Tough Top Ten….but I agree at 80% overall.

We can only hope that next year can be half as good as last year, which had everything and then some. All we need now is for someone to invent a (cost-affordable, naturally) rain-generating machine…

I was surprised to see Alonso as your number one but I have to agree with you. It was fantastic to see him win 2 races this year especially with the way Renault had been performing. It just goes to show the massive talent that Alonso has not only as a driver but also in helping a team improve and develop a car to winning ways again. I hope we get to see more wins and visits to the podium next season from Alonso.

Vettel would be my number two. He’s a lovely young man with a welath of talent who thoroughly deserved pole and the win at Monza. It’s great to see a driver smile and he certainly has the biggest smile in F1. I think there’s a lot more to come from Vettel and it will be a pleasure to watch him grow and be world champion one day.

I also enjoyed Kubica’s performances. He is another extremely talented driver who I would like to see winning a world championship.

I’m really looking forward to the 2009 season.

I don’t know how long you are going to continue defending Fernando Alonso, now you talk about him (only making mistakes for trying to hard?) A driver can only show his true ability by driving an inferior car in the rain and in difficult conditions and he had plenty of opportunities this year.
In the past he was often beaten by Trulli in the same car, and later by a rocky Hamilton, and only won his titles in a 10,8,6,5 points system and with a supremely reliable car, I’m sorry but I don’t think he should be considered No 1 this year or any year at all.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year James..

My top five would have to be something along the lines of: Vettel, Alonso, Kubica, Hamilton and Massa with Button sadly last of the 20 drivers. He was letting himself be outclassed by Rubens all year, which was sad to see. He may be British but delivered the least all year I think.

Merry Christmas James, keep up the blog!

In addition to this the Mclaren was faster in quali and had far better reliability.

Mclaren should have won the title alot easier but a combination of hamilton making mistakes and Massa pushing the Ferrari to the limit pushed the title to the final race.

Massa deserves the driver of the year.

On the penultimate lap at Spa, he was in third place, having been ahead of Vettel all race long. At Monza too, I believe Martin and yourself pointed out that his race pace (after stalling and losing a lap at the start – having qualified 4th) would’ve been good enough for a podium at least. Again in Japan, he was running 6th having once again out raced Vettel, when Massa attempted a risky pass which resulted in Massa spinning and one of the most controversial penalties of the year demoting poor Seb from a well deserved 6th, to 9th.

Lap for lap, Bourdais wasn’t really that much slower than Vettel. WHen the car was capable, Bourdais became a regular feature in the top 10 shootout and was unlucky not to score a lot more points than he did. Vettel clearly had the edge over all, but I feel sorry for Bourdais that he is fighting for his seat while Vettel is being touted as the next Schumacher.

Although I’m not a fan, I agree with Alonso at number one and for the good of F1 I hope Renault’s development continues and its 2009 car is competitive.

I think Malcolm46 makes a very good point about Kimi and I’d suggest the same should apply to Heikki – he was in one of the best cars on the grid and got nowhere near for most of the season.

I take into account McLaren running him on a different strategy to Lewis but his pace was lacking throughout and think his poor season made life a lot harder for Hamilton who was given very little protection, especially at the start of races.

How about a prediction for 2009 James? I’m going for a resurgent Raikkonen to come back to the fore.

Reports I’ve heard suggest he’s showing a higher level of committment and hunger during testing, which harnessed with his undoubted speed, could see him seal another championship.

I think he realises it’s going to be a big season for him and he’s got to repay di Montezemolo’s faith in handing him a new contract when there must have been a strong temptation to go for Alonso.