Ferrari chief admits to Alonso concerns Saturday 19th December 2009 PlanetF1.com Luca di Montezemolo admits he had concerns about Fernando Alonso's ability to be a team player. The Spaniard signed with Ferrari in late September having long been linked with a move to the Scuderia, but di Montezemolo concedes that while Ferrari have had their eye on Alonso for some time they were uncertain if the driver would fit in with their team dynamic. "We have been watching him since 2007," explained the Ferrari chief. "He is an extremely talented driver, quick and good at working with a team, while being totally focused on winning. "I spoke about [Alonso's ability to be a team player] with (Stefano) Domenicali maybe 1000 times, not 100, 1000 times, and I spoke with Alonso. "I told him: 'If you come to drive for us, you drive for a team, you drive for a group, you don't drive for yourself. "If you want a team, then you do your own team, fantastic, like John Surtees. In Ferrari we want to put you in the best condition to win. If not, we will never hire you," he added.
Honestly I don't really understand what the difference is between driving for the team and driving to win: Alonso is #1, Massa is #2, so there is no point in having Alonso drive for Massa. So what else but winning is Alonso supposed to do? Driving for himself IS the same as driving for the team. LdM needs to have this conversation with his #2 driver. Not with his #1.
I think LdM is referring to being a team player with respect to everything else involved with being a SF team member and not just the driving aspect. In that regard, for the last 4 years his #2 has shown he doesn't need that conversation.
+1! I do think the point is it wont be Alonso's team per se. The "team" will always be bigger than Alonso. Alonso will be fine. He has no choice. Bottom line is Ferrari will let him go like they did Kimi if its not going well Personally Alonso has done more for the team with his intro and trips to Maranello than Kimi did ever. Alonso will be fine overall. The only limit will be how quickly he adapts to the car, and the team. No one doubts Alonso's ability as a driver at all.
While I agree with your comments I still don't quite see what the lesson was that Alonso was supposed to learn. Does it mean "don't be a cry baby and accuse the team of sabotage" as he did at Renault? Does it mean "share your setup data with Massa" as he wasn't willing to at McLaren? Does it mean "come to sponsor events and show some motivation" unlike your predecessor? Those things are tangible and understandable, but that's not exactly what LdM said.
LDM could also mean. If the team does anything wrong, Alonso wont turn witness for the prosecution against them
Maybe it was just the you are 'part of the family' speech. Be a part of the 'team/family' and its all good. He has done well so far compared to others. Luca exerting his control of the 'team'? Hard to say overall was a strange but interesting article. Id say LdM was concerned about team harmony considering his past. Im betting FA is more amenable to the 'team' now considering the Mclaren experience. His legacy is now secured with his Ferrari contract. He is part of the biggest and most storied 'team' there is. Im sure he wants it to go well and id say he is off to a good start.
Agreed. Being a two time WDC I think the only thing left for him is to win with Ferrari and ideally get a WDC with Ferrari. The multi year contract he signed should suffice to get that accomplished. That said, I do wonder whom Ferrari will sign for 2011+. I think Alonso and Massa will tolerate each other (I don't expect friendship nor hostility), but who will come after Massa? A Kubica/Alonso pairing wouldn't work, nor would a Vettel/Alonso duo. We'll see.
Well therein lies the problem, Luca is probably hinting at this. Luca is saying he wants a team player, I read it as he wants him to work with his team mate and not compete with him, as such. And yes team orders are not allowed, officially. However I do agree with your "what is the difference between driving for the team and driving to win". none IMO. Alonso IMO is a win at all costs type which rightly or wrongly is what you need on your team, but maybe Luca wants him to realize the team as a whole will help him achieve a WDC, but not at a all costs way, like throwing your team mate under the bus, or infighting like at Mclaren. I don't think he will have a problem establishing a natural lead role and 1# status, but he will have to earn it and not expect it. As for the future it could be tricky assuming Alonso is the star act and takes Ferrari back to the lofty heights like MS did, who would want to take him on..
