[Homem de Gelo]

Interesting you brought 1996 up, I posted this yesterday at atlasf1.com.

Looking it up I found McLaren with 12 DNFs this year (KR 8 + DC4) while Ferrari had 16 (not 23) in '96 (MS 6 + EI 10). At the same time, the dominating team had 2 DNFs in 2004 and 8 in 1996, which means there were much more leftovers and spoiled opportunites to be picked up by the inferior cars in 1996.

There's another way to look at the reliability records. In 2004, Raikkonen completed 67% of the possible laps and Schumacher 71% in 1996. The difference seems small, but then you must consider that the only other full time driver to have completed less laps than Raikkonen was Bruni. In 1996, Schumacher completed more laps than 10 of the full time drivers. The 1996 champion completed less that 83% of the possible laps, hich would leave him behind 10 drivers this year. The 2004 champion would have completed more laps than anyone else in 1996 and by a safe margin.

I really don't think comparing Schumacher + Ferrari in 1996 against KR + McLaren in 2004 is adequate. The reliability records for the entire grid were very different in both seasons and so was the competition faced by Schumacher in one year and Raikkonen in the other.

Coulthard is the closest standard by which Raikkonen can be compared, they were teammates and theoretically had the same car and conditions, even if he is or not ammong your top ten.

My ratings are:

01 - Schumacher - yet another record breaking season in a fantastic car, but clearly dropped the ball after Hungaroring. He was outscored by Barrichello in the last 3rd of the season, and I think he was better in 2002.

02 - Raikkonen - nobody suffered so badly like he did from unreliability. The only full time driver to complete less laps than him was Bruni in a Minardi. He was the only driver to not get involved in collisions, spins during the races and terrible qualifying mistakes, and he was still capable of demonstrating fantastic speed once the car allowed him. And he did beat his teammate, who had the same car, very convincingly, even lapping him at the last race of the season.

03 - Button - a huge improvement from any of his previous seasons. Commited very few mistakes and showed speed and racecraft. Hockenheim was a fantastic race for him, by all standards.

04 - Fisichella - Fast, consistent and mature. It was no coincidence that top teams were coveting him before he signed with Renault for 2005. The highlight of his seaosn was his race at Silverstone.

05 - Barrichello - great in the end of the season, shamely beaten by Schumacher in the begining. He has the speed and but he still lacks the consistency to deliver 100% often enough to actually be a challenge to Schumacher and fight for the title.

06 - Alonso - was beaten by Trulli by a small margin, fair and square, and that doesn't look good at all. However, he recovered and drove fantastic races at China, Japan and Brazil, keeping drivers with faster cars behind him.

07 - Trulli - outscored Alonso and won at Monaco. It was his best season ever, but he still looked beter on Saturday than on Sunday.

08 - Webber - was his usual self, but the Jaguar was simply disappointing.

09 - Montoya - anonymous in some races, a strong character in others. He still commited his usual mistakes and got involved in collisions more often than he should. He should better get rid of his bad habbits if he wishes to beat Raikkonen in 2005. Raikkonen is no Ralf. A great win in the last race of the season showed us there is still hope.

10 - Massa - people expected countless spins and error, yet he was a challneg to Fisichella on occasion and scored points quite often. He was also great in qualifying sessions at China and Brazil.

11 - Heidfeld - deserves an honerable mention. The Jordan sucks completely.