What will Alonso do? --by Nigel Roebuck

What will Alonso do? - Newsletter - Motor Sport Magazine


> Indeed a well-informed Italian colleague tells me that the word is that Mattiacci is hoping that Fernando will ask to be released for next year – in which event he would reputedly not be obliged to pay the 25 million euros required to buy out his contract.

> Why, though, would Mattiacci wish to see him leave? Because, according to the Italian grapevine, he knows that Alonso is the de facto leader of the team, and he wants to demonstrate that he is in charge, that his law must be accepted, and he believes that with Vettel that would be easier to achieve – not least because, unlike Alonso, fully conversant both with the language and the mentality at Ferrari, Sebastian doesn’t even speak Italian…

 

Let's hope not.
Luca dismantled a winning team because he felt others had too much power. Now Mattiachi wants to dump the one element of the team that works for similar reasons?

 

Interesting stuff. Of course if you hire top tech people top drivers will follow. From what I understand Fred wants an escape clause after 5 races, mattiacci said no-and I would say no also knowing honda is willing to pay 30 million. It's business first!

 

Send Mattiacci back to marketing and employ someone who actually knows something about F1.

 

+1

I was beginning to 'warm' to this Mattiaci chap. Seemed like he may have his head screwed on right. But if this is true, seems his ego is even bigger than LdM's.

Cheers,
Ian

 

The danger for me, is he there to improve the F1 team or is he there to play internal politics...that's what I wonder.

 

Frankly, the cars have not improved since Alonso came-aboard. Some would argue that the cars have become worse. Sure, Alonso is arguably the most talented driver on the grid. Having the most talented driver on the grid driving for you does not win Championships. F1 is, after all, a team sport. Something tells me that the is a quality to Alonso off the track that is keeping Ferrari from winning Championships - or at least improving the effort.

It has been said many times in this section that almost any driver on the grid could win a championship if provided the right car - say this year's Mercedes. If that is true, then retaining Alonso will not be important if Ferrari can engineer a more competitive car. To me, the team needs a more synergistic environment - where every member of the team can work and adapt together for the best result. I believe Alonso has been preventing that from happening. Vette seems to be capable of doing that, as he has shown in the past 4 years.

You make an omelette, you must first break some eggs...

 

It´s Nigel Roebuck speaking but after reading these articles quoting "insiders" I´ve realized that there must be dozens of insiders and each of them is saying a different thing!

 

I've just read this:

@metinmete 9m

Confident sources suggest that Alonso signed with Mclaren yesterday. New era in F1.

Any other confirmation?

 

I haven't seen that anywhere but it wouldn't surprise me at all. In fact, I would be surprised if it doesn't happen.

 

Maybe Alonso should build the team a new wind tunnel, or a new PU.

Seriously, what real indication is there that -- somehow -- Alonso is what's holding Ferrari back in developing a decent race car?

So now Vettel is responsible for RBR's success at designing and building a dominant race car and Alonso is responsible for Ferrari's massive institutional failures?

Laughable. You paint the drivers as team principals. Engineers build the cars. Drivers drive them.

 

Don't worry, apparently you can now put a 16 yeas old kid straight from karting on a simulator and groom him for F1, shortcutting all the other series, to get te job done.

That's Dr Marko's theory; Ferrari has nothing to fear by sacking its world champion drivers!!

 

I am saying none of the things you think I am. I am saying that a Championship is won with full team effort. If Alonso is preventing the team from working as a unit, perhaps it is best to hire someone who is better at functioning as a member of a team. Vettel has always seemed, to me, to be a team player - not acting as the most important player on the team. Sure, he had a great technical team behind him, but he was able to work well with that team to maximize the package, hence his domination over his teammate in the same dominant machine. Yes, Vettel had his whiny moments, but emotion gets the better of us all from time to time. His comments over the radio at the end of last season speak louder to me than his occasional rants.

 

Me too. Just makes sense if Fred could have walked after 5 races and Ferrari get nothing. At least they get $30 million from Honda for the contract buyout, and possibly bring Bianchi over early if they can't get Seb or Hammy. Additionally, Fred will be the unquestionable King **** at McL; a clear number 2 driver in Magnussen and even Ron will have to stfu with the $ Honda is paying. It will be his team. Honda sells lots of bikes in Spain already, and this move will only help Honda.....

 

I've seen nothing to indicate that Vettel has been more of a team player for RBR than Alonso has been for Ferrari.

