson http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2010/11/who_were_the_top_10_f1_drivers.html both picked Alonso.

This is what I originally posted on James Allen's site:

1. Hamilton – the all round package. Crucially he schooled RBR in Istanbul in how to race wheel to wheel with your team mate even with the benefit of team orders *cough* ’save fuel’ *splutter*

2. Vettel – he may be the champ but he arguably had the advantage of the better car. Too many questions asked of him when he’s not on pole/leading the race.

3. Webber – a formidable foe for Vettel and even RBR. Held his head up high when he questions the team. Vettel was better driver, arguably the quickest amongst the current F1 field.

4. Kubica – agains shown his talent that he deserves to be in an apex team challenging for the WDC.

5. Alonso – stolen a piece of Jimmie Johnson’s (multiple NASCAR Sprint Cup champ) mojo and peaked at the right moment which is why he easily trumps Button, even though by his standards Alonso’s form was disappointingly and embarrassingly shambolic in the first of the year.

Sleeper

3rd December 2010, 17:23

this dose not add up

Alonso 229
Vettel 220
Hamilton 196
Webber 146
Kubica 129
Button 86
Rosberg 68
Hulkenberg 17
Massa 17
Barrichello 11

total=1119
/12 = 93.25

25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 = 93

3 votes out
Ferrari didnt reply and one team boss only supplied a top 3.

I agree with Autosports Mark Hughes on Hamilton being the best. OK, Monza was a silly mistake, but I still reckon Singapore was 50/50 with Webber. Alonso made a lot of mistakes early in the first half of the year, Vettel made two huge mistakes in Turkey and Spa and has still yet to prove that he can go wheel to wheel with anyone, Webber made a mess of Melbourne and seemed to crumble in Korea and Abu Dhabi, Button's sensitivity in a difficult car created a big gap in qualy to Hamilton at times and following a tech tweak to the breakes lead to a shocker in Korea.

gloomyDAY

3rd December 2010, 17:28

Alonso’s form was disappointingly and embarrassingly shambolic in the first of the year.http://www.lolwut.com/layout/lolwut.jpg

Sonic

3rd December 2010, 18:25

They were all flawed this year. Vettel made too many mistakes, whilst Alonso was away with the Cornish fairies in the middle part of the year. Webber made a hash of two important races and Button, who seemed energised in the first 6 races or so got progressively more whingy as the season wore on - I wonder if there is a direct relationship between his increase in complaining and his decrease in speed ;) :p

That just leaves Hamilton of the front runners, and of those at the front I give him the nod - that car did not deserve to be in the title hunt till seasons end.

But my personal pick of the year is Rosberg. Under the radar for the most part. But he has been error free and finished best of the rest in the championship against all expectations.

ioan

3rd December 2010, 19:32

ioan

3rd December 2010, 19:36

Vettel made mistakes.
Alonso made mistakes.
Webber also had unforced mistakes.
Hamilton also kept running into other cars for a few races.

Vettel had most mechanical DNFs and still got on top of it with impressive last 5 races, so he get's the nod from me.

Rosberg and Rubens were very consistent however not fast enough.

Cooper_S

3rd December 2010, 22:07

What a useless poll... So Alonso gets the nod guys by a margin of 20.4% to 19.7% form the opinions of just 12 men.

I sure Vettel is gutted by the result; all he got was a lousy WDC title. I wonder who Horner voted for...?

donKey jote

3rd December 2010, 23:44

Fernando Alonso has been voted as the best driver of 2010 in AUTOSPORT's exclusive team principals' top 10 poll.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88556

I am sure most of you will disagree with this poll, so post your list, vote on the poll and let's discuss it. Come on let's have some fun :p : :s

I agree :D
And even if I didn't, I wouldn't pretend to know better than the team principles :arrows: :p

Hawkmoon

3rd December 2010, 23:51

. I wonder who Horner voted for...?

It wasn't Mark Webber.

maximilian

4th December 2010, 00:30

Alonso only won the poll because he got some of Massa's points ;)

wedge

4th December 2010, 01:16

Vettel made mistakes.
Alonso made mistakes.
Webber also had unforced mistakes.
Hamilton also kept running into other cars for a few races.

Of course there was plenty of mistakes but you have to analyse which were the lesser or greater evils and balance out different merits and variables.

F1boat

4th December 2010, 07:33

All championship contenders made a lot of mistakes this year, so it is hard to choose. If I have to vote, I am split between Alonso and Hamilton, they both remained in the fight till the very end. Cause I am biased I will agree about Alonso.
BTW, it is in a second year in a row when the champion loses the poll. I think that last year Button was not the winner.

ioan

4th December 2010, 09:52

Of course there was plenty of mistakes but you have to analyse which were the lesser or greater evils and balance out different merits and variables.

You mean that we should throw in a truck load of subjectivity (i.e. balance of different merits :p ) ?
No thanks.

wedge

4th December 2010, 14:23

BTW, it is in a second year in a row when the champion loses the poll. I think that last year Button was not the winner.

Becoming WDC doesn't necessarily mean you were the 'best' driver that year. I remember Schumi was regarded as the best driver of 1996 and quite rightly so.

To be the 'best' you not only need to destroy the field when you have the best car but you need maximise the car AKA out driving the car when you don't have race winning car.

