Alonso's future *SPOILER*

That's very possible, as he will be carrying a plethora of Ferrari information with him, also.

 

haha! i forgot bout that LOL

 

I have to admit that he has shown that he really has what it takes to win, but I honestly couldn't care less about his future as long as it not in a Ferrari. Other than that any team he goes to would be doing better next season for sure. .... Well, at least until they start to show him "not enough support" that is.

 

Me too. Ron is in the enviable position of being probably the only man next to Jean Todt who is not worried about his driver situation at all next year. He has the best seat open on the grid right now, and there isn't a driver who would not jump at the chance to take it (except Kimi and Felipe of course).

Ron also gets rid of a headache, his boy Lewis has proven to be all the driver Fernando is and no hassle to boot, and on top of it all since Alonso is a hot property right now in high demand and FA being a "motivated seller", Ron can get top dollar for him without so much as a squeak from Alonso. That frees Ron up to give whatever lesser-regarded driver that 2nd spot. Surely Button would take it for equal salary as he gets at Honda (or even less salary). So would Heidfeld or others. That 2nd McLaren seat is where it's at. That's the big league right there - the place where any driver who can go there and perform suddenly sees his stock raised to the upper echelon of driving talent, along with Kimi, Fernando and Lewis (the other big-money guys in F1).

Ron can sit back and let offers roll in for a couple months before he commits. And he's got a great base for the 2008 car, and will net a big profit from selling Alonso and buying a much cheaper driver.

I don't think any principal has it better on the entire grid than Ron right about now WDC/WCC loss aside of course.

 

Toyota is majorly hampered by logistics. They are trying to be in too many places - they ought to go to the UK, really. I dont think they can win within 2 years, IMO. It's possible Alonso could help them but McLaren were already very professional when Alonso went there. Toyota less so, I think. He would be trying to do essentially a regime change as opposed to just an injection of talent and speed. Much as I dislike Ralf, he's not THAT bad of a driver, and Trulli fared reasonably well at Renault against Alonso. If those two can't make the Toyota slightly glossy if not outright gleaming, I don't think Alonso could either.

 

I wouldn't call making more money "dumb". At the end of the day they are racing for money not for something to do on the weekends... He certainly wouldn't go racing for free.

If he knows he wont be in a competitive car next year or so, would he rather be making $100mill* in Toyota or $10miill* in Reno? (* - numbers made up, just making a point). Then move to a competitive team after that...

Saying that, Im sure he will be going to Reno next year. Tho it would be comical if he stayed @ Mclaren

 

I think he shoiuld bust tires at a Big "O" I dont like him and glad he did not go to ferrari as rumored, he is a whiner and i dont like my heroes or leaders to be whiners or idiots,,,

 

I didn't say that making more money was dumb, so putting that word in quotes doesn't make any sense; however, I did say that Alonso wasn't dumb, and unless Toyota basically offers him their whole bank account, he would pick Renault over Toyota any day, as would any sane person. All the talk about Alonso going to Toyota is kind of useless now, because he has already rejected their offer, as the Speed TV announcers have told us.

 

Only that rejecting an offer doesn't mean it ends there. Toyota may offer a counter offer in the near future.

Im glad you have a great understanding of his mind I guess you saw this coming months ago?

 

I did not say that Toyota wouldn't make a counter-offer, which I thought was pretty clear in my previous post.

To answer your question/run-on sentence, predicting an almost obvious decision from Alonso actually seemed pretty easy, and doesn't require a "great understanding of his mind."

Have a nice day

-John

 

the only reason i dislike Ralf is his paycheck. not being jealous or anything, but i purely believe he doesn't deserve it. it was Michael's surname that got him that paycheck. simple as that.

having said that, he's a good driver. there's an article on F1-live.com, and the team were pretty grateful to Ralf, giving him a cake and a rear wing for rememberance.

i just think he lost his confidence when he fractured his back at Indy.

 

just got this :

Fernando Alonso and his manager at Interlagos repeated their denials that a deal to return to Renault next year is now effectively done.

Speculation is rife that a letter of intent or a verbal agreement - that would be formalised if he can win a release from his McLaren contract - are now in place with the Spaniard's former team.

The newspaper Marca reports that Alonso's father Jose Luis, and manager Luis Garcia Abad, were at the weekend seen in conversation in Renault's hospitality area.

