What If?

[taliesen]

Well, keep in mind the source . . . .

BUT, mechanical failures and team errors are a part of racing - Massa's issues in Hungary and Singapore were 'natural' parts of those races. The 8 point swing Massa had on his side after Spa were the result of post-race manipulations by the officials. Completely different story . . . .

[JM]

I cannot hear all that crying about Ferrari favoured by officialdom any more. In my mind cute Lewis' penalty in Spa was correct. He missed the chicane and should simply have waited one corner more to overtake Kimi. And to Seiiki: Hamilton went down from 1st to 3rd i.e. he lost 4 points, Massa up from 2nd to first i.e he gained 2. To me that makes 6 points difference, not 10 or 8 as Taliesen states. Or am I totally wrong?
In Monza Hamilton should have been disqualified - twice! Driving Glock and Webber off the road was outrageous.
Anyway at the end Hamilton had one point more than Massa so he is World champion regardless of all if and when. To me he was very lucky because Ferrari let Massa down massively on two occasions (Hungary and Singapore) but that's not Hamiltons fault. On the other hand Massa threw it away himself in Bahrain loosing a certain second place.
I do not like the final outcome, I do not like Hamilton but I would not go as far as saying he is less worthy a champ than any of the ones before him.
BTW my favourite seemed asleep for most of the season. I hope Kimi will be awake again next year and beat them all again.

[indycals]

I cannot hear all that crying about Ferrari favoured by officialdom any more. In my mind cute Lewis' penalty in Spa was correct. He missed the chicane and should simply have waited one corner more to overtake Kimi. And to Seiiki: Hamilton went down from 1st to 3rd i.e. he lost 4 points, Massa up from 2nd to first i.e he gained 2. To me that makes 6 points difference, not 10 or 8 as Taliesen states. Or am I totally wrong?

I think he was using the 10-6-4-3-2-1 point system to keep in line with the original post.

[Dede]

Its very simple,
you can't please all of the people all of the time, sure the Massa and Ferrari fans are hurting right now, but I suppose they will only try even harder next year to beat Lewis and McLaren, so we hopefully we will be in for a good battle next season
but I would predict that Lewis will be getting stronger as he gains more and more experience in F1, I wonder if Lewis and Massa's time and experience in F1 were reversed would they have been so close in points at seasons end...
Massa did a great job this year and had his ups and downs but Lewis was better in my opinion ( one race that sticks out this year was Silverstone in the wet, Hamilton was fantastic ) but also had his ups and downs as we all know and thoroughly deserves the spoils along with McLaren who got their first driver title in
nine years, Congrats to them all. roll on next year

[gpman]

Hi guy's,
Sorry to break my silence by jumping in on this topic but... i agree with dede on this. Lewis drove a stormer at silverstone and as i recall BOTH the red cars failed to keep it on the island and... kimi couldnt keep it afloat at Spa either. Dont get me wrong, both guy's deserved the title, but at the end of the day the best...or luckiest..how ever you want too see it..WON!! Toyota's gaff certainly help Lewis to get that crucial point but every driver deserves a lil luck in a season!! dont they?? Despite all the hype imho Lewis had prepared himself more mentally this year, sure he was a lil rough at monza, but then it just show's what balls the guy has! I for one would love too see more gritty driving and less interfernece from the F1 mafia when it's a racing incident!!! lets hope next year brings even more excitment and even more drivers fighting for the title.... but for now1....WELL DONE LEWIS!!!

[taliesen]

I cannot hear all that crying about Ferrari favoured by officialdom any more. In my mind cute Lewis' penalty in Spa was correct. He missed the chicane and should simply have waited one corner more to overtake Kimi. And to Seiiki: Hamilton went down from 1st to 3rd i.e. he lost 4 points, Massa up from 2nd to first i.e he gained 2. To me that makes 6 points difference, not 10 or 8 as Taliesen states. Or am I totally wrong?

I think he was using the 10-6-4-3-2-1 point system to keep in line with the original post.

8 real world points = 6 for Spa + 1 for Japan to tie, the 8th to win it on points and not tie breakers. It would be more like 12 points (I think, math skills are off today) under the alternate points system.

[SBEST]

Out of curiousity . . . what is the world feeling on Canice's last point? Or is it as up in the air as it is here in the States?

Did not care for it. When I visit a foreign country or meet with a national I don't think it is my place to provide an opinion about their leaders or government. As a matter of fact I do the same thing at religious services as well.

As far as who won the championship I really don't care anymore. (I had a favorite) More interested in next year now! I was merely trying to illustrate that the point system may be screwy. I think a win should be worth more than 2 points over second place.

Kind Regards all.......

Steve ............

[stuartmasson]

And if your aunty had balls she'd be your uncle...

Seriously, there are all sorts of "What ifs?" that you could apply right throughout history. What if Peter Collins hadn't handed his car over to Fangio in the last race in '56? Collins would have probably been champion, Fangio certainly wouldn't. Does that diminish Fangio? Not at all.

What if Lauda hadn't crashed at the Nurburgring in '76? Or if it hadn't rained in Fuji that same year?

There were a lot of highs and lows for both Ferrari and McLaren this year. Both of the title contenders had some superb drives and made some stupid errors (Hamilton in the Canada pitlane was by far the most stupid thing i have ever seen, but Massa had his problems as well).

The biggest problem has been inconsistency of stewarding. i do not think they are pro-Ferrari or anti-McLaren, it is simply inconsistency.

Both Hamilton and Massa will emerge stronger from this year, and hopefully Ferrari will be back on top next year!

stuart

[lumpulus]

Please keep this topic civil, or I'll be forced to lock it. I like a good debate as much as the next guy, but please don't get personal.

This topic has been locked by request.