I think Alonso believed in 2007 that if Mclaren was to win the championships, it needed to back the proven horse from the start. He was right, it turned out, as Mclaren threw away both championships. Shumacher and Brawn proved the formula at Ferrari, and Ferrari was the major competition in 2007. I dont know what to call that except a sophisticated, and accurately judged, dedication to winning. Mclaren, it turned out, was dedicated to something else.
It boggles the mind when I read some of the nasty comments about Kimi. If anybody has any doubts how good the guy is, take the POS F60 as the benchmark: Kimi was the only Ferrari driver who was able to wrench a victory out of it. Of 4 team drivers! No wonder he did at a track where the driver has the most influence.
No doubt that Kimi is a good driver. But.. let me remind you that: 1) Without Felipe's help during the '07 Brazilian GP he wouldn't be a champion that year. Not a perfect way to win. 2) Your F60 benchmark is totaly not fair. One of your 4 drivers - Felipe Massa, was in a good position to fight for the win in Hungary (according to Smedley) and who knows how he would perform during the second part of the season which he _missed due to injury_. Full season and car development allowed Kimi to use his single opportunity - then F60 was in its peak form. And up to Hungary Felipe was clearly the one who handled F60 better. Look at the points and results. May be Felipe could have won 2 or 3 times later in the season? We will never know.
Darkded; for a first post; I like your analysis. Kimi did well in the f60; he did not perform miracles, and was let go. Alonso is succesful, but definitely has some baggage attached to him. I interpret ldm's message as saying he needs to not have any repeats of the disharmony around him in previous teams. So far though, he is saying the right things....
I can't agree more. All this while, Ferrari seems peaceful, hardly any team infighting. So i guess this is just an indirect warning to Alonso not to repeat his Mclaren tricks here.
Good for Kimi and for the team. Was it a notable title like LH vs Felipe last year? Not really. Time to move on. Im no real fan of FA(but Im warming at least he visits the factory), and I was a great fan of Kimi's but next year its a new game and the players have changed. Kimi's time at Ferrari was summed up nicely of late with the reports of FA making a real impact with just 2 visits to the factory. Kimi well...not noted for being around at all. Pretty much sums it up no matter the Kimi title. He was fired.
But we are talking about mid season, right? Not the season finale. Kimi have had his best streak in Hungary-Europe-Belgium-Italy. This is 4 succesive podium finishes, culminating with a win in Belgium. Right when you say Ferrari stopped development. Yes, they stopped, but at the moment were in a good form to fight for the podium (at least). But in Hungary quali Massa was out of the game! It was 22:10 in Felipe's favor before Hungary, with 5 succesive points finishes culminating with podium in Germany (right before Hungary) - it looks like he handled F60 a little bit better (or F60 suited him better?). So what could he achived in Hungary-Europe-Belgium-Italy? One win? Maybe two? That's the question. May be this is not so obvious to Kimi fans, but again, I can't agree with "4 drivers and one precious WIN" argument. For fair judgement we should exclude Felipe from this equation. Both drivers handled F60 well. Kimi just had more opportunities (thanks to Barrichello's spring) to use his ability, at the very best moment.
Good post. In all fairness, to both Kimi and Felipe, Felipe had an upperhand when he was still racing. Kimi,OTOH, showed his true determination in the races you mentioned. I'm not a big Kimi fan, but all credits to him for that performance. Having said that, we will never know what would have happened if Massa didn't get injured.
Agreed. The issue here is not last year but this one upcoming. For that LdM seems to want FA to realize he has his dream and that will mean being a good team boy. He is part of the team and will act accordingly and it will be all good. I have no doubt FA will comply. He has much to lose with Mclaren style antics that will not do his legacy any good at all.
Yes, definitely. He learnt his lesson the hard way in 2007, which he could have won his 3rd world title.
