“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.
