The Great Indian Race Trick

[Quiet One 15]

Andres is right about Kimi, but of course without the option of a radio call Felipe can be hard to get past

Very boring race, this one. But glad to see Vettel drove the wheels off a recalcitrant car and crushed his inferior competitors once again.

On the whole "dominant car" thing which is coming up again. My main issue with these arguments, even as someone who thinks Alonso is the best driver in F1, is that I still think Vettel would give him such a hard time in the same car. If Alonso is a 9.5 then Vettel is, to me, at worst an 9. It's not like Timo Glock is going to win the title. That would be annoying if he just happened to luck into a completely dominant car. It's not even as annoying as if say Webber was going to win it or Massa or Button. There's an incredibly small difference between Alonso and Vettel and Hamilton, and either of them winning it is absolutely fine by me because they are the best three drivers.

To me, the amount that Vettel winning a title over Alonso is annoying is directly proportionate to the amount I think Alonso is better than Vettel, and that is a very small amount. But this all comes down to whether you think we have three top drivers in F1 (Vet, Ham, Alo), two (usually people would say Alo and Ham), or if you think we have one top driver in an absolute class of one at the front (Alonso in this case), as you might argue Casey Stoner has been in MotoGP or maybe Fangio was in the 50's, or Usain Bolt is, etc. Personally, I don't think Alonso is in a class of one at all even if I think he has had the best performance level this season, but if you thought that, I would understand why you'd be annoyed at this year or Vettel's records. Other than that, I don't get it. Don't be annoyed by the fact Vettel is winning; he's a really good driver. Be annoyed by the fact Ferrari are not working to their best potential, hiring the best designers, making sure their wind tunnel works, motivating their staff by hiring a decent number 2 driver, etc. Place the frustration with the right people (and that's exactly what Alonso is doing with his Newey quote, btw, sending a message to Ferrari).

Frustration is with regards the entertainment value, not Vettel's success (IMHO) which I tried to recognize in each of my posts (albeit grudgingly so )

[Rainmaster 7]

Oh I know you rightly differentiate between entertainment and worthiness, don't get me wrong. And it wasn't aimed at you in particular. It's just a matter of the tone of posts after a Vettel win and I wanted to make my position clear. Sometimes it sounds like Vettel winning a third championship would be some kind of massive injustice to driving standards and the sport, and I just wanted to point out that at worst imo he's the third best driver in this very talented grid. And if he is the third best driver I still don't think that's an absolute, I still think he's better than Alonso and Hamilton in different areas, so it's very close. Also there's a big perception difference in say Alonso and Vettel's performances and actions. For example, imagine swapping Alonso and Vettel's seats this year so Alonso was in the Red Bull and Vettel in the Ferrari. You might find you had people talking about how Red Bull's recent run of form was a result of Alonso's technical development skills and motivational abilities; no such talk for Vettel, though. Obviously, I am not making that argument but just thinking that perhaps our perception of them from the outset is inaccurate and it's very difficult to get away from that.

Time will tell in the end.