But Alonso's manager bristled at the mention of a done Renault deal.

"It is false, an absolute lie," he said. "We have a contract with McLaren, so we cannot sign with another team. It is forbidden," he is quoted as saying.

It should be pointed out that the Swiss based Contract Recognition Board has hefty penalties within its power should a driver be found to have a contractual relationship with two teams.


Garcia Abad would not comment on whether the CRB can rule against verbal agreements.

Alonso, meanwhile, would not confirm his future before departing Interlagos on Sunday.

"I don't know," he told reporters. "We will see what happens. As I always say, the first thing to see is that I have a contract for the coming years with McLaren.

"Speculation about whether I go to this team or another team are all lies, because until we see what McLaren want to do, there is nothing," he added.

McLaren organised a team dinner in Sao Paulo on Sunday evening. Alonso and his representatives did not attend.


need to say more? i think he's 95% leaving the team.

 

I think he 100% left the team when he sent bernie or max that e-mail, all we are waiting for now is the legal confirmation

 

It wouldn't surprise me that he stays at McLaren with McLaren finally declaring a number 1 driver as Alonso.

Yes LH might have finished on a count back ahead but they are equal on points, thus IMO LH did not beat Alonso this season, AND if Alonso had the team behind him from the begining McLaren would now have a WDC trophy because he would not have cracked like LH did.

Maybe the contract could stipulate that whoever is leading by race 9 or something gets the teams full support. You cannot afford to support both if you want to win the WDC, you just cannot.
Pete

 

No...I think he's just being careful in acknowledging anything about Renault as part of legal manuevoring. While his exit is all but a foregone conclusion, he still needs to show some diplomacy in handling the situation.

 

very true. Fred said in an interview, he thinks that Mac used the wrong tactic in their bid to win the WDC. he said, they should have selected him, and not Hammi to be the chosen one for the WDC.

thinking back, i think whatever he said was true anyhow. u can't select and let a rookie to spearhead Mac's challenges. he will surely crumble under pressure, like how he did in China and in Interlagos.

Fred OTOH, was pretty much flawless in 2005 and 2006. he has the experience in this. he did this not once, but twice against the the great Michael Schumacher.

i think Mac scored an own goal here.

 

I think McLaren is the best seat for him from a competitive car standpoint. However he may have burnt his bridges with this one. His strategy of using the press as the means to complain worked for him at Renault but has failed at McLaren. The team don't like him and more so don't think he is better - One of the McLaren insiders commented that "If Alonso claims to have contributed six tenths to the team, Hamilton brought in seven tenths".

Hamilton can only improve from here. He was virtually as fast or faster than a 2 time WDC all year round. His overtaking was more assured with less incidents. He won at brand new (to him) tracks. He could do with bit more experience in setting up the car to his liking and figuring out how much to push under what circumstances. So from McLaren standpoint Hamilton can get better but Alonso is looking like he has plateaud and could decline in a few years.

So what are the options for Alonso:

Option 1: Enforce his contract at McLaren. Try his best to win back favor from his team. Practice hard in the off season to find speed over Hamilton. Improve the car to his driving style. STFU to the press. Fight for 2008 WDC
Option 2: Take the exit clause (due to cheating) from McLaren. Rejoin Renault. Get #1 status and fight with BMW for the crumbs
Option 3: Take a sabbatical and re-enter in 2009 with a fresh contract

Option 1 is the best for Alonso but he has to eat crow and change his mentality to make it work.

Kimi was struggling with his car mid-season till he got it adjusted to his driving style and then he consistently shaded Massa. Alonso has to do the same next year if he stays with McLaren

 

Sam, first off, excellent post. The more I think about it, Pete is right having not designated Alonso as the Number 1 Driver, knowing Lewis's time would come. The fact that they fought against Alonso in China instead of Ferrari shows how screwed up McLaren was.

 

F1 Magazine is speculating that Alonso will swap seats with Button for a 1 year megadollar deal with Honda prior to joining Ferrari in 2009.

They claim that Renault is refusing to ante up the $22 million that Alonso is demanding.

