Costa on Ferrari and Alonso

not really. From the actual article:

So that Alonso had anything to do with sacking Costa is just a rumor and even a rumor which Costa himself refuses to justify. So why would we state otherwise? We don't know anything to begin with.

 

''Out of the car, I was never able to understand him''.

Does he refer here to the rumour that Alonso is not a good car developer (in the feedback to engineers way)?

 

You'd have to be a fool to think Alonso or any driver for that matter, has much to do with "team building" in this no testing era. The days of pounding around Fiorano putting in miles are long gone. It's also silly to think that a double world champion's communication with the team isn't good. He's near missed on the title for a few years now and usually through no fault of his own. Hopefully LDM cans himself as he is probably the heart of the problem. The wind tunnel debacle has cost them more than anything else.

 

Good feedback in a non testing era is even more vital then before.

Just the other day I was reading about how happy James Allison is with Kimi's feedback on the car, and telling them what he wants and where he thinks the car should be improved.

I don't think it's out of this world to think that a double WDC is not good at communicating at what he wants or needs from the car to go faster. IIRC Fisichella was with Renault because he was so much better at developing the car.

 

I didn't say it wasn't important, I said it's silly to think Alonso's isn't good. You don't become a WDC if you don't give good feedback, period. Glad James Allison is happy with Kimi's feedback being that he's so slow.

 

I dunno. It doesn't seem to make any sense. Costa may not of understood Alonso outside of the car which can be taken many ways. I don't think he meant in terms of feedback I think he meant personally. Nigel Mansell and Ron Dennis had the same problem but Nigel knew very well how to set up a car to his liking. Some times personalities just don't match. Also, I'm pretty sure there's a bit of sour grapes as well. Rightfully so I might add.

 

So you are saying that he does not know how to tell them to build a competitive turbo engine, or simply that he does not know how to build a good turbo engine?

 

+1 Costa states how happy he is and how he feels bad for friends still at Ferrari. Questions? The culture at Ferrari from this article and others, does not sound like a good place to be creative at all. Allison has his hands full and in my opinion he is not enough to stop the decline at all. He is facing an Italian team run by a very powerful Italian at the top. Good luck James.

 

I think Costa was referring to Lonso's character more than his input as a driver when he said he didn't understand him and he was a Machiavellian figure, but didn't ultimately feel he was out to get him. Moreover, what seems to have been this year's problem is the fact that engine's performance has been sacrificed in favour of aero benefits, strategy that didn't pay up. The responsible for this is Pat Fry, Costa's substitute, who is the one deserving to be fired before any Massa, Domenicali and Marmorini.

 

I was very sad when Aldo left, it was a stupid move from Luca....he was responsible for the 2007 and 2008 cars (and also i belive for the 2006)...All of them where championship contenders!! At the time, Ferrari could do track testing as much as they wanted, but then testis starting to gest pretty limited and the wind tunnes began to give bad results....the lack of testing milles hurted Ferrari more than anyone else, that's when the first big mistake was made. Ferrari should heve invested straight away on a new one. Costa syas he asked for it but was denyed...every year after that Ferrari reported to have correlation problems between the wind tunnel and the track....If Costa couldn't rely on the wind tunnel data how the hell did Luca expected him do design a winning car!!?? I'm pretty sure Fry came onboard by Alonso's influence, they had a pretty good relation at Mclaren, and i'm sure he used his influence to put Fry in charge, replacinf Costa for good....of course Fry is not that good, and Brawn, nowing very well how good Was Costa grabbed him imediatly...well, we can see the results now!!
I think Allison is really good, the Tunel seems to work, and Fry must be leaving, so i believe next year we will have a competitive car....IMO the leading driver plays a big part in how the car performs, look at 2008, Ferrari listened more to Massa and he was able to overcome Kimi...you guys can be sure that if Alonso was not on the team, and they focused on massa he would have done much much better than he did....better than Alonso? probably not, because i'm convinced he lost something with the accident, but for sure he would have been a lot better than he was able to show....why did he at the end of 2012 started to beat Alonso when the spaniard was fighting and had a real shot at the title? Perhaps because teh acr was built and developed around the Spaniard an Massa had to adapt, and only then could he finally fit to the car...next year, new car and new problem, he could only get to grips with car near teh end of the season...

 

The responsible for this is Pat Fry, Costa's substitute, who is the one deserving to be fired before any Massa, Domenicali and Marmorini.[/QUOTE]

+1

 

This year's car has been a dog, no question. That said from 2010 to 2013 He's finished 2nd in points three times and no worse than 4th. This from a guy that might be giving back feedback? The car wasn't good enough to beat RedBull and Vettel but they weren't dog's either. We need to get some perspective. I hate that they haven't won a title yet but it's not like they have been midfielders either.

 

How is that saying enough when it is not saying anything?

you are obviously grasping at strawds in order to argue that Alonso isn't as good as anyone thinks he is. No one, not even Costa, has said anything that even gives us a beginning to believe there is anything left to desire when Alonso is behind the wheel of an F1 competition car. In the Vettel-years he still was regarded as the best driver out there. This year is no different, yet the Ferrari is nowhere.

And what slump really? DiMontezemolo is very amused that people say Ferrari is in a slump just because they don't win the championship. In 2010 Alonso could have won if it wasn't for a poor call by Chris Dyer. And even when Vettel put the field to shame, it was more often than not that Alonso was his 'nearest' rival.

 

Pat Fry has already been "fired" now "handling other aspects of the organization". Allison is his replacement.

 

No he's not saying that. He literally says that Alonso is a brilliant driver in this very thread! He's saying that Alonso is perhaps not good at developing the car and therefore they haven't won titles together.

 

I think that this is going too far. I´ve read the original article and I have the impression that for some reason in the translation from Italian to English the words were Costa denies this more clearly got lost. Also I really doubt that any driver has enough power to fire a technical director.

About the rest, it´s interesting but we shouldn´t forget that we´re hearing Aldo Costa´s version of the story, and as expected in this version of the story Aldo Costa is always right.

 

The car clearly has to be up to the task as well. The recent Ferrari's haven't been dogs other than this year. That's no accident either.

 

Incisive. I like it.

 

Whilst the engine is part of the problem, it's chassis and aero are also not up to scratch yet.