Before the season there was plenty of talk about how difficult it would be for the laid-back, party-hearty Finn to replace the disciplined, hard-working
Michael Schumacher as Ferrari’s team leader. Yet Raikkonen and the team seemed to get stronger, not weaker, as the season wore on. Kimi’s pure speed and uncomplicated ways may not be so bad after all.
Different than Schumacher for sure, but maybe just as effective.
Team-mate
Felipe Massa proved to be better than expected. He was great on his best days, won three races and showed his class at home in Brazil last weekend. Having spent a very pleasant evening with Massa in London five or six years ago, I have to admit I’m a fan of the little Brazilian, and I’m delighted to see him enjoy such a strong season with
Ferrari.
Hamilton has been hailed as the most impressive rookie ever to appear in
F1 and it’s difficult to argue otherwise.
He’s been carefully groomed by Ron Dennis through four years in England and Europe’s open-wheel ladder system reckoned to be worth at least US$8 million, followed by some 6,000 miles of F1 testing prior to the start of this season. I can’t think of anyone who was more carefully prepared for his rookie F1 season. In the end, you can say Hamilton lost the championship because of a series of rookie mistakes after slithering into a sand trap in China then messing-up on the opening lap in Brazil, but it was still a superb rookie season.
Alonso made quite a few mistakes on and off the track. Across the board, he didn’t look like the same guy who won two championships in such consummate style with
Renault. But there were times when we saw every inch of the great driver inside the enigmatic Spaniard. He was clearly faster than Hamilon in four or five races and scored a great victory at the Nurburgring after rapidly catching and passing Massa in the closing laps.
