Fernando Alonso won Daytona 24h ! First F-1 pilot to win this race.

[nachopc]

Looking forward to see him with the Daytona on his wrist-:)


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[Castlesinthesky]

Well done Fernando !

[mangoseed]

I know he only ever won 2 championships, but as an overall driver I would rate him much more highly than Vettel and Hamilton, probably Schumacher too.

[walds11]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

I know he only ever won 2 championships, but as an overall driver I would rate him much more highly than Vettel and Hamilton, probably Schumacher too.

Agreed He’s a legend!

[Rolex Essex]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

I know he only ever won 2 championships, but as an overall driver I would rate him much more highly than Vettel and Hamilton, probably Schumacher too.

You gotta joking right???
Haven’t you forgotten that Hamilton gave him a VERY hard time in his rookie year in McLaren?
Alonso is a very good and consistent driver however since he left McLaren at the end of 2007 he has caused disasters in every team he’s been in, hell he could’ve beaten Hamilton for WDC in 2008.

He’s caused so much trouble at Ferrari and begged to leave them after a couple of years. Had he still stay there he might’ve bagged a couple of WDC by now.

He’s begged McLaren to ditched the Honda engine in favour of a Renault engine to find out he’s got one of slowest car on the grid.

Alonso = poor team player.

I guest a lot of people feel sorry for him on his last spell at McLaren with their pig car.

[mangoseed]

Originally Posted by Rolex Essex

You gotta joking right???
Haven’t you forgotten that Hamilton gave him a VERY hard time in his rookie year in McLaren?
Alonso is a very good and consistent driver however since he left McLaren at the end of 2007 he has caused disasters in every team he’s been in, hell he could’ve beaten Hamilton for WDC in 2008.

He’s caused so much trouble at Ferrari and begged to leave them after a couple of years. Had he still stay there he might’ve bagged a couple of WDC by now.

He’s begged McLaren to ditched the Honda engine in favour of a Renault engine to find out he’s got one of slowest car on the grid.

Alonso = poor team player.

I guest a lot of people feel sorry for him on his last spell at McLaren with their pig car.

You are assuming that Hamilton and Alonso both had equal parts that year, Hamilton was an absolute marketing gem for McLaren.

[dan993]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

You are assuming that Hamilton and Alonso both had equal parts that year, Hamilton was an absolute marketing gem for McLaren.

Why did they pay big bucks to secure Alonso then?

[V25V]

Originally Posted by dan993

Why did they pay big bucks to secure Alonso then?

Why did Ferrari keep paying big money to secure Barrichello all those years?

[huncho]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

I know he only ever won 2 championships, but as an overall driver I would rate him much more highly than Vettel and Hamilton, probably Schumacher too.

better than vettel sure, no way would i say he's better than hamilton though

[dan993]

Originally Posted by huncho

better than vettel sure, no way would i say he's better than hamilton though

My thoughts exactly while I'm not a Hamilton fanboy he beat Alonso in the same car fair and square when both were at McLaren. Vettel lets his emotions get the better of him and loses focus.

[mangoseed]

Originally Posted by dan993

My thoughts exactly while I'm not a Hamilton fanboy he beat Alonso in the same car fair and square when both were at McLaren. Vettel lets his emotions get the better of him and loses focus.

Actually they finished tied on points that season. I know the flaws in Alonso's character are evident, but based on driving skill alone he was the best. Hamilton had the much better car in 2012 but it was Alonso challenging Vettel for the title. As for 2007 there are a lot of reports about favoritism happening at McLaren that year, the British media were going crazing fawning after Hamilton (he was far more popular than he is today).

[dan993]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

Actually they finished tied on points that season. I know the flaws in Alonso's character are evident, but based on driving skill alone he was the best. Hamilton had the much better car in 2012 but it was Alonso challenging Vettel for the title. As for 2007 there are a lot of reports about favoritism happening at McLaren that year, the British media were going crazing fawning after Hamilton (he was far more popular than he is today).

Where are these reports of favouritism? Yes the public got excited about Hamilton as a new F1 driver who was winning and brought excitement to F1 but the facts are Alonso wanted out as soon as he knew he was not the No 1 driver and brought about the whole Ferrarigate to get out of his contract.

[joli160]

Originally Posted by mangoseed

I know he only ever won 2 championships, but as an overall driver I would rate him much more highly than Vettel and Hamilton, probably Schumacher too.

[inadeje]

Are you sure he is the first F1 driver to win?

[FiftyTwoEighty]

Originally Posted by inadeje

Are you sure he is the first F1 driver to win?

Pretty sure JP Montoya won 24 Hours of Daytona, 3 times with Chip Ganassi Racing.

Congrats Fernando!

[josephvman]

He’s not.

Originally Posted by inadeje

Are you sure he is the first F1 driver to win?

[Harry-57]

The fact that he is widely perceived as falling short, yet still won two F1 world championships speaks clearly to his monumental talent. And of how much of it was unrealised.

He's in good company. There are many drivers, still alive and competing, who could so easily have been F1 world champions or multiple F1 champions but for circumstances.

