Alonso and Hamilton, when the driver still makes the difference.
Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton respect each other and probably fear each other.
There almost seems to be a friendship between the two champions, how different was that when they were team mates at McLaren, sparks flew off in all directions.
But with the passing of the years and a few fights on track, they have come to respect each other.
In the Bahrain race both of their cars showed signs of trouble, Alonso's DRS wing refused to play along and Hamilton's Mercedes ate away the rear tires faster than a speeding bullet, but both of them put in a great performance and proved that a driver can still make the difference.
Alonso drove like a lion, starting his race from P17, handicapped by the loss of his DRS and therefore in some laps a lower topspeed, and still the Asturian champion put up great fight with the unleashed Mexican Perez, even passing him on the pitstraight and taking over 7th place for a couple of corners.
Hamilton on his part started from P9, suffered the usual Mercedes "diseases" but eventually forced his way past Webber, who on paper is driving the same "spaceship" as his team mate.
Both outperformed their teammates not by a small margin, although Massa in this case can't be blamed because of the two punctures.
It has become almost a trademark for both of them to overcome problems with the car and find performance were it's not expected.
There is also a remarkable resemblance to their team mates, both Felipe Massa and Nico Rosberg can be extremely fast over 1 lap, but usually lose out to their team mates in the race, although in all fairness Lewis can be considered the fastest driver over 1 lap.
Both Fernando and Lewis are instinctive drivers and have a competitive nastiness that not many drivers have.
Is Vettel a member of this elusive club? That remains to be seen, we have seen him drive and fight very intense, we have seen him crush and dispose his team mate like a certain Michael Schumacher, but we haven't seen him yet in a car that's not at the level of his recent RB's, neither have we seen him in a team where, let's say, all the engineers solutions are not designed to his wishes.
Is it a coincidence that Mercedes is performing better after the arrival of Hamilton? Probably not, real champions not only bring their driving skills, but also relentlessness, accuracy, efficiency, leaving absolutely nothing to chance, and where Lewis scores better points in qualifying, Fernando outperforms Lewis in this area, making them both the fiercest competitors on the grid.
But despite having all those qualities, both failed to win the championship for several years now, but were beaten by the ubiquitous Red Bull car, driven by Vettel.
If the German is a cannibal, as was his illustrious compatriot from Kerpen, than the Spaniard and the Brit are the ones who excite the Formula 1 fans, in the end the numbers are only for statistical purposes and posterity, but you can't fool a true fan's racing heart, Alonso and Hamilton are pure bred racehorses, that can't be tamed, let them loose and they'll take off like a rocket, they can't help it, it's in their nature.
An explosion of emotions at every Grand Prix, in an era where the strict rules of modern F1 even try to control how the drivers behave, they are the true ring masters.
Dr Ferdinand Porsche:" Nuvolari is the greatest driver of the past, the present, and the future".
Enzo Ferrari once drove with him and recalled even on bends "he never took his foot from the accelerator".
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Originally Posted by Giallo 550
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