 

If Alonso has indeed left Ferrari for 2015 then I feel the team is at least 2-3 years away from another race win. There needs to be some continuity and what better continuity than in the driver pairing.

 

If you have never raced at a professional level, or worked for a team competing at a professional level, you may never understand what it takes to make a car win a championship. It's not just the guys with pipes and slide-rules that win Championships. Some schmuck has to actually drive the thing. Without feedback from the driver, the engineers can't make their creation more driveable for the schmuck behind the wheel. If the schmuck behind the wheel isn't comfortable, the car will never go fast. The pipe-smoking slide-rule wielders have to work with the schmuck behind the wheel. If the two parties don't make each other happy, the car won't win. Period.

I believe Alonso is the best at maximizing a car's performance as it sits. I believe Vettel is better at maximizing a cars development potential through interaction with the team as a whole, making the car perform better over time as the man and machine are adapted to each other.

 

There may be some truth in that but (I think) much less so than there ever used to be. Lets not forget that Schumi spent months pounding round Fiorano refining his cars. All the drivers can do now is jump in the simulator & that is just a pile of computers & software (and therefore only as good as the software).

We also KNOW that Ferrari have had bad data from their wind tunnel in recent years. You can hardly blame the drivers for that.


The defining factor in Red Bull's success is clearly what's in Adrian Newey's head. His track record at Williams, then McLaren & at Red Bull is second to none. The scary part is that he appears to have improved his own performance - he designed some less successful cars at McLaren - but he's been pretty much bang on the money for the last 5 years straight. With the power deficit they have the Red Bull has pretty much no right to be placing , let alone winning this year.

 

Agreed! IMO, the progress RBR has made this year has come from the feedback of their drivers. At the moment, I believe the most positive feedback has been from Ricci. He has adapted to the car for an early stage, and has been nothing but instrumental in communicating what he has been experiencing in the cockpit to the team in an effort to make the car better. Vettel has been working backwards, Ricci has been working forwards. This appears to be making the difference in the season.

It looks, to me, like Alonso has been working backwards since joining the Scuderia. I feel Ferrari needs someone who can work "forwards" with the team. I don't want someone who can take their **** box and adapt it to their abilities, but work with the team and improve the package beyond their abilities.

 

But you aren't giving any reasoning why. You're just telling us what you believe, for whatever reason. In the absence of any other supporting evidence, you seem to be saying that since the RB is quicker, then it must be at least in part because Vettel (and now RIC) is better at relating his driving experience to the team. That may or may not be true, but unless you're part of one of those teams, or actually both to be honest, I don't see how anyone here could have any idea how good either of these drivers is at car development.

Question: How many times over the last few years do you think Ferrari have started the season on even terms with RBR? Most of the time, they've been behind RBR from the start. However, they have developed and gotten quicker each season, so apparently there is some good driver input happening. But they're developing a car that started the season already in the hole... and have often been doing it with bad data. How is any of that on the drivers?

 

Its debate able how much value any driver can be when it comes to car development. Not only is testing severely limited but telemetry yields more complete and lass biased input than any driver can.
Listening to some of Seb's radio transmissions it seems that he asks for a lot more direction than Alonso does.

 

There's only one reason why Ferrari would want Alonso out of his contract.

Sergio has determined he can sell just a many cars if the team finishes mid pack or first -- and Mattiacci has gotten the message. Cut costs, starting with the drivers.

 

Most of these stuffs sounds so made up..

 

You are right, I have no data or proof to back my opinion. It is simply that, opinion. Alonso becomes more competitive with the car as the season progresses due to his comfort level increasing with each lap in the car. But, the car does not become more competitive in relation to the rest of the field. He simply out-drives the uncompetitive car. His ability to do this is not in question. His ability to work with the team and start the following season on a sturdier foot is the dilemma.

With the exception of 2012, Alonso's performance has been on a decline. Some may concede that Alonso's limited success in 2012 was due to Vettel's misfortunes that season, but I digress. Either way, Ferrari has not won a Championship since Kimi, and it is fact that no team needs Alonso to win a Championship if the car is competitive. IMO, Ferrari has nothing to lose with Alonso gone. Change is needed, for better or for worse, and the most change will occur with Alonso gone.

 

Been saying since the middle of last year that he's been trying to jump ship since the middle of last season and people on here thought i was nuts. Interesting to see if this can be confirmed.