To continue today’s trend of journalist-bashing (although I wouldn’t quite go so far as Alex to call them all a cancer on the sport), a point made by Richard Barnes annoyed me quite a lot. He said that it was Alonso’s style to win championships by getting an early lead and then driving conservatively to maintain it. His ‘entire approach to racing’ is built on this foundation, apparently. And, because of Ferrari’s dominant start to the season, he is being ‘forced out of his comfort zone’.

I would argue that this is precisely the way Alonso doesn’t like to win championships, and is exactly why he left Renault. They gave him a good car at the beginning of the season, but then failed to develop it as much as his rivals: in 2005 McLaren caught up, and in 2006 Ferrari did. It is the very opposite of Alonso’s style; it is just the way things happened. We could only see a style, or a preferred method, to winning titles over a much longer period. But, more significantly, I don’t think any driver prefers to win a championship in any particular way. What they want to do is win as many races as possible. That’s it. I suppose, however, that Richard Barnes would say this is Schumacher’s style. He has misfired quite badly.