[Lucas Wilson]

I had to link this, I am a massive Alonso fan, but even this is taking it too far: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/25035783

I think Benson is spending all day trying to find ways to convince people that Alonso is the best and it just comes across looking silly and childish.

[Magnificent Geoffrey]

What exactly is taking it too far? That seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable feature article that doesn’t say anything that no one else in the F1 media hasn’t said many times before.

Am I missing something? Why does Andrew Benson seem to draw such ire out of some fans? I really don’t get it.

[Steph]

Nothing wrong with that article. To answer Mag’s question though, Benson has often been inaccurate or just jumped the gun when reporting on F1 which is hardly a way to gain a good reputation in journalism. F1 journalism in general though is pretty tired, narrow and predictable. They could do so much with features and yet they’ll just do one interview with a driver, include some silly attempt at psychoanalysis and then hint at some speculation when it comes to the driver market.

[Tomsk]

That’s just a preview of their TV interview with him. Typical BBC, they’re always dressing up trailers as news. The interview sounds interesting so I’ll just watch it instead of ploughing through all that speculation and circumstantial evidence.

I couldn’t agree more about F1 journalism Steph. I have my favourite writers but they’re predictable too – I just like their ideas or style of writing, or simply agree with them more often than the others.
It’s aways refreshing around the US Grand Prix when there’s some good stuff written about F1 from a different angle, relating how it appears from outside and placing it in context with other motorsport.

[Iestyn Davies]

I’m not surprised that it says most of his rivals consider him the best on the grid. Alonso also says he rated Hulkenberg as a top driver since 2010. The drivers are driving experts and all know how good each other is. That’s why Hamilton is complaining about Vettel’s car advantage, as they would be pretty closely even without it, the same as Alonso and him were in the 2007 McLaren. Alonso and Raikkonen next year will be mightily close – but everyone knows RB have ‘Man Citied’ their way to 4 titles in a row, and with some luck Alonso could have up to 6 titles by now, and Raikkonen 3 himself, or Hamilton being a multiple champion. With such a worse car, Alonso was a whisker away from winning 2010 and 2012! And Alonso’s karting record speaks for itself. There’s a reason Webber looks up to Fernando so much, and Vettel not as much, despite being paired with him for so long. He also believes Vettel can eclipse Schumacher’s record in the RB set-up.

I’m not even an Alonso fan, but I can see the writing on the wall for F1. All these drivers are top class, just we want a slightly more even playing field so we can see them battle it out, rather than a processional victory for Vettel every time out. And that’s what Alonso is hinting at may come from 2014 onwards.

Some different kinds of reporting are gladly welcome though at the end of the season!

[Author]

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