The Top Dog for Turkey is...
- Published on May 9th, 2011 by Benson Jammichello"Hot Rod or Hot Dog" is our regular post-grand prix column where we review all of the driver performances in that race. As part of the process, one driver is declared as Badger's "Top Dog"; it's not necessarily the winner and, to be honest, it could be for anything - even driving into the wrong pit box...
It has to be...Alonso
We don't like it, we never do (well, apart from Jimmy von Weeks, a self-confessed Alonso fan), but it simply has to be the Spaniard.
Saddled with a car not even he could make competitive in the first few races, he came back with avengence on Sunday. That's not to say he was the fastest (he wasn't), or had a chance of winning (he didn't), but to say that he got the most out of his car. That's all a Badger can ask for.
It's just a shame that the three leading cars (Red Bull, McLaren and Ferrari, in case you needed reminding) aren't closer. What price a Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso scrap for the title? Although it's nigh on impossible to predict accurately what will happen for the rest of the season, the Red Bull is simply so fast that it's very hard to see anyone else competing any time soon.
That overwhelming dominance might help Vettel win another championship, but it won't remove the nagging doubt that he can't scrap for victories. That said, what with all the newfangled technologies, it's not like he'd have to, is it?
Given Alonso's record of defensive driving (I'm thinking Imola, 2005), it's a shame he simply wasn't able to compete when Webber zoomed up on him at a scorching pace. We all want to see overtaking and drivers changing position, but is it genuine? Alonso would have fought harder, for longer and more successfully were Webber not able to drive past him. That's not overtaking, that's just driving past someone. What's the point?
On another note, it's nice for Alonso that he's manged to find himself a team mate who can push him only slightly and occasionally, without being perceived as a real threat by anyone serious. The perfect match.
Comments and Discussion
"Alonso would have fought harder, for longer and more successfully were Webber not able to drive past him. That's not overtaking, that's just driving past someone. What's the point?"
Isn't that the reward for having the best strategy and having the best tyres at the right time?
Perhaps, but the fight would have been longer without DRS.
Nope. That's the reward of using the unfair DRS system, against which there is no real defence which this race has proven. Tyres had nothing to do with it.
I understand what you mean, Alexis, but the reward is too large, the gains too great and the pay off too immediate for my liking.
I think it's a case of too much, too soon. The defending driver can't really do anything about it.
The DRS zone was just too big for anyone too put up a fight. Anyhow, Webber was on the right tyres and Alonso pitted too early
[...] The Top Dog for Turkey is... | Badger GP Hot Rod or Hot Dog is our regular post-grand prix column where we review all of the driver performances in that race. As part of the process, one driver is declared as Badger's Top Dog - so who gets the nod for Turkey? [...]
I gotta agree with Alexis. Although this was the race i enjoyed least so far this year as the drivers often say. It's the same for everyone. Wether it be tires drs kers what ever.
I understand completely where mark and lewis are coming from when they say it's not special to win a race like that or to overtake. but at the same time i have to think that the reasons for it are that they got the most out of the car/strategy/tires what ever the case may be. There aren't any undeserved finishes in f1 because even liuzzi or trulli coming in in 22nd place, have fought for their lives to get one of those cars round 56 laps.