Sonic

4th December 2010, 14:54

jens

4th December 2010, 16:23

Like in the last three years, again a very difficult choice. Five drivers stand out to me: Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg, Vettel. Eventually my vote went to Kubica, both him and Nico are vastly under-appreciated in this poll, but generally could have chosen anyone.

Alonso (almost) made up for his mistakes in the first half and put in some great drives. Hamilton on the other hand had a brilliant 2/3 of the season, but then slightly dropped the ball (Monza crash plus letting Alonso past him easily in some final races).

Kubica and Rosberg were completely different. Very few mistakes and seemed to be extracting the best out of the car most of the time. And both of them almost beat Massa in WDC standings. But they lacked a team-mate performing on top of their game, which leaves people in doubt.

Vettel may have seemed slightly inferior to Alonso/Hamilton (won the WDC so narrowly despite a superior car), but I think the amount of his driving mistakes was overblown during the season - there were a couple of them, but that's not too dramatic. However, have to admit that his skills to deal with wheel-to-wheel racing remain continually in doubt compared to the four above.

How did Vettel get rated above Hamilton???????

Best cat by a country mile, preferential treatment within the team and he only squeaked it at the last race against the odds.

Luckiest driver of the year is more accurate.

Luckiest drivers do not suffer frequent car failures from race leads.

--

Regarding the vote of team principals', I have to say that generally this one pole position has clouded the judgement on the rest of Hülkenberg's season. Rating the full season of 2010, I'd rate also the likes of Kovalainen and Glock as superior to Hulk.

Cooper_S

4th December 2010, 21:51

Chill dude. It's just for fun :)

duly noted... :s mokin:

Sonic

5th December 2010, 14:13

Someone chose Massa as the best? We are voting on 2010, and not 2008 right?

markabilly

6th December 2010, 03:30

Alonso only won the poll because he got some of Massa's points ;)
yeah just when I was going to vote for Massa, a strange voice started saying over and over...."Alonso is best, do you undertstand....," and even when I voted for Massa despite the pressure, , the talley went up one up for massa, then suddenly, a second later, it went down by one for Massa and the talley went one up for fa...... strange......

SGWilko

6th December 2010, 10:54

I Voted for Lewis - and I admit I am unashamedly biassed. :D

However, if you consider the following, you can see a little method in my madness.......

The McLaren was never the best car in 2010, and on occasion it was, at best, mediocre.

When the McLaren was at its worst, Lewis got the best out of it.

Lewis did not have the benefit of his team pulling in his direction to the detriment of Jenson.

The Red Bull clearly was the class of the field, and the design team kept it that way for pretty much every race. I don't recall there being one racetrack where that car was off the front running pace.

Ferrari were all clamouring to get up Alonso's harris - I will concede that Fernando did put in some top notch drives, but he made too many mistakes in the first half of the season which tainted his revival for me.

Vettel was lucky - I'm not taking away his excellent performances, but he had the support of the team psychologically, and despite the best efforts of the cars unreliability and some dumb mistakes, he took the title. It was deserved however.

markabilly

7th December 2010, 04:01

SilverArrows

7th December 2010, 22:53

Vettel was the best for me, although in truth you could make a case for either Hamilton or Alonso as well.

Ok so the Red Bull was by far the best car of 2010 but still, winning the championship is very difficult. Sebastian had some great momentum in the second half of the season - he would have won 4 races in a row if it weren't for that engine failure in Korea. Spa and Turkey were probably his biggest mistakes, but his drives in Japan, Brazil and Abu Dhabi were faultless.

Personally I wouldn't put Alonso first despite his amazing comeback. I thought Singapore was one of the finest victories of his career, it was just vintage Fernando. Some of his recovery drives in the first part of the season were very good too such as Monaco, Malaysia and Australia. His mistakes were a bit baffling though - the jump start in China, the quali farce in Malaysia and that strategy error in Abu Dhabi (yes I include Fernando in that as he is part of the team).

Hamilton was definitely the standout driver at the beginning of the year, and his victories in Spa and Canada were simply brilliant. I wouldn't put him first though because of the timing of his errors. The mistake in Monza was stupid, ok the incident Singapore was 50/50 but he also had tyre management issues in Brazil and Korea. On balance, though, I think Lewis and Fernando had very similar seasons just Lewis' mistakes came when it mattered more.

My top five:

1. Vettel
2. Alonso
3. Hamilton
4. Kubica
5. Webber

N4D13

8th December 2010, 11:20

Personally I wouldn't put Alonso first despite his amazing comeback. I thought Singapore was one of the finest victories of his career, it was just vintage Fernando. Some of his recovery drives in the first part of the season were very good too such as Monaco, Malaysia and Australia. His mistakes were a bit baffling though - the jump start in China, the quali farce in Malaysia and that strategy error in Abu Dhabi (yes I include Fernando in that as he is part of the team).
Quite frankly, I don't see how the Malaysia qualifying nor the Abu Dhabi strategy error could be his mistakes. I don't think that Alonso had all the weather data Ferrari had in order to make a decision, neither do I believe that he knew about all track positions and time gaps before doing his pitstop.

However, he did have a part in Australia, Monaco and Great Britain. It can be argued that he was unlucky in these occasions (Australia, Monaco) or that the team made it worse (Great Britain), but they certainly were more of his fault that Malaysia and Abu Dhabi were.