 

Somehow I could imagine this to be true:

- It has been far too long now that we heard from Renault that the deal has been signed. Given how giddy Flavio and Alonso were. Another obstacle I heard was that Alonso doesn't want a 3 year deal because he wants to join Ferrari in 09.

- BusinessF1 recently rated Alonso as the best developer of the all the drivers. He could really help out Honda. But first they need a decent windtunnel engineer.

But: Button against Hami? That'll be the end of Ol'Jenson's career.

 

As much as I was never keen on LH winning this years championship I do feel for him.

Basically he cocked up bigger than just about any F1 driver in the history of the sport to squander such an enormous lead. Ron Dennis must be mighty pised with him because after having the manufacturers championship and thus money removed his driver that he wrongly supported did what we all knew he would as a rookie, choked. But not just a little but massively.

Thus McLaren and LH went from a positive position to a complete disaster because of LH.

Not only that but LH distablised the team completely with his contract money drama and then incorrectly asserting "I'm ready to ignore team orders" bollocks at Hungry.

So guys I respect LH's speed but to be honest does McLaren really still want him?. Can he work with a team mate?. Would you want to be his team mate?, I wouldn't because it's all about LH. What will happen if you start beating him?, will the knives in the back come out again?. It's rediculous to make him number 1 when all he has done is win a few races (in the top car on the grid). Thus put any other driver in that team and again you have the confused situation: Who is number 1.

So AGAIN like I've said all this season, if I was Ron Dennis I would want Alonso for next year and I would take both drivers away for a week somewhere and have a heart to heart and admit that I've made a massive balls up. I would also take LH aside and remind him that yes he is fast, has raw talent but this is about winning the WDC, not a few fncken races. Thus LH you are NOT ready to lead a team and you will play team orders next year with Alonso, when I ask! or you have no future in my team, or probably F1. Even MS used to help Rubens in qualifying when asked ... LH needs to learn that part of racing too, ie: It's not just you, and it's not just about how much money I can make.

I would also take Alonso aside and make it very clear that we do not take matters outside the team if you have issues but come and talk to me. I would also make it very clear that he will have the full teams support this time, etc. ... even though he is not British

I would then have a huge meeting with ALL the team, yep right down to the floor sweepers and fully explain the mistake I've made and why we all need to work with Alonso as the number 1 next year with the plain being of working together as a team and supporting LH's growth as a driver, a future multiple champion while Alonso grabs the current ones.

In the end all team members of McLaren like winning more than anything else and I cannot see McLaren winning without a mentally strong driver that knows how to win the WDC, and putting another youngster or a "field filler" in that team is just asking for then to pop out the end of 2008 in say 5th place in the championship, and then watch out Williams here we come .
Pete

 

Uh, that could get ugly: Pretty much everybody except RD hate the new Paragon workplace. If you open the floodgates to staff communication, you might get more response than you asked for.

A bunch of McLaren folks have already quit to work back at the old place for Prodrive. Oh, that didn't work out so well either, didn't it?

 

Interesting, thus this might show that Ron has lost it ... ... which is pretty obvious.

Saying that Prodrive have to steal people from somewhere, so I am sure that many have left simply because people change jobs
Pete

 

He has indeed, which became obvious by his astonishment at his lying managers during the 2nd hearing.

For the benefit of McLaren, he should sell his remaining % of the team to Mercedes and retire.

Same goes for Frank and Patrick over at Williams btw. Sauber and Stoddart knew when it was time to call it quits. Don't become another Tyrrell.

 

I think your understanding of "choked" is different from mine. He went into a wet pit lane, with much more water than what was on the track and slid off. That's a driving error. In Brazil his finger slipped and he hit a button and he pushed too hard in one corner and lost a few spots.

In an entire season of racing, I don't know why or how you can call that "choking"? He made a three errors in the last few races of the year. Those things happen to all drivers and nearly all of that happens in every race to one driver or the next.

My definition of choking is putting in consistently slower laps than you rivals {if you've been keeping up with them all year and Lewis definitely was} by either making small mistakes every lap, consistently going off, over shooting your pit box, locking up often {damaging tires}, getting passed by people who shouldn't be getting around you, you yourself not being able to pass back markers or other "slower" cars with ease.

Lewis didn't do any of these things all year, even in Brazil, I don't think he choked at all. He needed a steady race and didn't put one in. Hardle choking but entirely his fault.