A former Ferrari chief has pointed the finger at departed Fernando Alonso following the Maranello teams recent troubles. Legendary designer Mauro Forghieri, a key Ferrari figure from the 60s to the 80s, said the Spaniard cannot simply blame the team for his failure to add another title to his tally since joining in 2010. If for three or four seasons in a row the car has the same problems, that means you are not developing in the right directions, and its the drivers fault, Forghieri told the Italian website diariodelweb.it. Alonso, widely credited as the best driver in F1 today, has returned to McLaren for 2015, despite clashing badly with the British team in 2007. McLarens acting CEO Jonathan Neale told the Mirror: There has been a lot of speculation about our relationship with Fernando last time but we can confidently put that to one side and say we are just here to get the job done. Forghieri, however, is less confident about Alonsos place within a team. Alonso is a great race driver, he said, but not a good test driver. Each year, when he shook the car down, he said everything was perfect, then after a few months he began complaining. A real champion is the one who is able to manage the team. He said Alonso therefore does not compare with Ferraris last great driver. Ferraris problem in the last few seasons, claimed Forghieri, was not having another Schumacher. (GMM)
Hold on everybody, WW3 has been started . FWIW, I agree with you, as I've been saying the same for a very long time. I had another point but I've forgotten, so I'm going to the fridge and get another beer.
Interesting defending the team he is. LdM agree'd to let him go implying the opposite of Mauro. Its all very old news now.
Old or new who cares...nothing like a good bashing to start the weekend!!! I agree with Mauro 100%, and to add insult to injury, It was Alonso the responsible for bringing Fry, and probably for replacing Costa with him....the guy sucks really bad!!
Well, you know, Alonso beat all his Ferrari team mates by quite a margin. Maybe all drivers give crap feedback these days....but pointing the finger at Alonso and not his team mates shows a bit of bias IMO
Testing and feedback is what the second driver is for. If Massa didn't suck we would have a couple more WDC and WCC.
Lol because Schumacher was so great at turning Mercedes into a WDC/WCC team in 2010-2012. I don't if he's watching but F1 is a lot different to the era he was in. The engineers now dictate how good/great the car. I am sure Hamilton was amazing at making the PU and the chassis last season for Mercedes... Kudos to Seb as well for turning Red Bull into a domination machine, who needs Newey when you have a master at developing a domination machine like Seb....
I think, it's a bit silly. Because we are in the era where car/engineers matter more than the drivers.
The feedback now is more important than ever because there are few to no test days. A driver that is quick + can give accurate feedback to help where the car needs improving for him is a much better asset than someone who is monstrously quick. Obviously the engineers have to do their part, understand the drivers feedback and translate this in parts that suit him. What Mauro said, that Alonso gets in the car during testing, declares everything is fine and only complain about that it's slow when the actual racing starts, is what he means that Alonso gives terrible feedback. A process like this doesn't happen overnight and can take a couple of seasons for everything to work out well.
Furia is wrong this time. Drivers don't matter a f'''', both for good and for bad, so if Ferrari lost or McLaren wins in the future it won't be thanks to Alonso.
It's was micheal and Ross that made mercedes team a world champion Impo . Micheal is unbelievable at moving a car and team forward Impo Fred in 05 was gift because of the last second tire rules and 06 was ldm had the team run 07 development pistons so micheal wouldn't leave with the number 1 plate because ferrari had piston problem early In 06 and they ran them again late in the year . The only reason ldm let Fred stay around is because he had money to fund the team .
So without Alonso Ferrari would be in a worse state of affairs? Massa and Raikkonen were so far behind Alonso that it was probable Ferrari would have finished 3th, 4th or even 5th in the WCC. Blaming Alonso hardly fair when his teammate did much for the team.
Partially true Bas, i recall Alonso said the 2010 car was the best he's ever driven. However, pit stop cockups and other things contributed to the near misses Alonso had over the years. However, we are in the era of engineers and designers that are key people. There's only so much a driver can do when they test the car for the first time. The car they start the season with and end the season with is obviusly different. This Mauro chap has valid points, but it's from different eras. Look at Kimi last season. How he struggled, and then look at Alonso. I don;t think it's entirely Alonso's fault he whooped Kimi with the car.
Before anyone writes Mauro off as 'mad', consider that Alonso has never built a team up from nothing to championship status, that being said neither has Vettel. There are very few drivers who have made that climb and I actually have more confidence in Vettel doing so than Alonso due to their personality types.
What utter rubbish! Today there is no testing during the season and the teams cannot make any significant changes to their cars. The car is locked in. Feedback is less important today than ever in the history of Formula 1. To say that Fernando, whom everyone knowledgeable in the paddock agrees is the best driver in the sport, is responsible for Ferrari's failures during his tenure at the Scuderia marks Forghieri as either senile, vindictive or merely very, very foolish.
Personally I find this team development or building to be a red herring, and quite frankly overhyped. It's usually on discussion forums. These are organisations with over 300 people with the best brains in the business of management minds and engineering. It's not up to the drivers to build the team, select who is hired/fired or how it is run. The team is built by the team while the cars are driven by the drivers.
This is all about the foolishness on a season without testing and the hubris of officials and engineers who think they can get it right without the human element that the driver brings. Testing is called testing for a good reason.
What do you consider building from nothing to championship status? Where Renault were before Alonso and red bull/jaguar/Stewart were before Vettel was about the same as ferrari before schumacher and both went on to win multiple championships at their respective teams, so I'd say they both have that on their resume...
I do believe we can agree that ferrari has moved backwards with Fred in the car. Fred beat his teammates because the car is developed around him other drivers couldn't match him in his car . Micheal and Ross hired the right people costa and bell they knew what they where doing ldm is a Clown hack lawyer and knows nothing about building a race team or cars but he will sell you a nice leather trim and custom paint for you street car
