iGav said:
you have to admit... he's made a lot of mistakes that have cost him points
yes and no.
if you think about it, when you're 20ish points behind, you absolutely must drive it to the limit if you want to catch up, and you just cannot take it to the limit all the time without any problems. so yes, i do think that it was stupid of him to for example damage his tyre in nurburgring, but he had to win that and then you just drive as fast as you can having the worst "enemy" behind you. or the brazilian qualifying mistake, that was just a perfect example of what happens when you have nothing to lose but still have got to try. or the spinning during the last few laps in italy. renault had the luxury of playing it a bit safer, and it paid off. it is true that you don't win titles at the beginning of the season, but on the other hand, you can put yourself into such a situation at the early races that the later races become too difficult, and that's where mclaren was after the first two races. and montoya's injuries certainly didn't help the situation.
what happened at australia, well, nobody knows why it went that way. renaults really nailed it in the unexpected weather conditions and mclaren was beaten pants down. it was just unbelieveable how embarassed they were after the weekend, or at least the press was very good at manipulating the image
anyway, after that, mclaren just decided to take the car to the limit, which in hindsight was a terrible mistake given the current points regulations. take imola and hockenheim for example, had it not been two retirements from the lead, raikkonen would SUPPOSEDLY (yes, i know, points are given after the race) have 20 points more while alonso would've got 4 less -- and the points difference is currently only 23, so without those two retirements kimi would lead by one point and the championship battle would have been decided on the last lap of the last race.
granted, it's all speculation, but you've got to admit -- this one is very valid, as alonso's renault has 3 non-finishes and kimi's mclaren has 5. call me biased if you like, but in my book the reason why alonso has now secured the title is because mclaren failed to finish in san marino and germany.
