QUOTE (Ricardo F1 @ Aug 3 2010, 11:09)
In that car? Yes, probably.
Look this year at Alonso - he's made a lot of mistakes. He's the same driver though. He made a lot of mistakes last year in the Renault too.
Hamilton looks better in traffic than the RBR drivers. But put Hamilton in the RBR, and he'd have the same traffic issues, and the same lack of power. The cars are different, and pure single lap times don't reveal the differences between the cars.
Is Button loosing his mojo as a driver? No - the car is simply moving away from him, its not suiting him. Button's the same driver though, who was comfortably leading Hamilton until quite recently. Hamilton's not perfect either - he had delay in the car, and just drove on, as hard as he could. IF he'd have backed off, the team might have identified the gear box problem. Instead, he did not finish.
There's no clear reference point for Webber though, because he hasn't been in a top car before. its well known that he's very fast, which is why some teams have been keen on getting him, and their drivers not so keen. Just read what Rosberg said about Weebber's pace, and Rosberg is regarded as a solid driver. And in perspective, Webber's borderline too old, at the age where a driver can slow down. If BMW had of stayed with Williams, Webber's reputation and record would be much higher, but that is one of the vagaries of sport.
The reverse is the situation with Vettel, who if he won the WDC this year, would be the youngest to have done so. His driving is has some critical errors that many of the grid would not make in his position, such as while knowing the radio is faulty, not staying close to the SC, and despite knowing that the lights on the SC go out and therefor warn drivers that the SC is going in, Seb simply did not think of looking to check the lights. Instead according to him, he "dreamed". With a team of 700 people working to make a top car, he's allowing his mind to wander. That's inexperience for you. Seb's crash in Canada was much the same inexperience error in not looking to see where the other car was when he lined his car up for the next corner. Seb's used too much fuel on occasion too, there's a list of issues that are related purely to inexperience, I could go on and on. While Webber is able to tell his pitcrew that he wants to stay out there so there is "no pressure on the boys" ie his pitcrew, it seems that Seb is not thinking too much about the race while he's out there. Inexperience and perhaps that is the new generation of driver? That Seb thought about getting the fastest lap, but how mature is that in today's competition?
Hamilton has been in the top car since he arrived in F1. We see him in a top car, to get an idea of what he's really like, we need to see him in an average car and see how he performs for a couple of seasons. Unfortunately modern F1 is about branding heros and making money off their brand, so the true ability of drivers won't really be known in today's F1. Which is why I'd like a driver switching formula. In today's F1, Jim Clark wouldn't win in an average car. But in a system that switched driver between the cars every race, Jim would win the championship, and gracefully too. Now, we don't know who is the best driver, and that's the way the F1 architect brand specialists want it to be.
