What will Alonso do? --by Nigel Roebuck

You seem to think, without any reasoning why, that any improvement in the Ferrari is all down to Alonso out-driving the car and not at all due to the team developing the car based in part on feedback from him. Apparently when other teams do it though, the drivers play an integral role.

What you seem to be missing is that it's not just Alonso that becomes more competitive as the season goes. The car gets quicker, too, as the team develops it. If the car weren't getting better, Ferrari would be going backward in the results, because all the top teams get quicker as the season progresses. But Ferrari doesn't tend to go backward relative to the competition. Rather they tend to stay where they are relative to the rest of the field, which is also getting quicker. So they are getting quicker. They just aren't getting quicker at a rate which would result in them closing the gap to the cars ahead of them.

"Change is needed, for better or for worse"? That's just bizarre. You don't ever want to change for the worse if you can help it.

As for ALO's performance being on the decline for those years, the evidence seems counter to this. He's destroyed a highly respected WDC and a near-WDC at Ferrari. There's no indication that Alonso's performance has dropped off at all.

 

Nigel is the best f.1 journalist by miles, no one come even close to him so i always pay atentionm to what he writes. Of course not even him knows what will hapen next and at this time it can really go both ways....interestingly he does no speak about the possibility of swaping pçlaces with Hamilton, but he poist Mclaren as the only way to leave Ferrari....let's wait and see..

 

This has to be the most insane comment on this thread. Alonso has driven the wheels off the Ferrari POS cars for 4 years and been a few points and a few mistimed crashes (by others) away from two WDC's do you even follow F1 or are you just a casual observer? SMH

 

Did you even watch the 2010 championship? Pardon this comment, but I mean it in the nicest way. You have no idea what you are talking about. Ferrari has millions to lose by not finishing 2nd or 3rd in the WCC, and if he was not there the last few years they would have been 4,5 or maybe even 6th on a consistent basis. Just add the WCC points up, its pretty easy math.

 

Again are you kidding us? Was Vettel a "team player" when he passed Webber in the famous Multi 21 fiasco? Was he a team player when he did not share data with the other side of the garage? Has he been a "team player" and made it difficult for Ricciardo to pass him when he is clearly the faster driver on a particular set of tires. Vettel is talented, but hes no Alonso. Fred would have 6 championships and looking for 7 if he had the Cans car the last 4 years. Your arguments are without merit......and you've clearly not been watching F1 for too long or just been catching the highlights or listening to rubbish around the water cooler.

 

Wow. You obviously aren't seeing the bigger picture. You also haven't read what I wrote. You merely took offense to some of what I wrote and went-off on a tirade.

Alonso is my favorite driver. I just don't think he has been a good fit at Ferrari. I think it is best for both Ferrari and Alonso to part ways. That is all. Relax, guy.

 

Alonso and Lee Harvey Oswald | joeblogsf1

Joe's view.............

 

Guys,

Ferrari's problem is a car problem, not a driver problem. Sure, a great driver can bring up a bad car. But in this case, if they change the driver but don't improve the car much, nothing is going to change. Conversely, if they keep the driver but greatly improve the car, better results will ensue.

Hopefully Ferrari understands this. Otherwise there will be more of the same.

-F

 

See: Titanic; Deckchairs.

 

Yes it is a car problem - hence FA voicing his dis-pleasure last year and now rumors of his departure. He knows best what Ferrari is facing....

 

Ferrari is going to clean house there is alot of nice speed in the younger guys. Impo ferrari would love honda to pay them to take Fred they could hire seb. And another young guy .If you where running Ferrari wouldn't you rather have a four time champ who can drive In the wet or a two time champ who won a championship because of tire rules and ldm making sure that his most hated driver didn't retire with the number one . Fred and kimi will not set in the Ferrari car's next year if there is anyway possible to get them out spending a bunch of capital .There are not going to give big money to Fred on his next contact his best bet is go to honda or lotus and sign a big 5 year deal heck honda will have to buy there way out because they are going to pull the plug after 3 years .

 

I miss the days when road car production was the necessary evil used to finance racing.
Now it seems that the Scuderia is at the whim of the beancounters of the production side.*


*assuming that the speculation is true.

 

Heck the pointed star gave there share of the race to AMG because they didn't want to risk having to sponsor and fund the team post micheal . Ross asked micheal to drive so he could sign up sponsorship because he couldn't sell his part of the team with out funding .Ferrari is special because it's whole reason for being a brand is its racing they don't have to advertise to mom's . How much have old ferrari road cars went up in value because of the winning they did from 96 to 06 . Ipo companies like honda are making a huge mistake by trying to race in F1 it's only Down side for them because they aren't sell soda or paying up front for a car that has not been made yet . The real problem is fia trying to make the sport look good to people who will not spend one cent to support it this is why the costs have went out of control does anyone really know how much it will cost honda and ferrari and others to make these v6 power units . Heck if they would've left the v10 it would have been a lot more cost effective because you run a car for more than one year old Jordan team ran cars for there years just put on some new wings and go at it .

 

^
Will someone please translate?

 

If I were Ferrari I´d rather have the guy who is beating the four time champ. Also he smiles more often.

Vettel´s 4 championships suddenly look so far away. Not that he can´t win again, but as Senna said, you are only as good as your last race.