Nice to see that Alonso's considerable abilities can still be put to good use. Good luck to him. Button won his second world championship recently.

[jaySL350]

That didn’t take him long,,,
Well done Alonso,

[dba]

Although the race was called to an end early, apparently he gave a master class in driving at night in the rain.

Once again showing that F1 will be less, because of his absence.

[77T]

Originally Posted by dba

Although the race was called to an end early, apparently he gave a master class in driving at night in the rain.

Once again showing that F1 will be less, because of his absence.

Not only skillful at night, but wisely pushed the leader in the daylight as the heavier rain cells were approaching the track this morning.

Felipe Nasr was in the lead and ALO pressed here and there - but was patient. Then coming off the tri-oval Nasr couldn’t brake enough and went straight off in turn 1!

He had to turn himself around, losing about two seconds and the overall lead to ALO just 10 minutes before the 2nd Red Flag came out. The race still had 2 hours to go, but the track couldn’t be cleared of standing water so Checkered after a long wait.

There were many ex F1 drivers racing, but it’s the combination of good teammates and leadership to win this race. Jordan Taylor carried as much of a load as ALO overnight. But he was a key player for sure.



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[enjoythemusic]

I was at Daytona when Montoya won and as I recall he raced Formula 1 for BMW.

Alonzo is not only an excellent Formula One driver, he's an excellent development driver. There's some guys who can drive cars great, but far fewer can help with actual development and fine-tuning. This is why development drivers tend to do great under rainy and adverse conditions.

[Rock]

I have always regarded Alonso as the best of the current generation of drivers.
Squandering him at McLaren was an absolute tragedy as he would have won more World Championships in a car like the Mercedes.
F1 is less for his retirement.

[Rolex Essex]

Originally Posted by Rock

Squandering him at McLaren was an absolute tragedy as he would have won more World Championships in a car like the Mercedes.
F1 is less for his retirement.

He wouldn’t need to be in a Mercedes to win WDC. If he’d stayed at Ferrari then he could’ve won it by now because let’s face it, he’s far more consistent than spin baby Vettel.

[RW16610]

That's quite the achievement! Nicely done on his part.

[Rock]

Phil Hill (1961) and Mario Andretti (1978) were the other two F1 World Champions who also won Daytona, as opposed to F1 drivers who have competed at Daytona.

Having followed F1 for 30 years, I have always regarded the car as being at least as important as the driver with luck an important factor also.

2007 - to which 'Rolex Essex' refers, was an incredibly close result. If my F1 diary is correct, I have Raikkonen winning the Championship with 110 points and Alonso and Hamilton finishing with 109 each.

Alonso went to Renault for 2008 and 2009 which wasn't a good move - placing 6th and 9th in those years.

He then returned to Ferrari from 2010 until 2014 placing 2nd, 4th, 2nd, 2nd and 6th before moving back to McLaren in 2015 - when the place to be was Mercedes or at a pinch, Ferrari, but certainly not McLaren which was at the beginning of a slump in which they remain to this day.

There's a lot of luck involved, going to the right team when they are on the ascendancy and jumping ship quickly if they stall, or if a better opportunity comes along.

[jfmiii]

Does anyone know which Daytona was given to the winners? SS or TT, like last year?

[walds11]

Originally Posted by jfmiii

Does anyone know which Daytona was given to the winners? SS or TT, like last year?

TT.

https://mobile.twitter.com/alo_ofici...767170/photo/3

[V25V]

Originally Posted by nachopc

Looking forward to see him with the Daytona on his wrist-:)


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He was most certainly not the first F1 driver to win at Daytona..... not even close.

[dan993]

McLaren really wanted Fernando and paid him 40 million bucks if my memory is correct. Not even McLaren expected Hamilton to do as well as he did early on. Fernando is a special driver and one of the best overtakers I've ever seen in F1. So do you really believe Alonso caused Ferrarigate because Hamilton had better equipment? Alonso should be in a 1 car team he ain't no team player. Do you remember Renault telling Piquet Jnr to crash at Singapore on purpose to bring out the safety car so Alonso had a better chance at winning, and he did!

[V25V]

Originally Posted by dan993

McLaren really wanted Fernando and paid him 40 million bucks if my memory is correct. Not even McLaren expected Hamilton to do as well as he did early on. Fernando is a special driver and one of the best overtakers I've ever seen in F1. So do you really believe Alonso caused Ferrarigate because Hamilton had better equipment? Alonso should be in a 1 car team he ain't no team player. Do you remember Renault telling Piquet Jnr to crash at Singapore on purpose to bring out the safety car so Alonso had a better chance at winning, and he did!

We will never know for sure. But for me, this is the problem with F1, too much politics at play. I am not one for spec racing, I enjoy the ability for the teams to play, but problem is then $$$. Then we do not see the best rise to the top because of the equipment/engineers/etc coming into play. I have a hard time watching pretty much any form of motorsport these days, thats coming from a guy who grew up at the track, still races and has 2 sons in karts. Grassroots is still where its at but the "pro" level is just $$$ and politics these days (one and the same).