Unworthy champions (except Raikkonen)
Discussion
Are the F1 champions of late worthy of being called champions?
Had a discussion with a workmate earlier, and with Alonso going back to Renault on the condition that HK is not his team mate, we got thinking, with the exception of of Kimi, the recent drivers championships have had pretty much exclusive backing of their team to become wold campions. Before anyone dives down my throat, I know there have been some good battles with drivers from other teams, but intrateam battles seem to be shy'd away from, this is why i am asking in this post.
There was Schumacher, who, though never confirmed except from the team mate, had contracts written in which the team mate HAD to defer to him, and would let him past to gain maximum points, both Irvine and Barrichello claimed this, Massa did help MS too although never said anything about this being in the contract.
Then there is Alonso, his 2 campionships were pretty much unchallenged from within, although Fisichella is a good driver, he never really gave FA anything to worry about. Last season FA moaned and whinged that he was not given No 1 status and even stated in live interviews that he wasn't expecting equal treatment when he came to the team (we all know as spectators this is McLarens policy, why wasnt he aware) and that he needed no 1 status to win the championship. Looking at the statistics, if Lewis had deffered to FA then FA would have won the chapionship, but reverse the situation, and the same could be said of Lewis. Now he has signed back with renault, and the reports in the press claim he insited the Heikki was dropped as he was too quick and FA saw him as a threat, hardly fair for Heikki really.
As i said in the title, except KR, due to Ferrari giving both him and massa equal chance to race for the title untill Massa dropped so far behind so as to be mathematically impossible to take the title, then and only then did he help KR. Will KR still be like this IF/when FA moves there in 2009, assuming KR stays there.
So my question after this long winded post is, does a drivers championship mean the same when they have the assistance of their team mate for the full season instead of a team mate who is given an equal chance to take the title himself?
Had a discussion with a workmate earlier, and with Alonso going back to Renault on the condition that HK is not his team mate, we got thinking, with the exception of of Kimi, the recent drivers championships have had pretty much exclusive backing of their team to become wold campions. Before anyone dives down my throat, I know there have been some good battles with drivers from other teams, but intrateam battles seem to be shy'd away from, this is why i am asking in this post.
There was Schumacher, who, though never confirmed except from the team mate, had contracts written in which the team mate HAD to defer to him, and would let him past to gain maximum points, both Irvine and Barrichello claimed this, Massa did help MS too although never said anything about this being in the contract.
Then there is Alonso, his 2 campionships were pretty much unchallenged from within, although Fisichella is a good driver, he never really gave FA anything to worry about. Last season FA moaned and whinged that he was not given No 1 status and even stated in live interviews that he wasn't expecting equal treatment when he came to the team (we all know as spectators this is McLarens policy, why wasnt he aware) and that he needed no 1 status to win the championship. Looking at the statistics, if Lewis had deffered to FA then FA would have won the chapionship, but reverse the situation, and the same could be said of Lewis. Now he has signed back with renault, and the reports in the press claim he insited the Heikki was dropped as he was too quick and FA saw him as a threat, hardly fair for Heikki really.
As i said in the title, except KR, due to Ferrari giving both him and massa equal chance to race for the title untill Massa dropped so far behind so as to be mathematically impossible to take the title, then and only then did he help KR. Will KR still be like this IF/when FA moves there in 2009, assuming KR stays there.
So my question after this long winded post is, does a drivers championship mean the same when they have the assistance of their team mate for the full season instead of a team mate who is given an equal chance to take the title himself?
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