 

I think all your comments are way too harsh and frankly off base.
the Orignal poster has made some very good oberservations, and I agree with all of them. I'v been watching f-1 for 46 years... so i think I know a bit about it...

Alonso is trouble. a good driver but trouble. he is driving well, which is nice, but he does not seem to have the leadership charasima that Schumacher or even Barichello had... unless you have a Mercedes or Redbull in other words a dominant car you have to be able to raise the whole team up... and wether you like it or not IT IS a team sport.

Everwhere Alonso's been he's left a team in shambles... there has always been trouble.. from Minardi up ... Renault was very good, but even then he was difficult to deal with internally.

I think Ferrari would be well served to rid its self of Alonso... I've tried to like him, but really cant get much enthusiasm worked up for him. My dream paring for next year would be Vettel /Button. Button is a good car developer and Vettle is great at winning - and getting the team focused around him ... and THAT is what it takes.

( sharing data with your teammate is not required - and usually is down to the Team managers & engineers to sort out)

 

Ferrari needs new blood period and they should look for a guy that is good in the rain because we can look at ferrari and know they are a couple of years away from winning In the dry . Right now ferrari can't beat the cans silver arrows and Williams to be honest there lucky company's are cutting back on F1 advertising because if lotus and force India had any money they would be lucky to be in the top six . Heck frank Williams should have sold his team to bmw and what would have ldm run team look with a VW support team . Just 8 years ago ferrari had honda bmw and Toyota each spending 300 million dollars a year and looking like fools . Ferrari f1 team with schumi driving was making more money selling hats and gear than the car company made and Marlboro shell cellphone companies where giving the team there operating budget . Now look at the F1 fiat is having to spend time and money to fix the mess and every day more talk about how the team is a joke great pr . So Impo anyone who is a public face of ferrari has to go ldm was first now the drivers have to go .

 

They also had Byrne who in his day made Newey his *****. That and unlimited testing carried the day. Times have changed, and let's see what they come up with next year. Not so sure it is going to take them 3 years to catch up.

 

Interesting pairing and comments. I've been watching F1 since I was a child (some twenty years ago ---) Sign me up for Ricciardo and Bianchi though, I want the future now for SF...

 

+1 I believe that Sebastien, while obviously an excellent driver, is not in Fernando's class. I wrote this last November, perhaps ought to send it to Mattiacci:


Despite his four consecutive WDC's, I am far from persuaded that Sebastien is the 'head-and-shoulders-better' driver that many believe he is. To me it is absolutely clear that for four years he was driving a car that was indeed 'head-and-shoulders' better than any other car on the grid.

Mark Webber, a journeyman middle of the pack driver his entire pre-Red Bull career, suddenly is on the front row almost every race? Webber, a really good guy but only a fair driver, begins in F1 in 2002 age 26, racing for such mediocre teams as Minardi and Jaguar. When he joins Williams he is a little bit better than middle pack but nowhere near a consistent challenger. Then he joins RedBull in 2007 at age 31 still racing just above middle of pack for a couple of years as the car is improving.

Comes 2009 and Sebastien Vettel joins Red Bull and a dramatically improved car. At age 33 after racing in F1 for seven years Mark finally wins his first F1 race, the 2009 German GP and his second, the Brazilian G.P. Comes 2010 and an utterly dominant Red Bull car and what have we in Mark Webber? - four F! wins, five poles (OVER VETTEL!) AND TEN PODIUMS!! He actually led the drivers' championship after Monaco and could have been 2010 World Champion if je had won the lawst race at Abu Dhabi and Fernando had finished no higher than third! This from a guy who had never been on the podium before! That's all you need to know about just how totally dominant the Red Bulls have been for these four years. Now, with M-B dominant, Vettel can't even out-qualify Ricciardo! Keep him away from Maranello.

Sebastien is an outstanding driver, don't misunderstand me, as are at least a half dozen others, Fernando (to me the best driving today), Lewis, Nico, Kimi, maybe Daniel. But since 2009 and until this year F1 has been all about the Red Bull car. So I can do without Seb in my Ferraris. I want Fred to win a couple of WDC's in red and I also think the Scuderia has a potentially sensational young development driver coming up.

just my 2c.

 

Interesting observation on Alonso and his acrimonious leaving of every team, it is very similar to Alain Prost, another incredibly talented driver that left each team under less than happy circumstances (fired from Renault, McLaren debacle in 1989, fired from Ferrari for his comments regarding the car and Williams in 1993).

 

The whole Fred thing is a pr nightmare nothing was better than ldm tell the press the team is not doing a good job and then Fred going to press and saying the team needs to make a faster car this was not doing the brand any good Impo . With jean micheal and Ross the only person that went to the press was ldm at the intro of the new car he would we need to win damn that man is brilliant to think micheal and Ross were trying to run last . If I was running fiat I wouldn't want to hear anyone tell the public are cars are crap I think most of us fans know the the team the gets to the checker flag first wins no pr spin can tell most people different. The problem is not if you win it's how you handle defeat that makes you a winner .

 

Prost is a good example but I dont think the same way...

Prost left renault - because he was shagging Larrouses wife... big big problem...
left McLaren becuase of Senna - and Honda .... Ferrari - that was totally Ferrari's fault... and Williams again because of Senna.....