TBK-Light.com

There's been plenty of suggestions that Williams started out with the most technologically-advanced car in the field but by the end of the season the rest of the top teams had stuck on the same features and Williams weren't bothering to develop anything new because the rules were about to change (CVT aside) and they'd won the championship. Certainly the McLaren's electronics were becoming much more reliable - that's one of the main reasons why Andretti's performances began to improve later in the season (this is a really good article on Andretti in particular: http://f1rejects.com/centrale/andretti/index.html). Up until that point, they did have a tendency to do weird unexpected things to the car, which Andretti now thinks is a big conspiracy but in his case was probably down to his lack of testing. Benetton were also making progress around this time as well

Hakkinen appearing probably also helped the team push on and gave Ayrton a bit of a nudge forward. Senna was 1.4 off pole at Monza, just under a second off the pace in Estoril, just a tenth off at Suzuka, and on pole in Adelaide 4 tenths ahead of Prost. That's quite a sharp upward trajectory, and Hakkinen wasn't far off him. From Donington to Estoril, Senna didn't qualify on the front row, but then managed it in the last two races. That's the sign of a rapidly improving car

You can put far too much down to the drivers in these circumstances. Senna would not have been able to make up a second a lap or more on his own, and a lack of motivation wouldn't have cost Prost that sort of time either. That can only be down to the car - the only exception being if the driver had crashed in qualifying and needed the spare car, which I've found can usually account for some big differences in pace

That's all well and good (and some of it we'll need to agree to disagree on) but it's still not a comparable to Alonso and Ferrari.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

there will be probably some 30-45 min show each test day to cover the "highlights" of it. With so much changing, Ted & Co will have tones of things to say of each team, each day.

I was the guy that brought up that comparison and just for clearing it up, I said "almost on par with Senna vs the Williams of 92/93". Key word: almost.

However I have to point out one thing beyond all what James just said: back then we had a Prost way past his peak (he was past it by 89, nevermind by 93 after taking a year off) and a Hill thrown into a top seat out of nowhere with no experience, in the top team. Which exaggerated why Senna looked so ridiculously better than them in a much shittier car. Whereas for the past few years Alonso had to fight against one genuinely well rounded talent in the top seat - Vettel of course -, even if Vettel might only be reaching his very best now.

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ma twatter (F1/motorsports, footie, games and general nonsense ramblings)

Pah! No way. There is nothing similar to Alonso at Ferrari to Senna vs Williams in 92/93. Key word: nothing.

Perhaps you can help by giving examples of why you think these two are in any way similar.

And then... to say Prost was past his best? Not a chance. Prost in 1990 was mighty. In 1991 he was great on occasion but was limited by machinery. Prost in 1993 was awesome, maybe not as good as some of his previous years but by no means does that indicate he was past his best.

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

I figure it's close enough to F1 to post here, but Niki Lauda was at the Golden Globes tonight, and he took off his hat on national TV. Didn't look as bad as I thought it would, tbh.

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If you screw up while skydiving, you have the rest of your life to figure out how to fix it.

Driver in a noticeably inferior car takes a surprising title challenge to driver in noticeably superior car... that's the similarity. I didn't really want to infer anything more than that because the circumstances otherwise are substantially different, car tech was completely different, driving styles as well - Senna was a hell of a lot flashier, Alonso more of a "accountant" just adding good points race per race, etc etc, you could find a million different things yes.

I think Prost had an odd good year in '90 yes (though notice there was little in speed between him and Mansell), but I was highly unimpressed by '93, by then Hill who was a total noob looked quicker by midseason. No wonder: Prost was now 38 years old and had been a year out of the sport... I believed he started losing his edge by '89, as seen by how much slower than Senna he suddenly was compared to the previous year. These things are not necessarily linear and Prost did gain back a bit of good form in '90, but by '93... I think it was absolutely clear the man was no longer the methodic speed machine he was at his best in the mid-80s.

I'm going mostly by memory, season reviews and articles, not necessarily 100% reliable impressions, I wasn't even born yet when Prost won his first title!

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ma twatter (F1/motorsports, footie, games and general nonsense ramblings)

In TV news, Gary Anderson is leaving the BBC.

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

Its going to be the same as last year, a 15min show rounding up the news from the day followed by a 15-20min Ted Notebook.

Guessing there will also be regular updates on Sky Sports News.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/p4z3b5

Please excuse the newspaper article on the first page. I'm making fun of a friend of mine who is a journalist in my local newspaper, and I forgot that I was scanning everything to the same document

I get what you're saying noikee, it makes perfect sense. I was looking at it a slightly different way, believing (wrongly) you were trying to put Alonso on a pedastal.

Perhaps if I can offer a slightly different comparison... Instead of Senna vs Williams in 92/93, maybe it should be Schumi vs Williams in 97?

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BTCC Pick Em's Champion 2010
Formula Fun Cup Champion 2013
http://www.the-fastlane.co.uk

Thanks for sharing, Esben!


How ever, that list is just utter rubbish. We've already talked about Schumacher's position and Villeneuve and Alonso. But where the hell is Kimi Räikkönen? You know, Ferrari's last champion? He's way better than Massa and should be on the list one spot higher than Alonso somewhere around 10th spot.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

Marvelous

I just missed the dynamic duo Alesi/Berger

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

Some media reporting that John Button, Jenson's father, has passed away following a heart attack

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Dan Wheldon | 1978 - 2011

I also heard it. Very sad, he was a well known face

he was also a great guy, always happy and smiley on the races, Jenson had a great father rip

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Motorsports trend for 2024: everything is a bad taste joke now

wow, shocking really. RIP.

F1 people seem devastated by this. That says a lot

Awful news. RIP John Button.

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"Indy doesn't give you a second chance. You have to earn it."

Oh crap He was a nice guy, i met him in Monza 2010. Its sad to hear that RIP